Reply to Using Noetic Math Contest Results in TJ Application?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]"National Honor Roll Medal:  The top 10% of all participants in the nation will receive 'National Honor Roll' medals. "

Not standout for TJ.
AMC 8/10 Honor Roll or Mathcounts Chapter/State would be more TJ level.

[/quote]

This is ridiculous, are you saying 500 students at TJ are all AMC8/10 honor roll in middle school?[/quote]

DP.  No.  They're saying that applicants who made AMC 10 honor roll in middle school would stand out in TJ applications.  If tons of applicants achieved the AMC honor rolls, it wouldn't stand out.  Doing well in a largely unknown, fringe math contest also wouldn't stand out.  If the contests are used in a portrait of a graduate essay to show interest, ability to self-study, or developing grit, that could be useful.

AMC 8 Honor roll and math counts chapter would also not stand out.  Kids who can achieve decent results on those are a dime a dozen.  Qualifying for AIME or Mathcounts state would have stood out in the past.  Maybe 20-30 eighth graders in the TJ catchment area would reach this.  Nowadays, I don't think they care.  [/quote]

You're contradicting yourself.

[b]TJ has 500 students, so you don't need to be top 30 to get in.

There aren't more people qualifying. These contests have limits on attendance and they get harder every year. Qualifying now is far, far more impressive than qualifying 20 years ago. [/b][/quote]
I don't disagree with this point.  I just don't think the new admissions process, which is based purely on GPA, a fairly trivial "problem solving essay", and some generic portrait of a graduate essays gives any bonus points for AIME qualification.   This is a process that has already decided that a kid taking Algebra I in 8th, honors Science, honors Social Studies, and gen ed english with a 4.0 GPA is more qualified than a kid in pre-calc with straight As except one A- in AAP english.  The bureaucrats in charge of selection have already decided that generic essays are the best way to pick TJ students.  Having "top 30" type qualifications may move the needle in favor of admissions, even if the essays are lacking.   AMC 8 honor roll and making your school mathcounts team will not wow the bureaucrats enough to cause them to give bonus points to your essay.  [/quote]

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