<p>Let’s say you won the Chinese Math Olympiad. Would this be more prestigious than winning, say, the Korean Math Olympiad because China’s bigger and thus you’re competing against more people, or do admissions officers look at the two equally?</p>
<p>Each school may have a different policy. But, in general, you are most likely competing against candidates of your individual background and circumstance. E.g. you have been attending an elite school in China and won the Chinese Math Olympiad. That will no doubt be considered a great accomplishment. However, someone else, from a lesser background in Korea, won the Korean Math Olympiad. His/her accomplishment will most likely viewed as more significant.</p>
<p>The ranking of the country in the International Olympiad should count more than anything else. Not sure how much it does, however. Schools like MIT, Caltech, Harvard, Princeton certainly know what winning an Olympiad in China vs Korea means.</p>
<p>fizix aren’t you out of your mind? No of applicants/admits from China and South Korea are approximately equal. Both would be considered equally, however Chinese Olympiad v/s Croatian Olympiad is a completely different thing.</p>
<p>From IMO:
1.People’s Republic of China 214
2.Russian Federation 174<br>
3.Republic of Korea 170<br>
4.Germany 157<br>
5.United States of America 154<br>
6.Romania 152 </p>
<p>So Korea may be small, but seems to be quite up there ^^</p>