So I’m a sophomore in high school and qualified for AIME twice already.
I know that AIME is a pretty good accomplishment, but how prestigious is it compared to all other high school awards? How much more helpful is it to qualify for it more than once?
And how would it help for colleges like UPenn, Duke, and Johns Hopkins?
Thanks.
it helps a little, but schools like those look at a lot more;
i think 2000+(maybe less?) people qualify for AIME per year so it is not that prestigious but it does give some legitimacy if you say, participate in your school math club (it kind of “proves” you were a part of it as you earned something from doing it)
AOs will take note that you have qualified for AIME multiple times.
This in itself will not get you into college however.
It’s somewhat prestigious, but it won’t be the only thing that colleges consider. As a sophomore, you can mention it when applying to math camps, summer programs or internships, which could help you out more.
It does help show that you are talented in math. The MIT and I think the Caltech applications ask for your scores if you have them. It’s obviously more prestigious if you get a good score on the AIME and qualify for the next level up. (My son took the AIME at least twice, I think he got a 3 on the AIME - which was the median score the year he took it - and he didn’t get into either MIT or Caltech. He did get into Harvard and CMU.)
@mathmom Sorry for the late reply, but Harvard and CMU are damn good schools to get into as well. Can you tell me what other awards and achievements he had, so that I can emulate that? Thanks a lot.
Thanks to the other members who replied as well!
Some state medals at the Science Olympiad four years in a row. His academic team went to Nationals one year. Outsie of school he did some work modeling for a couple of med school professors, he was acknowledged in a paper for one of them. He worked summers and part time for a firm that works with publishing companies on database management. Oh and he got an award from some Gaming Magazine for the best mod of the year for work he did on Civ 4. He volunteered one summer at the local senior center in the computer lab. And he took a computer programming course one summer at Columbia doing gaming graphics. It’s not a question really of emulating. Opportunities came up and he didn’t flub them. But he was lucky to know people who had projects for him to do.
Thanks for the quick reply! Yeah, your son seems to have took advantage of quite a few opportunities. Props to him.
What is his major though? And any advice for someone who wants to apply for some top schools’ pre-med programs?
Thanks a lot.
This.
He was a CS major. And he made it very obvious in his application. I’d pretty much say his essays were “I’m a computer nerd. Take me or leave me.” It’s not particularly an approach I’d recommend, but it worked for him as a very one sided kid. (Except for also being a huge reader, for Harvard he gave him his year long reading list as the optional info - it was mostly sci fi and fantasy, but also a fair amount of computer theory and practical stuff.)
Pre-med is not a major. If you think you are interested you can do medical related volunteering or research. Or you can do what you like. Some of the nicest pre-meds I knew were music majors. No med school is going to care about what you did in high school.