<p>OK thanks!</p>
<p>What awards would be helpful for science and economics people?</p>
<p>I would disregard EC’s entirely/only count the ones that can be confirmed (For example letter of rec from a coach or something) since 99% of them are fiction/exaggerated anyways.</p>
<p>In this case Applicant 2 seems more desirable because of the perfect scores/GPA. It would come down to the essay, and if these are still equal, then the interview. Who knows Applicant 2 might be an ugly freak and Applicant 1 can be a cool and laid back social butterfly! </p>
<p>True. Thanks! </p>
<p>Know of some econ awards and competitions?</p>
<p>And science ones? (I know of Intel ISEF)</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Note that the really good awards or achievements are often relatively easy to verify (e.g. winning a state or national championship in some organized competition, or something that gets newspaper articles all over the state or country).</p>
<p>Applicant 1… if his ECs can be confirmed.</p>
<p>Yes, ECs can be confirmed. :)</p>
<p>Is there a list of some good award and competition opportunities for students who are highly interested in the science and economics studies?</p>
<p>I divided the information into categories that might possibly show consequential differences between the candidates:</p>
<p>SAT Math II:
760 (only 71st percentile, but easily ignored if the candidate scored 5 on AP calculus)
vs.
800</p>
<p>SAT Chemistry:
710 (only 59th percentile, for a SciOly competitor and science blogger?)
vs.
800</p>
<p>AP:
Art History, Comp Sci, Studio Art
vs.
Physics C</p>
<p>EC: publishing
Blog of science
vs.
Editor-in-chief of school newspaper, Senior Editor of tech blog/website, Photography website of his</p>
<p>EC: forensics
Model UN Co-President
vs.
LD Debate Co-Captain</p>
<p>EC: clubs
Student Association President and Founder, Outside charity group President and Founder, Service club member - must have 100+ hours each year, Executive Board of admissions group for school, Outside gifted group member - must have 3.8+ GPA each year
vs.
Student Council in 9th Grade</p>
<p>EC: athletic
Varsity Track & Field, JV Tennis
vs.
Fencing, Tennis once a month for one hour</p>
<p>EC: academic competition
Science Olympiad
vs.
nothing</p>
<p>EC: tutoring
Peer tutor
vs.
nothing</p>
<hr>
<p>The difference between AP classes is a wash, so I will look at ECs.</p>
<p>I would want to glance at applicant 1’s science blog and applicant 2’s tech blog and photography website to see what these websites say about their communication skills, the effort they seem to put in, and how specific they try to get. (e.g. a tech blog could just have a bunch of trivial how-tos, or it could address difficult questions about the relative merits of different software frameworks.)</p>
<p>I would want to compare applicant 1’s success in model UN to applicant 2’s success in LD. It could be that applicant 1 is a superstar and applicant 2 just goes to a few tournaments and never does better than 3-3, or vice versa. That difference would matter quite a lot.</p>
<p>I am skeptical about applicant 1’s performance in Science Olympiad, due to the SAT Chemistry score. Verified success in SciOly could “make up” for that score, but without verified success, I assume that the student is a mediocre competitor.</p>
<p>Overall, they are extremely close. Knowing nothing else (but assuming poor SciOly performance), I guess I would narrow it down to:</p>
<p>bunch of clubs, varsity sports, tutoring
vs.
higher SAT IIs, editor of school news paper, photography website</p>
<p>I am partial to people who are good at photography and editing, so applicant 2, I guess? It also looks like applicant 1 might have spread him/herself too thin over so many clubs and activities.</p>
<p>But that could easily tilted if one applicant is much stronger than the other in “publishing” or forensics.</p>
<p>And that could obviously be tilted by essays and recommendations.</p>
<p>@JHS, you mentioned that you thought it odd that neither student had 4 years of a foreign language or an AP foreign language. </p>
<p>I dropped French after level 3 (after sophomore year) because I hated it. I’m a math/science student and I focused more on that. What would HYP think of me? Note: my school offers up to French 4 (no APs). Also, I’ve taken humanities such as AP USH and I’ll eventually take AP English Lang and AP English Lit. </p>
<p>@Halogen and everyone else: </p>
<p>Since the scores for these tests have not happened yet, let’s assume this: </p>
<p>You are the admissions officer to HYP, who would YOU ACCEPT?</p>
<p>BOTH GO TO SAME SCHOOL IN CALIFORNIA (competitive private school, sends kids to HYP every year)
- the average AP classes per year is: 0 in 9th grade, 0 in 10th grade, 2 in 11th grade, 3-4 in 12th grade (this is for the super advanced kids, since APs are super hard at my school) </p>
<p>Applicant 1 :</p>
<ul>
<li>3.8 GPA UW</li>
<li>ACT : 36 </li>
<li>SAT 2 : 800 Math 2 , 800 Chemistry , 800 US History </li>
</ul>
<p>Course Load : (in APs 9-12)
AP Micro - 10 (grade)
AP Macro - 10
AP Physics 1 - 11
AP English Language - 11
AP US History - 11
AP Calculus AB - 11
AP Chemistry - 12
AP Art History - 12
AP English Literature - 12
AP Calculus BC - 12
AP US Government - 12 </p>
<p>In top 10% of class</p>
<p>Essays = Great</p>
<p>Recs = Great</p>
<p>ECs :</p>
<p>Model UN Co-President - 4 hours/week
Student Association President and Founder - 2 h/w
Outside charity group President and Founder - 2 h/w
JV Tennis - 12 h/w (not in top rankings in state)
Science Olympiad (got to regional finals) - 1 h/w
Service club member - must have 100+ hours each year - 2-3 h/w
Executive Board of admissions group for school - 2 h/w
Outside gifted group member - must have 3.8+ GPA each year - 1 h/w
Peer tutor - 1 h/w
Blog of science - 1 h/w
National Merit Finalist
Member of gifted honor society </p>
<p>Applicant 2 : </p>
<ul>
<li>3.99 GPA UW</li>
<li>SAT 1 : 2400</li>
<li>SAT 2 : 800 Math 2 , 800 Chemistry </li>
</ul>
<p>Course Load : (in APs 9-12)
AP Chemistry - 11
AP Calculus BC - 11
AP US History - 11
AP English Literature - 12
AP US Government - 12
AP Biology - 12 </p>
<p>Is valedictorian</p>
<p>Essays = great</p>
<p>Recs = good</p>
<p>ECs :</p>
<p>Editor-in-chief of school newspaper - 5 h/w
LD Debate Co-Captain - 12 h/w
Senior Editor of tech blog/website - 1 h/w
Fencing - 3 h/w (not ranked, doesn’t compete nationally etc)
Photography website of his - 1 h/w
Student Council in 9th Grade - 1 h/w
Tennis once a month for one hour - will say it is 2 h/w
National Merit Finalist</p>
<p>Applicant 3 : </p>
<ul>
<li>3.8 GPA UW</li>
<li>SAT 1 : 2400</li>
<li>SAT 2 : 800 Math 2 , 800 Biology , 800 US History<br></li>
</ul>
<p>Course Load : (in APs 9-12)
AP Physics B - 10
AP Chemistry - 11
AP Calculus BC - 11
AP English Language - 11
AP US History - 11
AP Biology - 12
AP English Literature - 12
AP History - 12 (doesn’t know which, probably Econ or US Gov) </p>
<p>In top 10% of class </p>
<p>Essays = great</p>
<p>Recs = good</p>
<p>ECs :</p>
<p>Varsity golf - 5 h/w
Co-President of Model UN - 1 h/w
Vice President of Asian club - 1 h/w
Co-President of Secular Club - 1 h/w
Science Olympiad - 1 h/w
Service club with 50 hours/year
Does “research” at local University - 2 h/w during the summer (hasn’t done it yet)
National Merit Finalist </p>
<p>:) </p>
<p>If all else is equal, which applicant of the 3 would you accept? Or which two? Or all three, or none? 
</p>
<p>This is for HYP + Stanford + MIT + Columbia </p>
<p>They are planning on the same major?</p>
<p>All of these applicants would apply as “Undecided” majors during the application process, but they have different interests for major choices.</p>
<p>
What state do you live in? Does your family live in SC, but you attend a NC boarding school? That’s the only way applying to Clemson as a safety would make sense, because OOS acceptance rates at Clemson are lower than instate acceptance rates at UNC.</p>