Does AMC scores mean a lot?

[awesome08]

I am an average student. I only got an 89 on my overall avg.(But thats bc my freshman grades were really bad.) And I think I did decent on the SAT I and II. I only have 300 community service hrs, and I am in NHS for only a year. But what if i qualified for USAMO, as a girl? Is it impressive? Whats my chance of getting into harvard, mit, and other ivies?

[TZF]

Noone's going to be able to put a number on your head. Even if we could, what would it matter? Here's a few notes related to your profile:

0. Focus on writing meaningful essays that put your application in context, and provide a coherent, interesting image of who you are. Also, focus on getting strong letters of recommendation that highlight various strong points in you (aside from just things that are blatantly stated in your application). Essays and recommendations have the potential to make or break any application (except perhaps in extreme cases).

1. Colleges will care more about your later grades than your earlier grades. If your grades show an increasing trend, then this is even more so. It usually means that means you were able to identify areas for potential improvement and successfully implement a plan to improve your grades.

2. NHS doesn't really matter that much, I think (someone correct me if I'm wrong!)

3. 300 community service hours is significant

4. Qualifying for the USAMO is always impressive, but almost never "makes" an application by itself. It should be in context.

5. While it is certainly true that tech schools will likely be more interested in taking a female over an equally qualified male, don't expect your gender to make or break your application. At schools centered around liberal arts (like Harvard), don't expect statistical gender preferences to affect your application.

[An0maly]

I second TZF, especially about the essay part. A lot of times there are strong applicants, but the essay really distinguishes people because it gives insight into people. The better your essay is, the better your chance of getting in is.

NHS is ordinary. A lot of people get into MIT without ever taking the AMC. Just be good at what you like and be hard working, and you'll have as good a chance as any [which is 7-8% lol].

[worthawholebean]

[calc rulz]

Actually, being a girl tends to help your chances of MIT, so I've heard.

[worthawholebean]

For MIT, yes. For a liberal arts school, probably no, at least from what I've heard.

[jonathanchou711]

You can certainly put it on your application! I won my AMC8 in my school by getting 24/25 as a 7th grader. And I find it useful for summer camps applications.

[awesome08]

i heard that Caltech is accepting everyone who took the USAMO? is it true?
And btw, does Harvard really care much about the AMC/AIME/USAMO and other math contests(since it's a liberal arts school)?

[Kent Merryfield]

[TZF]

Two things:

Thing 1: Whoever told you that probably had a bunch of friends that took the USAMO and got into Caltech. This is a great example of correlation that does not imply causation.

Note that people who are "good enough" to make it to the USAMO are often more ambitious students with better grades and interesting academic/club/research/project experiences; it's the combination of all of these, and not just the USAMO, that makes them good candidates!

Thing 2: Theoretical mathematics and almost always falls in the liberal arts division of the school. In the case of Harvard, the main "liberal arts" part is called the Faculty of Arts and Sciences.

By the way, Harvard is not a liberal arts college. It just happens to be centered around the liberal arts (unlike schools that might be centered around, say, engineering, e.g. Caltech, or business, e.g. Babson).

[blahblahblah]

[jonathanchou711]

[TZF]

[david0184]

I'll be going to Caltech as a freshmen in less than a week. I have not qualified for the USAMO ever. That said, I did qualify for the AIME three times. As the previous posters stated, what matters more is the overall qualities of your application. In my opinion, having one outstanding accomplishment like qualifying for the USAMO will not amaze adcoms. Rather, having a combination of good achievements in academics, extracurriculars, essays, and all other categories may help you even more than having one particularly outstanding accomplishment. For instance, at my school, 2 others applied to Caltech, a brilliant mathematician and a computer geek. The computer geek had less outstanding criteria in most areas compared to me with the exception of being a National Merit Scholar, and was accordingly rejected. The mathematician had better math criteria than me such as placing 1st in math competitions where I would place 5th-10th, but that was all he had. Sure, he was valedictorian and had good grades, but he was not particularly outstanding in the sciences and had nothing else to show besides math trophies and awards. I guess what I'm trying to say, is that you must have passion, not only in math, but also in the sciences, leadership, etc. Particularly, it will do you good to emphasize your interest in science by participating in summer math and science programs or interning at local labs. In the end, it's the overall picture of you that the adcoms are looking for.

Good luck and apply early!

[AwesomeToad]

AMC will really help with CalTech and MIT but it sort of depends on which field you study

[mathemonster]

where did said brilliant mathematician go? Did he make MOP?

[worthawholebean]

If I remember correctly, one of the black MOPpers from a few years ago was rejected from MIT.

[mathemonster]

@wawb
thats likely b/c
a) he had terrrible humanities grades & college app essays
b) he had something terrible in his transcript, or was generally very uncharismatic

BTW, of course AMC scores would *help at a liberal arts school

[worthawholebean]

I'm just saying that nothing makes you an auto-admit.

[zapi2007]

well, MIT, like any other uber competitive college, has to reject some people.