is olympiads important?
i participated in a maths olympiad and only passed didnt get any other certificate is this a big deal for competitive uni applications (eg engineering at imperial) since everyone applying normally has gold/a higher certificate
Reply 1
20
Honestly - Unis are not that interested.
Schools love you doing these 'competitions' and DoE etc, but Unis don't actually care. They just ignore this sort of stuff in your PS because none of it means that you will be a 'better' student than someone who hasn't done it.
Schools love you doing these 'competitions' and DoE etc, but Unis don't actually care. They just ignore this sort of stuff in your PS because none of it means that you will be a 'better' student than someone who hasn't done it.
Reply 2
22
Original post by daddy1324
everyone applying normally has gold/a higher certificate
citation needed
Reply 3
Original post by daddy1324
i participated in a maths olympiad and only passed didnt get any other certificate is this a big deal for competitive uni applications (eg engineering at imperial) since everyone applying normally has gold/a higher certificate
It is a good indicator of mathematical ability, which shows the admissions tutors your talent, but by no means is it a dealbreaker that if you don't get a gold certificate, you won't be accepted. I actually got some merit certificates in the follow-up Kangaroo rounds a few times, but didn't mention it in my personal statement (big mistake) but I still got an offer from Imperial for CS.
Reply 4
10
Sorry but are we equating the normal senior maths challenge to an Olympiad here? They are 2 very different things. Only the top 1% of scorers in the senior maths challenge qualify and participate in the British maths Olympiad. Having something like that certainly would be attractive for the top unis but you definitely do not need it (not a lot of people have it anyways due to how difficult it is to get in). A normal gold in the senior maths challenge is a nice thing to put in your personal statement though and shows you have a strong mathematical ability, it’s also not true that everyone applying would have a gold in the senior maths challenge.
Reply 5
10
Original post by McGinger
Honestly - Unis are not that interested.
Schools love you doing these 'competitions' and DoE etc, but Unis don't actually care. They just ignore this sort of stuff in your PS because none of it means that you will be a 'better' student than someone who hasn't done it.
Schools love you doing these 'competitions' and DoE etc, but Unis don't actually care. They just ignore this sort of stuff in your PS because none of it means that you will be a 'better' student than someone who hasn't done it.
Reply 6
Original post by M_m_m03
They will certainly not ‘ignore’ someone mentioning that they had qualified for a British Math Olympiad. However the OP has confused the Maths Challenge with the BMO in his post.
People say Olympiad and Challenge interchangeably and it's very common to mistake one for the other.
Reply 7
10
Original post by vnayak
People say Olympiad and Challenge interchangeably and it's very common to mistake one for the other.
Yeah I agree, this isn't the first time I've seen this. But it's a pretty big mistake to make tbh and can be very misleading, BMO1 is a whole other level to the maths challenge.
(edited 1 year ago)
Reply 8
Original post by M_m_m03
Sorry but are we equating the normal senior maths challenge to an Olympiad here? They are 2 very different things. Only the top 1% of scorers in the senior maths challenge qualify and participate in the British maths Olympiad. Having something like that certainly would be attractive for the top unis but you definitely do not need it (not a lot of people have it anyways due to how difficult it is to get in). A normal gold in the senior maths challenge is a nice thing to put in your personal statement though and shows you have a strong mathematical ability, it’s also not true that everyone applying would have a gold in the senior maths challenge.
I don't think it is correct to say top 1% qualifying for the BMO1. According to the UKMT website, around 1000 who attend the SMC qualify for BMO1 and 100 qualify for BMO2 as a result of BMO1.
Reply 9
10
Original post by FairAboutUK
I don't think it is correct to say top 1% qualifying for the BMO1. According to the UKMT website, around 1000 who attend the SMC qualify for BMO1 and 100 qualify for BMO2 as a result of BMO1.
Yep that’s indeed more accurate. Although the number of students taking the SMC is usually near the 100,000 mark which is why i said top 1%
Reply 10
Original post by McGinger
Honestly - Unis are not that interested.
Schools love you doing these 'competitions' and DoE etc, but Unis don't actually care. They just ignore this sort of stuff in your PS because none of it means that you will be a 'better' student than someone who hasn't done it.
Schools love you doing these 'competitions' and DoE etc, but Unis don't actually care. They just ignore this sort of stuff in your PS because none of it means that you will be a 'better' student than someone who hasn't done it.
They are. My brother did olympiads, he studied in another university, dropped it and reapplied to another university for a BSc degree and he got STRAIGHT INTO the 2nd year without finishing the first year at the previous uni just becase he had gold medals in olympiads and international awards. They are highly reputable and they make your application really stand out!
Reply 11
20
he got STRAIGHT INTO the 2nd year without finishing the first year
Which University was this-and where did he not complete his1st year.
And when.
Which University was this-and where did he not complete his1st year.
And when.
Reply 12
Original post by biomed9817
They are. My brother did olympiads, he studied in another university, dropped it and reapplied to another university for a BSc degree and he got STRAIGHT INTO the 2nd year without finishing the first year at the previous uni just becase he had gold medals in olympiads and international awards. They are highly reputable and they make your application really stand out!
I smell some turd in this statement, or you are being economical with the truth (as in he did a year in one uni and the new uni accepted this as sufficient to enter 2nd year). Either way utter tosh.
Greg
Reply 13
21
Original post by McGinger
he got STRAIGHT INTO the 2nd year without finishing the first year
Which University was this-and where did he not complete his1st year.
And when.
Which University was this-and where did he not complete his1st year.
And when.
The user has spammed ~20 such posts today / a couple of days ago and it looks like theyre advertising olympiad competitions which theyre running. Theyve claimed to be in both y9 and y13 despite posting 11 years ago that they had previously done 2 olympiads.
https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/search.php?do=finduser&u=1122491
(edited 1 month ago)
Reply 14
7
Original post by biomed9817
They are. My brother did olympiads, he studied in another university, dropped it and reapplied to another university for a BSc degree and he got STRAIGHT INTO the 2nd year without finishing the first year at the previous uni just becase he had gold medals in olympiads and international awards. They are highly reputable and they make your application really stand out!
Was this a Scottish university? Those are the only UK universities that allow 2nd year entry AFAIK
Reply 15
20
Original post by Muu9
Was this a Scottish university? Those are the only UK universities that allow 2nd year entry AFAIK
Its a Troll.
Read posts above.
Original post by daddy1324
i participated in a maths olympiad and only passed didnt get any other certificate is this a big deal for competitive uni applications (eg engineering at imperial) since everyone applying normally has gold/a higher certificate
I doubt that certificates which show your participation in olympiads have more importance than your chosen A levels and grades. It is an enhancement of your personality in best case, that's it.
(edited 1 month ago)
Reply 17
10
Original post by daddy1324
i participated in a maths olympiad and only passed didnt get any other certificate is this a big deal for competitive uni applications (eg engineering at imperial) since everyone applying normally has gold/a higher certificate
I went to an oxford maths open day and I asked the guy (Dr James Munro) whether olympiads where important for a competitive application. And he said no, olympiads are great if you like doing them, but they really dont care about it and only really care about the actual admissions test. The type of questions on admissions tests and olympiads are way different so just because you may be good at one doesnt mean you may be good at the other. It still takes a lot of practice to get good at these admissions questions.
So yea just focus on the admissions test and u will be fine really dont stress abt olympiads too much if you dont have them.
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