What are the Ways to Improve My Background?

Internships: for practice-oriented programs

Research/thesis: for students applying to research programs and those preparing to apply to PhD programs Competitions: to demonstrate your academic ability

Volunteer: A bonus program to show your significance.

Portfolio: for students in art and design programs (some majors require it)

Among them, internships + research + competitions are the main choices of soft background enhancement direction.

What are the programs of competition+research+internship?

For science and engineering, the gold medals of some international competitions are very favorable to the application!

International competitions in physics: BPHO, IPho, Physics Bowl, BAAO.

International competitions in math: Euclid, Gauss, AMC, BMO.

Computer science international competitions: USACO, MIT Battlecode, lol

International competitions in chemistry: ICHO, UKCHO, CCC, USNCO

Biology international competitions: USABO, IBO

International competitions for liberal arts students

√ John Locke Essay Contest

√ The New York Times Informational Writing Contest

√ The New York Times Student Review Contest

√ The New York Times Personal Narrative Writing Contest

√ The New York Times Editorial Contest for Middle School Students

√ The New York Times Summer Reading and Writing Contest

√ TCR History Journal Submission

√ HIR Harvard International Review Scholarly Writing Competition

√ Marshall Institute Economic Essay Contest

Research Programs:

Scientific research categories such as thesis publication (SCI/SSCI/EI), national patents, short-term field research, etc. This kind of mainly includes participating in scientific research projects and publishing scientific research papers.

Corporate internship category:

Such as the four major banks, Internet factories, consulting firms, top financial companies internship, the higher the level of the company, the more core internship positions, the higher the gold content.

Public welfare activities:

Such as NGO activities, club activities, volunteers, volunteers, etc. Here you can show the applicant's sense of responsibility to society as well as the spirit of dedication. A lot of schools want to see students contributing no less than 50 hours of community service every year.