While we generally profess to celebrate all interests and contributions, the clubs and activities that mean the most to some high schoolers fail to earn the respect that other extracurriculars do, even when students receive recognition on a state or national level. Do colleges at least care? Amy and Mike invited educator Vida John to explore the admissions implications of academic competitions.

What are five things you will learn in this episode?

1. What are academic competitions, and what are some examples?

2. Why should students consider participating in academic competitions?  

3. What do colleges think of them?  

4. What are the advantages and disadvantages of participating in these activities?

5. What can we learn from the example of American Mathematics Competitions?  

MEET OUR GUEST

Vida John is a math coach and tutor, specializing in students who are preparing for math contests and studying curriculum published by Art of Problem Solving.  Vida grew up in Iowa where she was a high school mathlete before studying at the Stanford School of Engineering and UCSF School of Medicine.  After working in Silicon Valley for a medical start up, she homeschooled her two daughters with the intent of providing an excellent education especially in math and science.  

She coached homeschooled math teams for 10 years, and with both daughters now attending Stanford, she continues to help students prepare for MathCounts, AMC, and other contests while building their problem solving skills. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area and runs workshops on using math contests to prepare for college level work.  

Vida previously appeared on this podcast in episode 255 to discuss Competitive Math And Testing and in episode 536 to discuss All About the American Math Competition.

Find Vida at vidajohntutoring.com.

LINKS

American Mathematics Competitions

MATHCOUNTS Foundation

Art of Problem Solving

RELATED EPISODES

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HIGH IMPACT STRATEGIES TO HELP STUDENTS SUCCEED IN MATH

CHOOSING HIGH SCHOOL MATH COURSES STRATEGICALLY

ABOUT THIS PODCAST

Tests and the Rest is THE college admissions industry podcast. Explore all of our past episodes on the show page and keep up with our future ones by subscribing to our email newsletter.

ABOUT YOUR HOSTS

Mike Bergin is the president of Chariot Learning and founder of TestBright. Amy Seeley is the president of Seeley Test Pros and LEAP. If you’re interested in working with Mike and/or Amy for test preparation, training, or consulting, feel free to get in touch through our contact page.