The full name of the O Prize is the outstanding winner, which is translated into the grand prize in Chinese and is the highest prize in the United States. First of all, the proportion of O prizes is very low. Take 20 14 USA as an example: questions A and B1* * 6755 teams, * * * with 13 O bonus; C topic1* *1028 team, ***6 O prize. In other words, each question has thousands or even thousands of teams, but the teams that won the O prize for this question are all single digits (usually six or seven). This ratio is still very low. In 20 14, the proportion of MCM winning the o prize is about 1/500, and that of ICM winning the o prize is about 1/200.
Because of such a low proportion, this award has a legendary color in the domestic mathematical model circle. Many schools with good strength in China have never won an O prize in history. For example, in Hubei, only our school won. A school with excellent mathematical model strength like Wu Da (the National Cup won the Higher Education Cup) only got an F in the United States, which is almost worse than an O. In our school, which session someone won the O prize will also be the big news of the mathematical model base. Papers will be circulated as model essays, and teachers in the base will repeatedly explain and analyze O-prize papers in front of younger brothers and sisters. Because there are many first prizes in the national and American competitions every year, our school also gives O prizes every few years.
2. Outside the circle, the O Prize in Mathematical Model Competition is just a title, which has no special significance.
Many classmates have a misunderstanding: since there are so few O prizes in the mathematical model competition, you should go abroad to work and study after winning this prize, right? In this case, I can only say-you think too much-_ # Although statistically speaking, the students who won the O Prize have a good prospect, it does not mean that they can be invincible in finding a job and applying for going abroad with this award. From my experience, in fact, most companies and professors have never heard of mathematical modeling competition; Even if I have heard of it, I just heard of the name, and I don't know the weight of the O prize in this competition. Take myself as an example. When interviewing Ali interns, every round of interviewers didn't know about this competition. When interviewing Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (MPhil), the instructor only heard about this competition. Although I survived all these interviews, I don't think the beauty contest is that effective. My other two teammates are in a similar situation and also got a good offer；; But this is more because of their advantages in GPA, and they have many other accumulations besides mathematical modeling competition after class.
From my own experience and what I have seen and heard, I draw two conclusions:
(1) Mercer O Award is not very helpful for finding a job and applying for going abroad in most cases.
Statistically speaking, the graduation destination of O-prize winners is often good, because their comprehensive quality is relatively high, GPA is often in the forefront of their majors, and they have done many other things after class.
(2) Looking for a job (IT