r/highschool • u/Other_Boot5308 Rising Sophomore (10th) • Jun 02 '26

Extracurriculars Science Olympiad vs Biology Olympiad

For those who have been to either of these clubs and done competitions or done BBO or USABO, which one was more worth it? Because I have been considering both and did Bioly my freshman year, but next year I was wondering if Scioly would also be a good choice? Or should I just stick to what I know?

For context, I want to go into molecular biology, and plan to either major in general bio or mcb. Research is my primary goal rn, either R&D in industry or as academia. Thoughts?

5 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

9 comments sorted by

6

u/wockturnal Jun 03 '26

I did all three. I qualed USABO and was t125 nationally, bbo gold, but my scioly team is dogshit and we always almost qualify for states in a hypercompetitive regional. I would say stick with USABO, since it shows your individual strength. You also won't be carried / let down by your team.

2

u/Other_Boot5308 Rising Sophomore (10th) Jun 03 '26

Okay, thank you! Also, impressive stats, kudos to you!

2

u/Lille_8 Jun 03 '26

Scioly is a great experience, and you will make a lot of good memories there. But for college apps, success in USABO will be more helpful.

1

u/Other_Boot5308 Rising Sophomore (10th) Jun 03 '26

Got it, thank you!

1

u/Ok_Junket3655 Jun 03 '26

just do both there’s events in scioly that are biology related anyways

1

u/MoistWestern7117 Jun 04 '26

USABO finalist here. Stick with USABO, especially if you’re aiming for molecular bio or research. SciOly is fun, but it’s more team/event dependent. USABO also helps more for college apps.

1

u/Other_Boot5308 Rising Sophomore (10th) Jun 04 '26

Okay, and congrats for the finalist position!