Hello all,
I was lucky to be a winner of a competitive funding prize for students from over 15 countries in Europe. The prize is quite restrictive (only 1-2 students get it), awarded purely based on academic merit and is meant to be an addition to schools' funding. I have communicated this info to the all the places I applied to right away in hope that it may provide the adcom's with some external validation. Do you think this has an impact if the committee members know about the prize? It is quite known in Europe. I am unsure about the USA, but that is where most of my schools are, as they are in the top 15.