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+# competitions & hackathons
+
+competitions are one of the few things where being young is genuinely an advantage. the bar for "impressive" is lower, the communities are tighter, and the skills transfer directly to real work. but not all competitions are created equal.
+
+## math competitions
+
+math competitions teach you to think precisely under pressure. the skills transfer to everything — CS, research, startups, writing. the people you meet are also disproportionately interesting.
+
+### AMC / AIME / USAMO pipeline
+- **what:** AMC 10/12 → AIME (top ~5%) → USAMO (top ~250) → IMO team (top 6)
+- **honest take:** the canonical math competition pipeline. genuinely useful for building mathematical maturity. but it's also the most crowded lane — tens of thousands of students grind AMC problems for years. if you enjoy it, great. if you're doing it because you think you need it for MIT, reconsider. making AIME is meaningful. USAMO is elite. but "I scored 100 on AMC 12" is not a personality.
+- **time commitment:** moderate for AMC, extreme for USAMO
+
+### HiMCM (High School Mathematical Contest in Modeling)
+- **what:** 36-hour team math modeling competition. you get a real-world problem and build a mathematical model.
+- **honest take:** massively underrated. this is the closest competition to actual applied math/engineering work. you learn to model, code, write reports, and work under pressure. the problems are genuinely interesting. teams of up to 4. I've done this and highly recommend it.
+- **when:** november
+
+### MCM/ICM (Mathematical Contest in Modeling)
+- **what:** the college version of HiMCM. 4-day competition, open to undergrads (and technically high schoolers).
+- **honest take:** harder and more prestigious than HiMCM. if you're a strong team, competing as high schoolers is a flex. the problems are fascinating — real interdisciplinary modeling challenges.
+- **when:** february
+
+### M3 Challenge (MathWorks Math Modeling Challenge)
+- **what:** 14-hour math modeling challenge. free to enter. teams of 3-5 high schoolers.
+- **honest take:** similar to HiMCM but shorter and free. good entry point into math modeling competitions. prizes are decent ($100k+ total).
+- **when:** march
+
+### MTFC
+- **what:** team math competition
+- **honest take:** less well-known but good for building team math skills without the AMC grind pressure.
+
+### USAYPT (US Association of Young Physicists Tournaments)
+- **what:** team physics tournament. you prepare research on assigned problems and debate other teams.
+- **honest take:** unique format — it's physics meets debate. you present your research, then other teams try to poke holes in it. teaches you to defend your ideas rigorously. very different from "solve this problem in 30 seconds" competitions.
+
+## science fairs & research competitions
+
+### ISEF (International Science and Engineering Fair)
+- **what:** the biggest science fair in the world. ~1800 finalists from 80+ countries.
+- **honest take:** ISEF is legitimate. getting there requires winning a regional/state affiliated fair first. the research quality at the top is genuinely impressive. but the pipeline (regional → state → ISEF) is long and political — your local fair's judging quality varies wildly. the biggest trap: spending a year on a project that's optimized for fair judges rather than for being good science. do the research because it's interesting, then submit it to fairs. don't do research because you want to win a fair.
+- **the ISEF meta:** projects with disease/cancer in the title disproportionately win. machine learning projects are now so common that judges are skeptical. novel hardware, environmental science, and behavioral science projects are currently undervalued.
+
+### Regeneron STS (Science Talent Search)
+- **what:** the oldest and most prestigious science competition in the US. submit a research paper. 300 scholars, 40 finalists, top prize $250k.
+- **honest take:** the research quality required is high — this is basically "did you do publishable research?" judges are actual scientists. less gaming potential than ISEF. if you've done real research, apply. if you haven't, this isn't the place to start.
+
+### JSHS (Junior Science and Humanities Symposium)
+- **what:** present original research. regional → national. DoD-sponsored.
+- **honest take:** lower profile than ISEF/STS but solid. the presentation component means you also learn to communicate your work. good stepping stone.
+
+### Synopsys Science Fair (now Broadcom MASTERS for younger students)
+- **what:** regional science fair, often a feeder to ISEF.
+- **honest take:** the quality varies by region. Santa Clara County's is one of the best in the country if you're in the Bay Area.
+
+## hackathons
+
+hackathons are where builders actually learn to build. they compress months of learning into 24-48 hours.
+
+### where to find them
+- **[Major League Hacking (MLH)](https://mlh.io):** the official organizer/sanctioner of most hackathons. their event calendar is the best starting point.
+- **[Devpost](https://devpost.com):** where hackathon submissions go. browse past winners for inspiration.
+- **Hack Club's hackathon list:** community-maintained list of high-school-friendly hackathons.
+- **your local scene:** the Bay Area, NYC, and major college towns have hackathons almost every weekend. find the local organizers on Twitter/Discord.
+
+### how to actually win
+having won 3.5 out of 5 hackathons, here's what I've learned:
+
+1. **the demo is everything.** judges spend 2-5 minutes with your project. if you can't show something impressive in that time, nothing else matters.
+2. **scope aggressively.** the #1 mistake is building too much. pick one impressive thing and polish it.
+3. **the 70/30 rule:** spend 70% of your time on the core feature and 30% on the demo/presentation. most teams invert this.
+4. **pick the right prize track.** if there's a "best use of [sponsor API]" category, it's usually less competitive than "best overall." using a sponsor's API well is often a free win.
+5. **tell a story.** judges remember the team that had a compelling "why" more than the team with the most features.
+6. **ship it.** having a live URL or working app beats a slide deck every time.
+
+### the hackathon-to-startup pipeline
+some of the best projects start at hackathons. if you build something people want during a hackathon, keep going. the hackathon is the prototype; the startup is the product.
+
+## business competitions
+
+### DECA
+- **what:** business roleplay competitions. regional → state → ICDC.
+- **honest take:** DECA teaches you to think on your feet and communicate business ideas. the roleplay format is weirdly useful for founder skills — you're basically pitching under pressure. the actual business knowledge is surface-level, but the soft skills are real.
+
+### FBLA
+- **what:** similar to DECA but broader. events range from coding to public speaking to accounting.
+- **honest take:** more variety than DECA. the tech events (coding, web design) are easy wins for people who can actually code.
+
+### Diamond Challenge
+- **what:** high school entrepreneurship competition by University of Delaware. submit a business plan.
+- **honest take:** one of the better business plan competitions because it's specifically for high schoolers. the finals include pitching to real investors.
+
+## special awards & fellowships
+
+### Davidson Fellows
+- **what:** $10k, $25k, or $50k scholarships for significant work in STEM, literature, music, philosophy, or "outside the box."
+- **eligibility:** must be 18 or under, US citizen/resident
+- **honest take:** this rewards depth over breadth. you need to have done something genuinely significant — published research, a meaningful invention, a substantial creative work. the "outside the box" category is interesting for builders who don't fit neatly into STEM or arts.
+
+### Thiel Fellowship
+- **what:** $200k over 2 years to drop out of college and build something. 22 or younger.
+- **honest take:** covered more in the [funding page](/wiki/funding-grants). the most famous fellowship for young builders. extremely selective (~15 per year). you don't have to drop out to apply — they want to see you're building something that college would slow down.
+
+### Breakthrough Junior Challenge
+- **what:** create a 2-minute video explaining a concept in physics, math, or life sciences. $250k college scholarship + $50k for your teacher + $100k science lab for your school.
+- **honest take:** this is a video competition, not a research competition. production quality matters as much as scientific accuracy. if you're good at explaining things and making videos, this is unusually high-EV for the time investment.
+- **when:** submissions due ~september annually
+
+## the meta
+
+competitions are tools, not goals. the best reason to do a competition is because the preparation makes you better at something you care about. math competitions make you a better thinker. hackathons make you a better builder. science fairs force you to do deep research.
+
+the worst reason is "this will look good on my college application." admissions officers can tell the difference between someone who competed because they loved it and someone who competed for the resume line.
+
+if you're going to compete, go deep in one or two areas rather than shallow in five. a national-level result in one thing is worth more than mediocre participation in everything.
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