do college prefer competetion math/physics or higher level classes?

Applying to College
1

<p>im a junior. for about a month studying a lot every day(i like this). Right now its only math but soon i will be studying physics(beyond ap) as well. in about a month there is physics olympiad exam(f=ma) and in about 2 month there is the amc12 exam.</p>

<p>so my MAIN question is, which do colleges prefer, me doing well in competition or doing well in high level classes.</p>

<p>i go to a math/science specilized high school that . i can take as rigirous course as i want(as long i can test out of prerequisites to show that i can handle classes at that level)</p>

<p>if i study math, i could either advance or focus on competetion math. if i just do what i am doing now(at the rate i am going right now), first semestor of my senior year i will take vector calc, real analysis II, , and possibly introduction to topology( if i take this, i wont take real analysis II), and i am fairly confident i will make A on all those classes.
Should i just focus on advancing on my mathematics or should i instead focus on competetion math? which do colleges like better</p>

<p>Same with physics, should i focus the coming month on the f=ma exam or should i just continue and advance further.
which do colleges like better.</p>

<p>i dont think i will make USAMO(ive never done competition math before, so this is new for me) preety sure i will make aime though.</p>

<p>for physics, not sure. i might make the semis, dont feel positive or negative.</p>

2

<p>Either/or, but a lot of HS math competitions (AMC, AIME, USAMO, ARML, etc.) really focus on problem-solving ability, which is essential if you choose to pursue math or science subjects in college. Plus, doing well on the AMC or AIME looks very good on college apps. I made USAMO once and was able to list that near the top.</p>

<p>Unfortunately I don’t know much about the physics olympiads, but I have friends who did USAPhO and are doing well.</p>

3

<p>Do the competition maths/physics. Once you’re done with this, resume your math studies, which are already very advanced. However, colleges will want to see a decent breadth of classes (ie., English, Foreign Language, History/social science).</p>

4

<p>I always say school comes first. Concentrate on your schoolwork but set aside time to go through the old problems for both competitions. I know AMC and other math competition problems are on artofproblemsolving.org but I don’t know anything about the physics olympiad. </p>

5

<p>USAMO - especially since you’ve never done math competitions before and that type of thinking will be necessayr for the graduate-level work you’ll be doing in college.</p>