Hello,
I am not a permanent resident (green card holder) nor a citizen of the US, but I am a legal resident in the process of receiving her greencard (it had been filed already). Can I still compete in USNCO?
Does anyone else in a similar situation have experience with this?
If I’m not allowed to compete how unfair this is! What happened to equitable education?
Well the local test won’t be until March 2021. Hopefully your permanent residence will be granted by then. I am not sure at what point they will begin to inquire as to permanent residence or citizenship. Probably not until the National Exam or study camp. Good luck with your studies and obtaining residence!
nope, I’ve got years to go for the residency
But I plan on preparing with the intent of making the national exam and even study camp, so I don’t want something so unfair to be what prevents me to do so.
Anyone who has experience with this, or even previous national exam takers and study campers, when is your status verified?
Has anyone every tried to change this eligibility criteria before?
Yikes. I don’t remember the USNCO policies clearly but I know for Biology you have to be a citizen or equivalent or something to even take the Open Exam. I’d expect Physics and Math to have similar policies as well if you were also into those.
Think about it like this. The whole purpose of these competitions is to identify and prepare the literal best 4 students in the country to represent the US at the International stage. If you aren’t a legal citizen or equivalent, there’s no way that the committees can in good conscience claim that you represent a country that you aren’t legally affiliated with. That’d be like me flying over to Russia and taking a spot from some Chemistry star in Moscow and representing Russia at the IChO. See what I mean? They have these rules for a reason. Yes it’s a little unfair for the stars that can’t shine in a country that needs their talent, but the rule was made to prevent abuse of the system.