<p>Please tell me what is the role of these competetions for ivy colleges. Participation will help or winning is the only option.</p>
<p>They really don’t matter if you participate in them unless you do very well and place very high; anyone with a team can participate in ARML. </p>
<p>For the physics are you referring to the USAPhO? Making it to the semi-final exam will boost your application, but not that much since the F=ma exam isn’t too hard to score high on IMO and making it to the Physics camp is excellent, probably equal to, if not more prestigious than qualifying for the USAMO (most of the students who qualify for the camp have qualified for the USAMO multiple times). Making it to the traveling team will probably get you in at almost any college.</p>