<p>Should my son even bother applying for this? (He's not even accepted so it might be a moot point anyways-ha!) He's planning on being a math major but he's only done 2 years of competitions and has never done USAMO, only AIME twice, ARML twice, and some local stuff. He's done lots of math including some upper division and graduate level subjects but is certainly not tops in competition math in our large city. (He's done better at physics competitions)</p>
<p>It’s hard to say. Most of the people I recognize from the list of past recipients are ridiculously brilliant and definitely top in the nation types. However, there are a couple on there who did not major / are not majoring in math - and as far as I know never intended to - and I’m pretty sure never did USAMO (but did do ARML). So it might be worth a shot, especially since it doesn’t look like there’s an essay section on the application :)</p>