<p>Just to clarify, there are online contests throughout the year, about once a month from November to April. The one in April is the major one called the “Open,” but all of them are considered for moving on to the next stages of the competition which involve a training camp, and then the international contest. What’s awesome about USACO is that they also provide instructional materials, so even if you don’t know much about programming, they’ll help you learn what you need.</p>
<p>The USAMTS is another good contest, but for mathematics, that is done completely online and does not require any participation from your school. The AMC is also sometimes administered at local universities. There are also a few minor math competitions online, but these seem to come and go. None of the ones I am familiar with from when I was in high school seem to exists anymore. There might also be a math circle in your area, which is like a math club but for a wider group of people.</p>
<p>A lot of people do research at local universities. This is something that’s easier to do with the support of your school, but most people I know that did research in high school found opportunities independently.</p>
<p>There are a lot of summer programs that focus on math and science, and these also do not require your school to participate (but might ask for recommendations and transcripts).</p>
<p>My son was a CS major in college, and in HS he found books and online courses that taught him how to program. That was the best thing he did by far, because it gave him a big leg up when it came to internships starting his freshman year of college. Also, in HS he got involved in the drama dept as a lighting and set designer. He considered those to be “engineering” related activities. The college recruiters told him that they don’t expect HS kids to have direct experience with engineering, so I wouldn’t worry about that.</p>
<p>Our S took AP CS courses, AP physics courses and AP Calc AB. He also enjoyed video games and tweaking the computers in our home. He had no problems diving into engineering and graduating as an EE. He didn’t have STEM ECs. His SR year, he was in a few clubs that he co-founded, but not really STEM. It hasn’t hurt him at all, and he was able to get engineering internships after both soph and JR years, as well as doing engineering research at his U for JR & SR years.</p>
<p>Sona2013, we are getting an Arduino set for our S2 this xmas. You can do some really cool and fun projects with them. Fantastic way to get introduced to computer science/engineering.</p>
<p>I looked up the Arduino and it looks interesting, but does anyone know, is this something someone who knows next to nothing about computer architecture can get anywhere with if they don’t have a knowledgeable parent to help them out? How user-friendly is it for a beginner?</p>
<p>Mathyone - The learning curve is easy. I helped my sons set one up, mainly because I could not keep my hands off of it. There is a large support community.</p>