Summer plan: higher level math or prep for USACO

Applying to College
1

I’m finishing my freshman and trying to figure out my summer plan. I have plan to major or minor in computer science or engineering. I was wondering if I should do option A or B to be competitive as a future applicant:

Option A;
Take pre-calculus at community college for this summer so to take Ap Calc AB next school year (as sophmore), then AP Calc BC as junior, and senior I could perhaps take Linear Algebra at local community college since the highest level my school could offer for math is AP Calc BC. Would taking Calculus sooner will help with ACT, USACO, math competition to reach at higher level?

Option B;
I would like to participate in USACO at the end of the year, hopefully can pass the Bronze level and then maybe obtain gold by the end of junior year. I plan to use Java since I’ll be taking AP CS Java in junior year. But it will takes time for me to learn Java and spend time coding. For those who have participated in the USACO recently, would I not be able to reach gold level if I did not start doing prep this summer and instead take pre-calculus (see option A) to reach a higher level of math by senior year?

I guess my question is: Would having higher math level than calculus on my high school transcript look better than a USACO silver level which would be easier to obtain than gold level?

2

Taking Calculus earlier doesn’t really help with anything. All you really need to do is finish BC by senior year. You are far better off spending your time on your time on ECs and working towards USACO gold.

1 Like
3

Take the one that is most interesting and fun to you! Ultimately both of these will probably make very little difference in where you are admitted, so do what you think is interesting.

I am not discouraging you from doing them, both sound great.

4

You don’t need to take calculus early. If you love math and want to, fine.

Honestly, I think you should spend summers doing something you enjoy. You can even just get a job- that is also respected by admissions.

If USACO gold is important to you, go for it, but watch your stress level. It can accumulate. Down time is good!

In the end, I agree with the other poster, that neither option may help with admissions- who knows. I would not spend high school focused on admissions. You are only a freshman. Have an enjoyable summer and try to enjoy high school, follow your interests, work hard, and make good friends.