Participation soars in programming competition this year

The school has seen a large increase in students trying their hand at the United States of America Computing Olympiad (USACO), a rigorous online computer science competition.

With a large number of freshmen expressing interest in pursuing jobs in computer science, sign-ups for the 4-hour test have skyrocketed, with nearly a dozen new sign ups this year.

The competition, which occurs every December, January, February and March, serves as an opportunity for students to improve their critical-thinking and analytical skills through computer programming. In order to ensure convenience for all competitors, USACO can be taken online from the comfort of students’ own homes.

The competition’s difficulty levels range from “Bronze,” a level geared at those with little algorithmic experience, all the way to “Platinum,” a level that includes algorithmic challenges even the best professional engineers have trouble cracking.

All contestants initially begin at the “Bronze” tier before advancing to the following levels after solving a predetermined number of problems. If contestants solve all the problems in a certain level, they are eligible to receive an “in-contest promotion,” an opportunity for them to solve the next level’s problems without having to wait until the next competition.

The competition gives contestants a glimpse into what the software engineering world truly entails, with USACO problems often mirroring ones asked at interviews for most tech jobs that require computer science knowledge.

“USACO problems are extremely applicable to interviews at large technology companies,” said junior Aayush Gupta, who has reached the most advanced level. “The problems prepare you with the algorithmic mindset needed in order to tackle the more challenging interview questions you would often find at Google, Apple, Quora and other household names.”

This recent increase in participation can be partially attributed to the participation of the Math Club, whose members have decided to enroll in the competition due to the similarities found in both computer science and mathematics fields.

Freshman Nevin Liang said he was able to work his way into Gold [the second highest level] by first writing mathematical equations for the problems, and then implementing them in code. Although he has not been programming very long, doing USACO has now motivated him to delve deeper into software engineering and learn more about various computer science algorithms.

In addition to the many Math Club students who have found their niche in USACO, many other participants have been motivated to enroll in the competition because of the school's Computer Science Club.

Freshman Dhruv Shah, who is already a Platinum contestant, said that he was initially inspired to participate in the competition through the lectures and activities of the club.

“Although I had been programming for a while, I wasn’t taking USACO all too seriously,” Shah said. “However, after being exposed to the lectures of the Computer Science Club and realizing that I already knew most of what they were talking about, I was able to quickly climb the ranks and end up in Platinum.”

New participants have also signed up for the competition without being a member of either club. Sophomore Nicholas Zhang, a self-taught programmer, was able to advance from Bronze to Platinum after just one competition. But to improve his abilities as a computer programmer, Zhang is now looking to delve deeper into mathematics.

“I am now trying to split my studies between both computer science algorithms and mathematical concepts,” Zhang said. “Competing in USACO has really been a game-changer for my academics because it’s helped me view problems in a different angle.”