Hi, I am thinking I should try to qualify for the AIME in the next school year through the AMC 12 (rising junior). I haven’t been very involved with math competitions for my past 2 years of high school (took AMC but didn’t study and didn’t score high). I have high SAT/AP scores for math and will have taken a couple years of college-level math classes after AP Calculus by the time I graduate, but I hear AMC/AIME can help you stand out. But my question is, how much would qualifying for AIME only once in junior year really matter for college admissions? Admissions aside, is it good preparation for college coursework? Some background: my intended major is CS and I’m aiming for schools like CMU SCS, Cornell Engineering, and UCB L&S (maybe Stanford/MIT but idk about my chances).
Definitely do it. It will help with both admissions and with math coursework.
And trust me if you go to Berkeley L&S CS, that AIME experience will put you two legs up on everyone in the crucial CS 70 class. That’s the more important thing.