Talk:United States of America Mathematical Olympiad
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[edit] selection
The selection process has probably changed a lot, but it's not clear that 2001 is an interesting date. Certainly the info for "2001 and earlier" is only accurate if you go back a year or two at most, from 2001. In 1995, four freshmen-and-under took the USAMO. I believe that as late as 1998 (and as early as 1991) it was still the case that they drew a cutoff for seniors and a lower cutoff for underclassmen -- and that was the entire process. Also the first few USAMOs just invited the top 100 guys on the AHSME, as the USAMO pre-dates the AIME.
The question arises -- how relevant is all this junk? Consider that it is useful information if someone puts on their resume that they qualified for the USAMO and the employer wants to know how impressive that is. It also might be useful for other reasons, although none come to mind at the moment. UnnotableWorldFigure 09:19, 22 February 2006 (UTC)
The article seems somewhat contradictory in that in states that Canadians are (and the present tense is used) ineligible to take the exam if they are not permanent residents of the United States, but then it goes on to state that this rule has been relaxed to again allow Canadians to participate. It is therefore unclear what the current status is. I do know that according to an article by Samuel Greitzer in the March, 1981 (or so) issue of the American Mathematical Monthly, I (David Ash) was the first Canadian "winner" ("winner" meaning top eight, or now top twelve, participants in the USAMO) of the USAMO in 1980. Ravi Vakil, another Canadian, also enjoyed great success in the USAMO in the 1980's, so there had been Canadian winners well before 1990. It appeared at the time that Canadians were eligible because many of the sponsoring organizations were North America-wide. Does anyone know what the current status is? It is not clear from the article whether Canadian citizens living in Canada can now participate (they could in the 1980's) or whether the relaxation of the rules simply means that international students legally present in the United States (but not Canada) can participate regardless of visa status. --Dash77 18:00, 14 November 2006 (UTC)
From the USAMO overview page: http://www.unl.edu/amc/e-exams/e8-usamo/usamo.shtml, "U. S. citizens and students legally residing in the United States and Canada (with qualifyng scores) are eligible to take the USAMO." So it seems that legal residents of Canada can take it, as can Canadians in the United States. 68.100.166.234 22:26, 27 November 2006 (UTC)
I've simplified the eligibility paragraph on this page to reflect the info from the site above. It doesn't sound to me like the rules re citizenship/residency eligibility have changed much, if at all, since the 1980's. If there was an interim period when stricter rules for Canadians applied, and someone can cite evidence, then by all means do so--but otherwise I think the page should reflect the simple rule cited on the above page.--Dash77 06:32, 29 November 2006 (UTC)
