[option]

yeah, try finding good “free” math club when kid is 6-7 y.o.

And by the time there are actually viable free options the kids are already far behind.

Preparing for tests are much cheaper than joining good clubs and/or preparing to write a food essays

[helen___keller]

I'm not sure I understand your point. GP was looking for how an applicant who is smart but not privileged can show how they are smart, so that's what I was listing. Literally, what I did in high school. I joined the math team and went to competitions. When my school didn't have the funding or interest to go to regional competitions, I managed to get myself signed up as a team of 1 representing my school and hitch a ride with a neighboring school.

[option]

that’s literally what I did too and (not to brag but) I got on my country’s international math team and got free admission to university because of that. But how many were there? 10 at most.

Edit: my point is that finding the right math club at the right time is even more luck and effort than getting good on standard tests.

[helen___keller]

Oh sorry, to be clear "math club" here was supposed to mean like, local math club, not successful competitive math club.

I mostly convinced classmates to go to local competitions because it was a day out of class and we could stop by the mall afterwards. We didn't win jack shit, my crowning "achievement" was beating half the schools at a regional competition, which is typically teams of 4, but as a team of 1 (and there's no award for 50th percentile).

Nonetheless, I had "President - Mu Alpha Theta" on my college application and I did end up making it to an elite university.