[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.