Competition

USACO (USA Computing Olympiad) is a high-level programming and algorithm competition for middle school students worldwide, aimed at selecting and cultivating computer science talents. It serves as the main selection channel for the US national team to participate in the International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI). Founded by the United States in 1992 and held annually since 1993, the competition has become one of the most influential middle school informatics competitions globally, especially carrying significant weight when applying for STEM majors at top universities. ‌

All competitions are online individual contests, where players are free to choose to complete the competition within a specified time window (usually 4 days) by working consecutively for 4-5 hours.