[screwperman]

It always seemed like more of a cultural difference than a financial one to me. Don't you think that TopCoder could be useful for American high school and undergraduate students, who could be preparing for the IOI and ICPC respectively? Fun fact: this year's TopCoder Open Algorithm Championship winner was a Chinese high school student who never qualified for the IOI.

As an aside, if you don't mind telling me, do you think your participation in the IOI helped get you into grad school at MIT? If so, to what extent?

[costan]

I requested to see my admission file after I was accepted into MIT. My guess is I wouldn't have been there without my medal.

Disclaimers: I can't into the heads of the people in the admissions office. Also, the Dean of Admissions was changed a few years ago, so my input is likely to be irrelevant.