About

The US pathway to the IESO begins with the USESO National Open Exam, administered each spring and open to all US high school students with interest in earth sciences. Top scorers are invited to the USESO Training Camp, a week-long residential program held each June at a rotating university host — covering theoretical content, practical field investigations, and team challenges across geology, meteorology, oceanography, and solar system astronomy. The four students with the strongest combined performance across written and practical evaluations are selected for Team USA; four additional guest students may travel and compete in international team events but are not eligible for individual medals. The IESO itself, held each summer in a different host country, combines a theoretical exam, a practical station-based exam, an international team field investigation, and in some years additional collaborative projects — making it one of the most field-intensive of the International Science Olympiads.

The IESO occupies a distinct and underappreciated position in the olympiad landscape. Earth science receives less pre-college competitive infrastructure than mathematics, physics, or chemistry, which means the USESO pathway attracts a smaller and more self-selecting pool of genuinely committed students. Team USA's record — more international team awards than any other country, including back-to-back first-place finishes in 2018 and 2019 — reflects the depth of preparation the program delivers. Team USA membership and medal performance at the IESO occupy a category of their own in how selective STEM programs evaluate applicants: MIT and peer research universities have cited International Science Olympiad achievement explicitly among the credentials that signal genuine pre-college scientific accomplishment, in a way that places it above virtually any other extracurricular a science-track student can pursue.

The IESO is the right competition for a high school student with serious interest in earth or environmental sciences who is prepared to commit to a year of preparation across multiple disciplines — and the training camp experience alone, regardless of Team USA selection, provides field science exposure that most undergraduates never encounter.