I've done ICPC for the past two years, and will probably get dragged into it this year (small CS program at my school). We don't practice, and usually end up in

I've done ICPC for the past two years, and will probably get dragged into it this year (small CS program at my school). We don't practice, and usually end up in the top third regionally. Not great. But it's just not worth my time. I get enough algorithms in my coursework, I get enough stress and team action at my job at a startup, I don't care about trophies and the other prizes are weak...why bother? I might be interested in, say, a 12-hour Rails contest to see who makes the best website in a day. That's actually building things--solving real problems. But that's of course not realistic for most CS students.