Does "head start" imply a comparison or competition with others?

Question

I'm working on an application for a summer school. In the letter, I am explaining how I have been preparing to get into the field in question and how the summer school would further help me with that and I just typed, without thinking too much:

The XY summer school would not only give me a head start in this regard [in preparing for a career in this field] and help me further prepare but also allow me to connect with researchers from the field as well as like-minded people from all over the world.

However, is this usage of "head start" idiomatic? Am I implying that I would like to get an "advantage" over someone else (which is not what I'm intending to write, of course)? I am sure I have seen "head start" being used simply in the context of "helping you get started effectively" (as in "Doing X and Y will give you a head start when it comes to preparing for your exams"), without reference to anyone else. But I'm now starting to doubt my (purely contextual) understanding since I had never explicitly looked up "head start" in a dictionary and all dictionaries seem to consider "head start" to imply a competitive context.

Also, if I am indeed wrong, I would be very happy to receive comments with suggestions on what other idiom / expression I could use instead.

Answer 1

The term "head start" presumably (I can't find any etymology) comes from sports activities like horse racing. A specific competitor might be given a "head start" by literally having his horse line up one head's length ahead of the other competitors, as a sort of handicapping process. A similar advantage in a foot race would involve having the advantaged runner have a starting line some distance (maybe inches, maybe yards) ahead of the others.

This concept has generalized to the point that "head start" refers to any advantage given to a competitor at the start of a "race" or competition (real or conceptual). Thus, a preschool education program in the US is known as "Head Start", and the term is often used in the context of explaining one individual's educational attainment vs others in his cohort.

And the term has generalized from there to often simply mean "starting before the others", as in "Bill and Fred have a head start on this job you'll be working on, so you should ask them to help with the messy details."

The only way that your use of "head start" in your proposed statement is not idiomatic is that it fails to acknowledge that "allow me to connect" is also a form of "head start".

Answer 2

This is a tough one, in my opinion. Certainly the term does originate from a context of trying to gain an advantage over someone, but I think it has taken on a much more benign meaning colloquially. My opinion is that you can almost definitely use the term "head start" without any concern.

As an alternative, you could maybe just say that it would give you an "excellent start" or a "good foundation."

Anyway, good luck!