<p>What the hell is this test? I've never heard of it before and considering I'm pretty darn good at mathematics makes me want to take it! It seems as though tons of MIT applicants take it so I just want all of the info I can get on it. (Which test should I take?)</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>AMC stands for the American Mathematics Competition, if I remember correctly. They have various levels for various ages - most people are currently taking the AMC 12, for Juniors and Seniors. It is the precursor to the AIME, which, if you're really awesome, is the precursor to the Math Olympiad. Pretty similar to the Chemistry, Biology, Physics, and Informatics Olympiads if you've heard of any of them.</p>
<p>Unfortunately I don't know how you'd go about taking it if your school doesn't already offer it and isn't willing to do so - you might consider talking to your math teacher and asking him or her to proctor the test for you. If you can't take it, don't worry about it - it is no means a requirement for getting into MIT.</p>
<p>Either your school can start offering it (refer to the American Mathematics Competition website for the process) or you can also take it at another school that already offers it (just contact their AMC coordinator - usually a math teacher).</p>
<p>My school only offered AMC 12B, and I noticed that I was going to be on a trip to Japan when AMC 12A was offered, so I got in touch with American School in Japan and I actually took 12A at their school (in another country!) =p</p>
<p>How big does USAMO mean to admissions?</p>
<p>I made it this year as a 10th grader and hopefully I make it next year as an 11th grader.</p>
<p>But just compared to other national awards (such as a research competition as ISEF or Siemens) how would qualifying stack up?</p>
<p>And does anyone have a statistic on the number of qualifiers applied/accepted/rejected?</p>
<p>Qualifying for USAMO definitely means something, as only about (is it 400-500 now? - it was 250 my junior year) people are selected. But since they increased the quota, I'm not sure whether it holds the same weight as we thought before.</p>
<p>I think there's no qualitative way to compare which competition "looks better." For example, if you win nationals at ISEF or Siemens obviously that's going to be a very, very impressive achievement. </p>
<p>Bear in mind that ISEF and Siemens both require a research paper (and if you make the later stages of the competition) presentation as well, which is different from just doing well on a series of exams.</p>
<p>I don't think people maintain stats on admits based on USAMO qualifiers. Check the old CC MIT decision threads if you're interested. There's usually a couple USAMO people in there.</p>
<p>Umm yea I always thought Siemens and ISEF were a lot superior than USAMO because the reasearch that you are doing actually has practical value...</p>
<p>but yea it sucks that AoPS help expand it to 500 people because I wouldve probably qualified with the old format, but with the new one, it doesnt look as good (unless you make MOP of course)</p>
<p>I sure hope it holds a lot of weight... USAMO/MOP is pretty much the only hook on my application. I had never even heard of Siemens etc. until I came to CC. :p</p>
<p>^Oh dont worry you made it to MOP...thats like way better than Siemens Semifinalist.</p>
<p>Honestly, if you have like 2200+ SAT/3.8+GPA you will get accepted.</p>
<p>Besides Im curious, did you make it to Red/Blue/Black MOP and what grade are you in?</p>
<p>I personally didnt make it but I had a friend (9th) who made it to Red MOP, wonder if you knew him (hes in 10th now)</p>
<p>Red MOP in 9th grade (2006).</p>
<p>But I'll know everything tomorrow..... I hope....</p>
<p>Just about every single USAMO qualifier I have known has got into MIT, I'm sure that it helps considerably. Percent wise, qualifying for USAMO is much more difficult than being admitted to MIT (0.1% qualify for USAMO, ~13% are admitted to MIT). Regardless, I'm sure that even if they are rejected by MIT, most USAMO qualifiers end up at HYPSMC, and qualifying for USAMO for more than one year or making MOP is a big +. </p>
<p>Here is a quote from an old thread: </p>
<p>
[quote]
While it is true that most college students may never have heard of the AMC, AIME or USAMO, MIT applicants are highly self-selecting and have definitely heard of them. I would venture to guess that the vast majority of admitted students have taken at last the AMC. It is not by accident that MIT is one of the only schools that list the test on its application. It is because it is COMMON among its applicants. That does not mean that failure to take the AMC will automatically exclude a candidate, but if a student is from a high school where students take the test and they themselves did not, it will at least raise a question. Same thing with AP classes and tests. If most top students at your HS take AP Calc BC and you did not, you have some explaining to do.</p>
<p>As far as how much of an edge a high AMC or AIME score provides, the only thing I know from meetings with adcoms as an EC (educational counselor) , is that an AIME score greater than 7 makes the candidate a "super candidate". USAMO, Siemens or Intel finalists get even a greater boost and MIT tends to attract and aggressively recruit a disproportionate number of them. A USAMO finalist or Intel finalist is much more attractive to MIT than a 2400 SAT scorer. MIT participates in a lot of collegiate math competitions such as the Putnam as well as many science competitions and wants to perform well at them. MIT may not recruit olympic caliber athletes but it does recruit math and science olympians.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I qualified for USAMO (score of 9 on AIME) and DID NOT get accepted by MIT EA. I got deferred. I'm still hoping...</p>
<p>yeah i know a USAMO honorable mention who got rejected RD... :/ he screwed up his SAT horibly tho</p>
<p>Qualifying for the USAMO does not guarantee early admission to MIT. A boy from our local high school qualified three times before applying to MIT last year. He was deferred, then finally admitted to the class of 2012. If you read through the entire official admission threads for 2012, you'll see that some top mathematicians were eventually denied admission. I read an interview last year with a member of MIT's Putnam team. Apparently MIT can field about a hundred students strong enough to sit for that competition. Given the depth and breadth of talent at the school, MIT does not have to admit every USAMO qualifier that applies. All the more reason to pay attention to all aspects of your application.</p>