Deleted. Thanks anyway for the two likes, people.
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@Thorsmom66 I will definitely be doing all of that, as for High Point I did check and while itās not stellar, it offers enough courses for me to be pleased with what I have to take. Itās no where near as good as like Humboldtās course offerings and especially MIT or the other boujie schools but for a safety, it does good enough. Plus its honors program appears to be pretty good so if I get accepted into that program (which I am applying to) Iām not particularly worried about the courses Iāll take. Although its questionable reputation is definitely cause for some pause, I do think the reputation is more of a thing caused by the students rather than the school itself (which is probably why they have a separate honors college)
@YoLo2, Iām sorry itās unclear. It is unfinished, and I am in the beginning stages of writing the first section (a sort of introductory set theory module so that the reader can understand what is going on).
This book is not an instructional book, āencyclopediaā is the only word I could really use for it as thereās really not any good words for it. Itās just a basic book where after introducing a couple of concepts that are relatively easy to understand, itāll go over some of the weird things you can do with it (So an example of what one section could look like is in the Algebra section itāll refer back to what a set is, and then define what it means to operate on a set, then from there itāll describe a bunch of things that the set can do and what is use cases are. I know this sounds suuuuper boring but have some faith will ya?). This is all entirely my synthesis while using knowledge I pick up from a variety of sources.
Iām currently thinking that the target audience will be in the 4-8th grade range (most likely 6th-8th since thatās when a lot of students first get exposed to classical algebra which will flow somewhat well with modern algebra). I have no tested it with any audiences yet, however, I have run past some sections of my book with a variety of professors who specialize in mathematics education and theyāve all found the book to be pretty good so far.
As stated, this book is in the very early stages (to the point where really all I have is a proof of concept unit that explains the 3 basic proof techniques before using those techniques to explain and prove Rolleās theorem and the mean value theorem).
Once Iāve compiled everything into one solid 100-150 page long book Iāll start trying to reach out to child publishing companies to see whoād be willing to publish the book and offer some free copies to various math teachers near me so they can shut up any student who asks āwhen are we going to use this stuffā lol.
@merc81, arenāt terminal degrees just the highest order degree you can get ofr your major at the institution? Like a bachelors in x is only terminal if there is no masters or phd in x at the same institution.
Iām going to say you are correct, @omar_fish. Iāll delete my post.
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And
And
This is contradictory and your story keeps changing moment-by-moment about how much you have done.
And you are somehow also planning to simultaneously work on that fantasy novel for which you have just started to sketch out the plot outline?
I would say pick something actually feasible and complete it. Right now these ECs (or really just your initial plans for ECs) are telling a story about you, but I donāt think itās the one you should put out there.
I donāt think what I said is all that contradictory, a section and unit are not the same (although I mightāve mixed the 2 up). By āsectionā I mean a type of math (as stated earlier, statistics, analysis, geometry/topology, and algebra are the major ones) and each section has sub sections I call āunitsā (for example, analysis has a unit called āshapes of graphs and strange featuresā and from there I had defined Rolleās theorem and the median value theorem. The 3 basic proofs are disconnected from this and are meant to be introduced a lot earlier).
Iām also not entirely certain what the story youāre thinking of is and why it shouldnāt be put out. Maybe Iām biased cause itās me weāre talking about but from my perspective I just see myself as a person who really enjoys mathematics and writing and writing and decided to write about mathematics and also write about dragons and stuff cause theyāre still a teen. What story are you picking up from the ECs?
The story Iām getting is that you have abandoned projects in the past, and you have infeasible plans for ambitious projects in the future. Thereās a pattern of a lack of follow-through.
And rather than follow suggestions for doing something smaller, discrete and feasible, you come up with a multitude of excuses.
Here is another piece of concrete advice:
You do not need to fill all of your EC slots on the applications. 2-4 really good ECs are better than 10 mediocre ones.
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Iām honestly appalled at what you wrote here. How are you going to write a book that accurately portrays different branches of advanced math, when you have no formal training whatsoever in advanced math beyond Calculus III?
How much do you know about real/complex analysis, topology, differential geometry, calculus of variations, ordinary/partial differential equations, abstract algebra, number theory, etc.? Most PhDs in math are not able to write a book that does justice to such a huge discipline with such a long history even if they devote all their time and energy, let alone an (advanced) high schooler doing this part-time as an EC.
If your book is going to be like you said, encyclopedia-like, containing only the most basic ideas from different branches of math, why would someone chooses to read it, as opposed to going to Wikipedia?
Another issue with your attempt to write such a book is, in many areas of math, even the most basic ideas and theorems can be tricky and easily misunderstood. How can you be sure that your self-taught understanding of those ideas and theorems is impeccable, so that others wonāt be misled by your book? You want to be a responsible author, and you are unlikely to be one with your current math background, doing this in your free time as one of your many ECs.
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Omar - you should do āsomething.ā A club, band, sport, work.
You need something tangible.
Youāre spending a lot of time on here where you could be building your resume.
Even if you have a hobby, like writing, for top schools you want something tangible.
Writing can be something you do your entire lifeā¦but if you are trying to impress, build tenure and impact as part of a team.
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Iām not certain where the āpatternā is coming from. I donāt bring up the stuff I did in all my old posts mostly because I donāt feel as if they paint an accurate picture of me or just things happened that prevented me from doing it. Looking at my first post, the 3 major things that didnāt happen were the DECA club, 1000 dollars, and research paper. Thing is: the research paper I abandoned I am currently using to help with what Iām currently researching, and the other 2 things didnāt happen due to me getting suspended last year (tl;dr: a kid who already didnāt like me entered a manic state and tried to gouge out my eye resulting in me smacking them to get them away from me. This still results in a suspension because of reasons).
Like a lot of the things are still present, the record label still exists after I gave it to a friend, MUN is still there, class council still happened, didnāt get elected for president though because of the suspension, and the albums and books areā¦ gone : (
@Momofthree24, I understand this. If I were to get rid of any ECs itād probably be the ones related to the live streaming and MUN but I feel as if I do this I wouldnāt be doing anyone a service. And itās also pretty vague like what is a āreally good ECā? Thereās a lot of different ways to view things. Like a lot of people in this thread think that a job is a greater EC than original research but from my experience of doing both I think it says a lot more about a person who does research over a job. And Iām not really even certain which ECs Iād want to get rid of besides maybe the app and community service? Other than those 2 I really donāt feel as if itās the best of ideas to just not list out something.
Iām really not certain why everyone is trying so hard to press me to drop ECs that I have consistently shown I have no interests in dropping. I understand you guys have my best interests at heart but I have my best curiosities at heart too. I feel as if people here tend to forget that teenagers can be weird people with strange hobbies and just want to show off those hobbies when they can. So even if these 10 ECs are āmediocreā theyāre not for me because these are some of the most fun activities Iāve done in (albeit short) life and if an AO thinks theyāre simply āmediocreā then that just shows that the people at the school donāt have the same values I do and Iād rather not go to an institution like that. Iām much happier with getting rejected because an institution had too little seats and my grades than I am with getting accepted but the AO had to argue that my ECs were indeed āstellarā or something like that.
@yikkblue, Accurate portrayals are important, but, itās also important to note that my goal here isnāt to give an āeducationalā experience (although it helps), itās to give an experience that entertains someone. Style of edutainment (similar to the little encyclopedias or the encyclopedia of science if any of you have given your kids those books. If not then I strongly encourage them they are amazing reads for any younger kids) more than anything else.
Because of this, all my goal is is to provide entertainment that is accurate. Not to do any subject ājusticeā. Thereās a reason why my page limit is only 100-150, this self-imposed limit forces me to focus on some specific parts of various sub fields and explain them in a very interesting way. In fact, this has actually made the proof of concept unit one that Iām still apprehensive placing in, I only placed it in because Rolleās theorem and the mean value theorem for this reason lol.
As for how do I understand if Iām misunderstanding something? Well I have 3 various supports. The first are the math professors who were interested in the book, the second is my math teacher who has a grad degree in math, and lastly, if all else fails and nobody else is understanding me I have internet forums. Donāt underestimate the power of the internet to find out whatās wrong when you make a mistake lol.
Iām not writing this without any support at all, Iām just writing it as much as possible by myself until Iām at the point where whole units can be sent off to various people and get reviewed and checked.
Honestly, the most difficult part of this book will probably be me trying to sift through what I find interesting and what the general public will find interesting as Iām way too over excited for maths lol. But really the amount of examples I have to use are a total of like 12-16 (3-4 for each unit)
What prevents people from using wikipedia? Well try to look up the wikipedia article of a Lie group and imagine being a 6th-8th grader. Yeah chances are you wouldnāt understand a single word lol. Iām not giving people the full explanation of things, just enough so that people can get intrigued and think more about it until itās important for the future.
@tsbna44, I think itās pretty clear I have tangible things Iāve done, Iāve done MUN, the songs Iāve made, same with the live streaming, the fashion design Iāve done (although itās not available to the public, though I will be honest the biggest reason why is more just that Iām too broke to afford doing anything with that which is why I planned on selling the designs after I get to college and have a job to start getting a business off the ground). As for the writing, I do hate to admit it but I am definitely a lot more privy to posting short stories and the likes around the place, but Iāll most likely do so after Iām done publishing my novel. I also am also considering publishing the novel in a web novel format rather than a regular format because thatād be significantly cheaper and would also let me work at a better pace.
So thatās 4.5 tangible ECs (.5 for the work done on the novel so far since itās at a point where now once I flesh out an arc for the character to go on I can start publishing chapters). Iāll throw in another 0.5 for the community service because I am going to be forced to do it either way. So thatās half of my ECs at a point where theyāre tangible or theyāre soon going to have to be forced to be tangible. Itās not as if Iām just doing things and dropping them, I typically do see them to the end unless either: 1: it costs too much money or 2: I am physically or academically(?) incapable of doing it. (when I say academically I refer to the suspension of course, that prevents a lot of ECs from happening for obvious reasons)
Serious question: Are you receiving any kind of professional emotional/mental health counseling?
Which is what? Youāre supposedly a 17 y/o h/s student with almost no work experience.
Big Exception when it comes to College Confidential.
As a mathematician, you realize the two are not the same, right?
Look. The adults here are at a disadvantage because itās against our TOS to question a posterās motives. But if you really are a high school student who has suffered a traumatic event, youāre putting the rest of us in the awkward position of enabling someone in need of serious help; and these endless, stream-of-consciousness sessions are a poor substitute for what you really need right now. Getting into Brown is in no way as important.
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A really good EC can be anything that you have completed, done for a longer period of time (not hit and run), where you have shown leadership (in addition to getting your hands dirty by actually DOING things), and is something that is actually believable for a high school student to achieve. And showing you can work with others is a huge plus. I donāt see that in any of your ECs.
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I think Iāve made it through the whole thread, but apologies if any of the below has already been stated:
I agree with thumper. Adding, grandparents can not cosign parent plus loans. Some private loan providers will not give loans to grandparents because of their age. I encourage you to figure this out over the next eight months as your budget will drive (and limit to some extent) your college list.
It is not easy to keep a restaurant clean, prepare food that customers want to buy, and keep customers happy. Oh and function as part of a team. Itās a challenging way to spend oneās day, hence why work experience is highly valued by many college AOs.
I think this was stated on your other thread(s), but at most of the private unis on your list you will not get ANY credit for your DE classes. So no early graduation, no $ savings. At some private schools you might get a bit of credit here and there, but not enough to graduate even a semester early. You MIGHT get some placement benefit though. You would get the most credit acceptance at public colleges. Do your homework and figure that out before you apply. Figuring that out entails doing research on the schoolās website first, then often following up with your AO to talk specifics. Some schools wonāt talk about DE/AP credit info until after the student is accepted.
I am not going to pile on about the research and writing the book. If you think you have an idea āmore on the level of a Nobel Laureateās studies than anything else I knowā I encourage you to contact some college math profs (maybe start with where you take DE classes) and present the idea to them. You will know the quality of your idea very quickly.
Lastly, as someone who reads apps all day, I will leave you with this:
Aās in rigorous classes >>> ECs
Work experience (+ for leadership responsibilities) on a consistent basis >>>> an unproven, unvetted research idea or unfinished book or self published book with no sales.
HS club experience (+ for leadership) on a consistent basis >>>> a unproven, unvetted research idea or unfinished book or self published book with no sales
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How about a standardized testing score before you compile a list. My D18 loved brown and had a 35ACT UW 4.0 8-10AP classes with 5 and 4s. Jobs, varsity sport, musical theatre, leader of a club that tutored inter city elementary students. Rejected at Princeton, Brown, UNC, UVA and weightlisted at Vandy.
Brown and to a lesser extent Lehigh are a huge reach for you right now. And even with all Aās this year and a 1500 SAT will still be nothing more than a lottery ticket application.
OP as suggested by others needs to buckle down make great grades, get great test scores, get EC or two that involves interacting with his peers and adults instead hypothesizing about some book he may or may not write or some journal article that may or not get published.
No one is trying to crush your dream of Brown or Lehigh. We who are all much more knowledgeable on the subject of college admission (amazingly 2 who attended and did interviews for Brown) are telling you the things that can help you potentially realize your dream.
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@circuitrider I didnāt expect college confidential to start trying to guess if Iām in a depressive episode lol. Iām doing just fine, about as well as any other high schooler is doing. And once again: these ECs arenāt being done for the sake of āoooh I need to go to Brownā theyāre being done because I find them fun lol. Getting into Brown isnāt important but I sure as hell would love to try to.
Also when I say āfrom my experienceā, I used to work at McDonalds for a year and Iām currently working as an attendance officer from my school for one of my classes. Thatās why I said everything I did about my job because from my experience, at both jobs you have to actively be trying to get fired or removed from work. Unironically I believe getting fired from either one of those jobs is a significantly more difficult feat than doing any of my other ECs lol.
@thumper1, āany of my ECsā is an exaggeration, the 5 ones Iāve done so far all have some components of leadership. I donāt bring it up cause itās not much but itās not as if Iām sitting here pretty. Granted, these components of leadership sum up to asking friends for favors or commissioning people to do something for me, and for MUN it sums up to me leading the entire club and planning out where we go and various activities we do.
@Mwfan1921 , I believe grandparents qualify for the British equivalent of a PLUS loan but I could be wrong. Either way itās pretty much just Oxford where the possibility of going to debt is real, the other universities not so much.
Also Iām genuinely surprised by how much this thread underestimates teenagers like we know how to follow orders, like itās not that hard.
I also am aware that a bunch of my DE classes may not transfer to whatever institution I go to, however, they have the ability to greatly improve my GPA and they are completely for free so thereās not much harm in doing so.
As stated, I will definitely contact people in the future, just when Iāve narrowed down my topic of research and Iāve finished my preliminary readings.
Also I find very strange how people are assuming I only have like 3 ECs. All of the things you mentioned Iāve done. And also for the book: as stated earlier Iāve done the worldbuilding for it, once I create an outline for the first arc itās not that difficult to start publishing it as a webnovel. Will it get many readers? Probably not but letās not pretend Iām like the next Tolkien lol.
@burghdad I am thankful for all of the advice but the thing is: the advice is constantly assuming that Iām only doing the things Iām doing for the sake of having a good EC. Iām doing these things because they genuinely interest me and are fun. At the end of the day, I think people forget teenagers can be weird. If going to brown means I have to give up the things Iām interested in then I just wonāt go there. Itās not the biggest deal in the world to not go to Brown or Lehigh Iām more than happy with the rest of my schools (especially Humboldt). Would it be nice? Yes, but itās not like my life is over if I donāt get accepted to my EDs or reaches.
Iād much rather pursue what Iām interested in at Humboldt than give up what Iām interested at Brown. At the end of the day, my dream isnāt to go to brown, my dream is to just be happy lol.
Soā¦are we good, here?
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If OP is good with Humboldt, then yes, I think weāre good here.
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Adding on, that I think itās exciting that Humboldt is the newest Cal Poly and that Iām sure the OP will get a great education there.
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Iām going to share a cautionary tale here. My D had a similar high school experience to yours. She went to 3 different high schools + DE. She was a high stats student with a higher GPA but lower test score. She applied to 4 CSUs and was accepted to 3. The one she didnāt get into was a non impacted campus or major. The others were impacted in both. We called admissions and the explanation was that her application was flagged because of the unusual transcript and had to be hand processed, after that they couldnāt explain the denial. We could have brought an appeal, but she was happy with her other choices. I tell you this to say, itās easy enough with the CSU app to check a few other schoolās boxes to apply. I would add a few others, at least Pomona. After my Dās experience I have insisted my other kids have at least 1 rolling acceptance and 2 other safeties
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