Agree that OP appears more qualified than a typical finalist (finalist meaning someone who makes it to final committee). Was commenting in general that an EA boost at HYPS was probably not that great, if any, and any statistical advantage may be driven more by the fact that those schools were the first choice schools of the SCEA applicants and therefore their “fit” story was relatively more compelling. I think clearly based on the OP’s posts, OP should apply EA MIT (plus Caltech and 1 or 2 good publics EA or rolling).
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Anyone who has been around math competitions for any amount of time will remember the old lore that “80% of USAMO qualifiers” are accepted to MIT. Not sure that was ever really true, but even if so, I suspect it is more like 50% these days. Female applicants with contest credentials appear to do extraordinarily well at MIT (USAMO not needed - AIME > 5 or 6 has always seemed to be enough). Male ORM USAMO qualifiers face the steepest odds, and I would be very surprised if their acceptance rate is 50%.
But we do not have context here really. USAMO qualification is based on an index score, and there is a difference between 225-230ish (just making it most years) and 300 (perfect on both components - only about 5-15 kids do that it any given year).
Also, the progression towards USAMO could potentially reveal much. I’d guess most USAMO qualifiers first qualify for AIME in elementary school, and gradually increase scores until they qualify for USAMO in 10th or 11th grades. Someone who achieves it on a “first try” in 10th or 11th (or earlier - there are almost always a few 7th and 8th graders who do it) might signal extraordinary natural ability.
Anyway, this is just a bit of a digression, but perhaps gives some context to what the qualification might mean for admissions.
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Yes! I really liked Harvey Mudd from what I saw online.
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It’s lower than that over the last few years when I have been keeping track. Most of the USAMO qualifiers I know are ORM males. I said earlier that 60% or so get admitted to at least one HYPSM, so about 40% are getting shut out from all of them.
I think that if the OP had made MOP (top 60 or so), it would have been listed, so likely somewhere between top 60 and 250. Still an amazing accomplishment to achieve USAMO, and the OP also has ISEF and potentially some worthy papers as well.
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Insight that may be helpful regarding my math competition journey.
I was never naturally good at competitions aimed at speed, so in 9th grade I barely missed AIME and in 10th grade, I qualified by ~10 points. However, on my first try at AIME I got a 10 without specifically preparing for it, so for 11th I grinded AMC and got DHR on AMC 12. I got another 10 on AIME without putting in too much effort and this qualified me for USAMO.
Unfortunately, I was unable to improve my AIME score in the course of those 2 years.
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AIME 10 on your first try is an impressive accomplishment!
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@imimaginary You’ve got a lot of good advice here. As a parent of an ORM junior looking into a STEM major, I’ll add the following:
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Your accomplishments are impressive and I think you have an above average chance than the usual high stat ORM ; I would encourage you to look into what types of supplemental essays these universities are looking for. I do think that’s a component where many ORM candidates are not fully invested in. We are hiring an experienced college counselor to help my kid with essays. We feel that her insight into the essay process is not something we can accomplish on our own.
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A math major from MIT/ Caltech/HYPS/UofC is going to have opportunities for internships that aren’t available to those from most other universities. As a math professor, I know that their level of undergrad math rigor is at a completely different level - so do these employers (FAANG, big name hedge funds etc.) . So it’s definitely worthwhile to aim for these universities.
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With so many different types of EA, SCEA, ED etc, it is almost a game theory problem to figure out a good strategy . So you do need to give that some thought. I do feel that you may need to narrow down your reaches to figure out what you are ultimately looking for and how you can contribute.
Best of luck with your search!
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this is just wrong.
“And you lack diversity - because everyone applying there is Asian.
If you were a black female, you’d be a long shot. As an Asian or white male, you’re really a long shot.”
■■■ this makes absolutely no sense. i dont know why you’re so obsessed with race. honestly just delete this
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He’s not obsessed with race. These colleges want to maintain diversity in their student body, so they tend to try and stay within certain ranges as to the number of people the accept from different groups. Some group apply at lower rates, so their acceptance rates tend to be higher. Asian American kids apply to these schools at extremely high rates. SO while Asian Americans make up some 5% of the population, they can be be 20% of the applicant pool. Women apply to MIT at a much lower rate than men do, so their acceptance rate to MIT is higher.
At many very selective Liberals Arts colleges, women apply at higher rates than men do, and consequently, men are accepted at higher rates. At some colleges, Asian Americans apply at rates that are lower than their percentages in the population, and consequently have higher acceptance rates.
These are the realities of college admissions, and @tsbna44 is merely stating this. If the OP was asking about Berkeley or U Michigan, nobody would be mentioning race, since race is not considered for admissions at these schools
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Prop 209 also prohibits consideration of gender in CA admissions:
“(a) The state shall not discriminate against, or grant preferential treatment to, any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in the operation of public employment, public education, or public contracting.”
So does the percentage of male and female students in various majors differ significantly from those in other states?
Overall, at Berkeley, there are more women than men, and women are the majority in most majors, or there is more or less parity, except for the usual suspects: different engineering disciplines, physics, and philosophy.
At UCLA, women are 61% of the undergraduate student body, but the pattern is the same - women outnumber men or there is a parity in most majors, with men outnumbering women in engineering, physics, and philosophy.
Women are about 22% of engineering undergraduates in the USA. At Berkeley, it is about 28%, and at UCLA it is 28.8%.
I did not do the comparisons of other majors.
However, many schools generally want their student body to reflect the population in general, not to reflect other schools. This is usually the case for private colleges which are interesting in promoting equity. Public colleges are required to follow the instructions of the state legislature, which often are not interested in promoting equity, but rather are beholden to their funders and voters, who have other agendas and other ideologies.
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