Chance me / match me: GA resident, 4.0/1600, for CS & math or CS & Linguistics

GSU MATH 3000 is a course mostly about proof and logic techniques to prepare math majors for proof and logic focused upper level math courses. Its description is “Topics from set theory, real numbers, analysis, and algebra, which illustrate a formal approach to the presentation and development of mathematical concepts and proofs. Critical Thinking Through Writing (CTW) course.” It is supposed to be taken after GSU MATH 2420, which is the discrete math course that includes some logic and proof techniques, and GSU MATH 2641, which is the linear algebra course.

Swarthmore math offerings may be somewhat limited for a student as advanced in math as the OP. In addition, Swarthmore has had to ration CS courses for CS majors due to overenrollment issues.

Btw, umass would give you lots of credit for your APs and dual enrollment. You could enter with 2 yrs credit. This would free you up to do a double major in CS and Ling, or even a triple including a foreign language major.

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Or to continue there and get a masters degree. We know a CS student who did just that…and his masters was fully funded at UMass.

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Do you think it’s too late to add math/CS competitions to my application? Is USACO silver even worth putting on an application? I would be starting now from almost scratch so I’m not sure if it’s a great use of time, but I’d give it a try if you think it would help.

For USACO, it may not be too late. My son, without even telling me about it, made almost all the way within a single season. A season in USACO starts in December and ends in March (unless you make it to the international level), but you may be able to advance multiple levels in the single month of December to be able to put it on your applications, assuming you’ll be a senior by then. If you’ll still be a junior, then you have even more time.

May I ask how he prepared? I’ve taken a few stabs at USACO but I’ve never had the time to fully commit. It would be super helpful to know what worked for him, to see if it might work for me.

I believe he took an online course on algorithm (probably from MIT OpenCourseWare). He may have also done some practice problems that are available online, but I’m not sure.

I agree with you then that there is no need (or space) to mention it. My son also took it last minute his Jr year and advanced to the next round, but then when he took it Sr year, he didn’t advance, so a bit of randomness.

My son did the same thing his Jr year! I forget the levels…maybe bronze, silver, gold & platinum? I think he made it through the first three all in a row, but then could not achieve platinum when the contest opened in December of his Sr year.

@Generic10101 – I do not know what prep, if any, my son pursued. I don’t know that I would dedicate a lot of time to this, unless you happen to have a great deal of spare time this summer. If you end up applying to many of the schools listed, you will have a lot of writing prompts to respond to.

Take a look at MIT’s application. They used to have spaces for AMC/AIME scores, but I don’t know if they still do. Their app also did not follow the Common App format, but instead used separate sections for summer activities, school year, employment, academic awards & non-academic awards.

I agree with everyone above who has said that you must have your parents sit down and run the NPCs at several schools. The financial aid awarded at HPYSM will be very different from the outcomes at U Mass or GT.

It sounds like your parents are putting value on a name, rather than on an opportunity that would be best for you. This is common. After doing research, sit down with your parents and go through the pros and cons of each school (academic programs, social environment, location, cost, etc.). For some people, regardless of the program, the school name trumps everything. It is important to know if that is the case for your parents.

There are numerous cases where a parent proudly tells a student to shoot for the moon when applying. After acceptance are in hand, the parent starts evaluating costs and the top school with little/no aid, becomes less attractive. There are many threads where parents ask how to break it to their student that they can’t afford (or won’t pay for) a higher cost education and many threads where a disappointed student vents that they got in, but don’t have the funds to pay for the school they want to attend.

@Generic10101 , note that Stanford has an REA exception for schools that require you to apply EA in order to qualify for scholarships (ex. USC). Other schools do not. Make sure you read the small print.

Exceptions

It is Stanford policy that you may simultaneously apply to Stanford with a decision plan of Restrictive Early Action and to the following:

  • any college/university with an early deadline for a scholarship or special academic program, as long as:
    1. the decision is non-binding; and
    2. in order to be considered for the scholarship or program, the student must apply in the early round or by an early deadline.
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Amplifying the one comment suggesting you get a non-STEM LoR…MIT recommends that: Letters of recommendation | MIT Admissions

I concur with others regarding locking down a budget and adding UMass as a safety (apply EA).

Paging @hebegebe for direction on USACO and other competitions.

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Among the REA/SCEA schools, in addition to Stanford, Harvard (on OP’s list) and Caltech (not on OP’s list) also allow this exception. But Yale and Princeton currently don’t.

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Thanks for clarifying.

What do you think about me taking 2420 first semester, and 3000 second semester?

Also, how would these dual enrollment courses be factored into an application? Would I lost what course I plan to take in the fall and spring? Or just the spring? It’s unclear to me, and there aren’t a ton of people at my school doing dual enrollment I could ask.

@hebegebe
I would be very interested to see what your opinion is on adding math / CS competitions to my application. I’m a rising senior, so given the time I have would you say it’s worth it to focus on the competitions? And if I were to achieve some low level success (like USACO silver), is it even worth putting that on an application?

Just FYI, the Georgia Tech auto admit for valedictorian or salutatorian is not auto admit upon application. This is something you are notified about in June, well after normal decisions come out - one of my sons was valedictorian and that’s the way it worked when he applied.

That being said, you obviously have an excellent chance of getting into Georgia Tech particularly if you do well in your GT distance math classes. Every other school on your list is a reach, so would you be happy going to Georgia Tech? Be sure in writing, the Why Georgia Tech essay that you include information about your activities and the impact it has on your community and how you plan on continuing that impact in Georgia Tech. They look very closely at progress and service, and it’s a good idea to demonstrate how you will satisfy this on campus in your supplemental essay.

Good luck!

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If you are also taking linear algebra first semester (or have already taken it), then you will have fulfilled the prerequisites for 3000 second semester.

Not sure what you mean by losing a dual enrollment course. Any course planned or in progress during 12th grade is reported on college applications. Of course, changes need to be reported as well. A college that you matriculate to will expect final transcripts matching the reported planned or in progress courses.

Yes, I’ll be taking linear algebra 1st semester at Ga tech (as long as I get a 4 or 5 on my AP calc BC exam, which I’ll find out tomorrow).

Thanks! I just wasn’t sure, because when I lost our the classes I plan on taking next school year, it seems like a lot and I’m not sure if I’ll have space to input them all.

Thanks! I wasn’t aware of the timing piece, and the suggestions for the why Tech essay are very helpful.

I would be perfectly happy going to GA Tech. Their CS and math seem quite good, and I have a couple of friends who graduated from GA Tech a few years ago and are doing quite well.

Thanks again!

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On a different note, I’d reconsider CS now. AI is able to write code. I asked it to write code to sort a list of numbers in 386 Assembler, looking for a language it wouldn’t know.

It thought a few seconds and provided an answer.

Do you want to compete with where that will be in a few years, with your biological brain? Already this year many “tech” companies were deferring already-made job offers to CS majors in the class of 2023 from top universities. Should you aim in that direction now?

Math seems like a good major, physical science or engineering, or maybe CS in the direction of AI although they might and are surely trying to build another layer of indirection and replace the people who are coding the AI’s …