<p>Another question. How are the online classes? Are they a good substitute for the live classroom? Are they boring? Any tips or things to watch for when looking at online classes?</p>
<p>My S went to PROMYS for three summers. Of his PROMYS friends, I know that three are currently in CS (in grad school), two in physics, one in chemistry. There are a few others whose college careers I’m less familiar with. S has always been pure math, though not a number theorist. In later summers, the students take seminars while also continuing to attend the number theory lectures. These seminars vary somewhat depending on the lecturers, and they get involved in a research project. The length of the program was fine for S. Within one week of coming home, he complaigned of being bored!</p>
<p>My S was also part of the school Science Team, but more because it provided a community of peers for him than because he was interested in hands-on experiment. In fact, he decided not to apply to MIT because the strong focus on engineering.</p>
<p>S did not take online classes, so I’ll let others comment.</p>
<p>Check if there is an ARML team where you live. There’ll be a lot of other strong math students there.</p>
<p>[The</a> Official American Regions Mathematics League Web Site](<a href=“http://www.arml.com/]The”>http://www.arml.com/)</p>
<p>As others have suggested before, I second both AoPS and AMC competitions. It you have other math contests nearby,
[State</a> and Regional Math Contests](<a href=“http://www.arml.com/state_and_regional.htm]State”>http://www.arml.com/state_and_regional.htm)
give them a try, eg:
[Lehigh</a> University High School Math Contest](<a href=“http://www.lehigh.edu/~dmd1/hs.html]Lehigh”>http://www.lehigh.edu/~dmd1/hs.html)
Have him do one of the exams from the link above and see how he fares.</p>
<p>Thanks Dad of 3,</p>
<p>We don’t have an ARML for our area, but my son participates in the New England Math League and another state league. He took the AMC 10 last year (and qualified for the AIME) and he’ll plan to take it again this year. We’re looking for other resources that will help him prepare for these competitions. The Lehigh Contest looks like something he would like to do, but again there is no representation for our area. I’ll print out the old exams and see how he does. Thanks.</p>
<p>You might also want to look around and see if there is a Math Circle in your area. My son started attending the Berkeley Math Circle when he was in 10th grade and he loved it. It was a weekly lecture that exposed him to higher level math. Your son could look at the Berkeley Math Circle website for some interesting problems as well. </p>
<p>Summer programs: Also look into HCSSiM. My son attended PROMYS one summer and HCSSiM another summer. I think HCSSiM(Hampshire College Summer Studies in Mathematics) was his favorite.</p>
<p>I am in a similar situation of exhausting math courses at my school as your son. I will be taking an online course in multivariable calculus and differential equations through Suffolk University next year as a senior, as I am taking Calculus AP BC this year as a junior. If you want, I can update you next year as to how that goes. When I was looking for online courses, I found student-teacher interaction to be a big difference between many of the programs. Some just give you the material and a bunch of tests, while others, such as the one I will be taking, have a tutor you can talk to in real time that teaches you the material and goes over any mistakes with you. This seems to simulate more of a classroom environment. Good luck to your son! It’s great to know there are other high schoolers excited by math!</p>
<p>Re: what to do after Calc BC? My son was able to take advantage of the fact that the public flagship is here in town and his high school gives advanced math students no trouble whatever about enrolling in university math courses. Obviously, this does not work for everyone, nor can everyone afford it. If the university courses had not been available, we would have gone to online options, I guess. </p>
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<p>Don’t be too quick to dismiss the possibility of computer science. My son was very much the tinkerer throughout middle/junior/senior high. Many science and engineering competitions throughout those years. My house, basement, yard, and garage are still littered with his inventions and associated mess. However, he did not go into engineering but is majoring in math and computer science, with an emphasis on artificial intelligence. He still “builds” but it is a lot less messy! It could happen that your son would find cs a good combination of theory and tinkering.</p>
<p>On the other hand, those of his friends who chose to spend more time preparing for the math competitions and less time preparing for the science and engineering competitions are still more into pure math.</p>
<p>Time will tell.</p>
<p>For programming, there is a series of contests similar to the AMC/AIME/USAMO, called the USACO ([Programming</a> Contest](<a href=“http://www.usaco.org%5DProgramming”>http://www.usaco.org)), which is pretty interesting and attracts a lot of people that have done well in math contests. However, there’s a lot of background knowledge required before someone can really start participating.</p>
<p>The Boston-area Math Circle is very very different in feel from the Berkeley Math Circle. It appeals to those who are not interested in preparing for competitions, although I know some participants who reached USAMO. For students at the level of the OP’s son, classes meet on Sunday mornings at Northeastern.
If it is convenient to drive into Cambridge, a student who has finished AP-Calc BC can take Multivariable Calculus and Linear Algebra at the Harvard Extension School in the evenings. A very few Harvard college math classes are scheduled in the late afternoon, making it possible for high schoolers to take those also. If that is not possible, EPGY offers a number of online courses beyond the AP level.</p>
<p>If you are close to Cambridge, take him to MIT Splash.</p>
<p><a href=“http://esp.mit.edu/learn/Splash/index.html[/url]”>http://esp.mit.edu/learn/Splash/index.html</a></p>
<p><a href=“http://esp.mit.edu/learn/Splash/2009/catalog/[/url]”>http://esp.mit.edu/learn/Splash/2009/catalog/</a></p>
<p>Also other programs in ESP (SPARK, HSSP, JUNCTION, DELVE,…) throughout the year.</p>
<p>If he is interested in contest math-type stuff, he can check out Hampshire College. Never went but it’s probably the best (only) type of camp/class for contest math in the country. <a href=“http://www.hcssim.org/[/url]”>http://www.hcssim.org/</a><br>
The only other type of camp is the U.S. math olympics camp, which you have to qualify for.</p>
<p>The best math supergeniuses aren’t necessarily super-narrow. I knew a guy who was on the U.S. physics olympics team (top 5 in country) and made MOSP (top 50). He was also on the soccer team and was a pretty laid-back guy, though he did spend a lot of his spare time studying math. </p>
<p>It’s very common for the top math people to have studied music very seriously. Most of the time they do have other non-intellectual interests (though they probably aren’t training for them.)</p>
<p>I can’t let QuertyKey’s comment go unchallenged.</p>
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<p>Huh?</p>
<p>And I don’t see the point of throwing that in.</p>
<p>In my experience, most of these kids relate to anyone who has math skills and can talk their language. They do not care what nationality/color/religion/other orientation the person is.</p>
<p>Back to the discussion at hand…</p>