Hello everyone. I am currently a community college (CC) student whom resides in Minnesota whose hope is to transfer to Dartmouth in fall of 2015. At CC, I am a Mathematics major, and by the time I am finish, I will have taken Differential Equations and Linear Algebra. (In my free time, I study quantum physics, the theory of interest (I want to become an Actuary), and modern algebra using books and online lectures provided by MIT, UC-Berkeley, Yale, and Harvard.) I would also like to note, when I finish (granted I continue to get all A’s), I will have either a 3.87 cumulative GPA or slightly higher. I plan to apply to Dartmouth soon with a 3.84 cumulative GPA and 4.0 technical GPA, do I have a chance at being accepted? Moreover, can anyone tell me about Dartmouth’s math department (and if they have an actuarial program)? (I will appreciate any help given.)
I should mention that I have ADHD, and there is well-documented statistical evidence suggesting persons with the aforementioned disability only have a 5 percent change of finishing an undergraduate degree; obviously, I will be an exception. Would mentioning the adversity I face because of my disability help my chances of acceptance?
Thank you.
Note: I did receive a letter in the mail from the University of Columbia - School of General Studies (without requesting it).
Because I have ADHD, I find little time to participate in extra-curricular activities—I try to squeeze every minute out of the day to get my work done. When I first started to attend CC, I joined the euclidean mathematics club; however, when I joined, I figured I would meet a coterie, like myself, whom would like to watch lectures and solve problems with me—not sit around and confabulate about how “math is cool.”
So, I decided my my time was better spent doing secondary research: in one research paper I called, “Exploitation of Secure Socket Layer Communication and RC4 Encryption.” I succinctly elucidated the underpinnings of some of the weaknesses intrinsically found in the RC4 stream cipher. More specifically, the key scheduling algorithm (KSA): In 2002 at Stanford University, Llya Mironov et al. “identified a weakness in RC4 stemming from … imperfect shuffling.” In other words, they found that the allocation of words—bytes of information—are often identical to their initialization state after permutation—this is because the KSA algorithm only allows 256 different permutations of n words, AlFardan et al. were able to devise a stochastic attack that could exploit the encrypted password (called a keystream).
In another paper I called, “Quantum Coherence in Photoautotrophic, Avian, and Olfactory Systems.” I investigated the mechanism for which excitons—excited-electrons—are able to transverse the lattice-like structure intrinsically found in photoautotrophs’ protein pigments; namely, to reach their reaction centers for photosynthesis. To do this I used my knowledge of data structures (in particular, binary search) to exemplify how these excitons could perform a quantum random walk. Despite the Fleming Group’s original conjecture, at UC-Berkeley—that these systems are performing a quantum search—a professor at MIT named Seth Lloyd showed that these systems are actually performing a quantum random walk.
I also find my time better spent pursuing one of my visceral passions: the pedagogy of mathematics. Currently, I work as a mathematics tutor at my college; and, I am much happier spending my time teaching others mathematics than confabulate about how “math is cool.”
I am also the recipient of a National Science Foundation (NSF) STEM scholarship (if that means anything).
P.S. I really appreciate the help, but please, take the time to articulate yourself–I seriously want to know. Thank you.
Last year I saw a person with Morgan Stanley internship get rejected from Berkeley-Haas Business School. Likewise I saw a person who had published a Biology paper get rejected to UCI. Remember this, no matter what you have done, what accomplishments you have, someone else has done more. e.g. Geohot enrolling at CMU. So I would advise against coming off condescending.
With the profile you will come off very one-deminensional and so I would recommend applying to MIT and CalTech. For the Ivys you would be better off with a more well-rounded application.** Don’t take it personally, it’s just the rules of the system. ** Avoid them at your own peril.
Here are some facts for you to consider, and this is not meant to dissuade you, rather it is to provide a clear picture of your potential circumstances. Much of the availability of transfer seats is tethered to people that either transfer, fail or drop-out. The attrition is very low, close to 2-3 percent, thus very little seats open up. For instance, if one were to look at the last couple of years spring transfers, you would see that about 800 or so folks, applied to transfer, and only about 30 or so, gained admission or about 3.5 percent–which is the regular admission rate cut over half. Long story short, it is not just competitive, it is super competitive. You do make a strong case, but it will ultimately reside on how many limited places they have to fill–hope that is hopeful.