How to indicate self-study (non-AP) work on apps?

Applying to College
1

<p>(Preliminary Note: I am a rising junior.)
(Preliminary Note #2: Yes, I am taking advantage of the excellent resources and classes at the Art of Problem Solving. I'm taking Precalculus and AIME Problem Series right now, and will be taking WOOT starting in the fall. :) Just to deter any suggestions that might come with talking about studying post-AP Calculus math "early".)</p>

<p>The short version: (everyone read this)</p>

<p>I plan to self-study multivariable calculus, linear algebra, differential equations, and all the nice math that comes after that during my junior and senior years. (Not that these aren't nice!) Online courses are not an option (too expensive) nor are local colleges (won't fit in my schedule), so my only option is to self-study from textbooks. How do I indicate to colleges that I have done so?</p>

<p>The longer version:</p>

<p>I'm in a bit of a complicated situation, more than the above might indicate. Our school basically decides our math course track in high school using middle school classes. The problem is that I have advanced much faster than might be expected, and as a result am foregoing "regular" math classes at my school for junior and senior years due to my school's inflexibility. My schedules for sophomore and junior year are as follows:</p>

<p>10th grade:</p>

<p>English 10 Honors
Algebra 2/Trig Honors
Honors Chemistry
World History
PE
Japanese 2</p>

<p>11th grade:</p>

<p>English 11 Honors
AP Statistics
AP Chemistry
AP US History
Japanese 3
AP Music Theory</p>

<p>I have studied (and believe I have a strong foundation in) all of precalculus, and will be finished with the equivalent of AP Calculus BC by the end of July. Thus, I have no option left besides taking AP Statistics in lieu of precalculus. (Yes, I could take precalculus, but it would be redundant and mostly useless to me, like my algebra 2 class this year.) Thankfully, I am taking the AP Calculus BC and AP Physics C exams in my junior year, so that will hopefully elucidate the lack of "regular" math there.</p>

<p>As I have already stated above, however, I will proceed to study beyond AP Calculus beginning in August or September using solely textbooks. I plan to go through at least the calculus-linear algebra-differential equations sequence by the time I apply to colleges, and real analysis by the time I graduate. How will I make it clear that I have studied these subjects if I have no official record of having done so?</p>

<p>Should I take, say, a real analysis course at a summer program (such as Berkeley's pre-college program) between junior and senior year, such that colleges will be able to figure out that I have studied the prerequisites? The problems with that are that </p>

<p>a) I want to go to one of the more math-focused and selective programs, such as Ross, PROMYS, or Mathcamp at that time.
b) The summer programs themselves may not allow me to take such a course, unless they have some kind of placement test, or unless I could negotiate with the professor teaching the course</p>

<p>Other than that or just writing down "Multivariable Calculus (self-study), Linear Algebra (self-study), etc." on the application, I have no idea. Any ideas?</p>

2

<p>Personally, I don’t think most universities will care that you self studied these, unless you can validate ypur actual apptitude in them with some sort of test, administered at very least by a certified tezcher of some sort. I don’t think simply reading the text book will help you out a lot.</p>

3

<p>I doubt colleges would just disregard a self study, even without verification. I’m also doing the multi, lin, diff sequence in high school on my own. I’ll put it on my apps, but I’m not banking on it to be on the same level as self studying an AP.</p>

4

<p>@MCMLXXXIV: Well, I’m not just reading textbooks, I’m also doing exercises… <em>nitpicking</em></p>

<p>And yeah, I wish there were AP-like tests for at least multivariable calculus (maybe linear algebra and differential equations); I think there’s a large enough demand for such a test, as people increasingly take BC in 11th grade and earlier.</p>

5

<p>Can’t you apply for FA at Stanford EPGY?</p>

6

<p>See if you can find a mentor or someone to meet with to talk about your self-studies, like discussing problems and generally making sure you understand the material completely and correctly. Making the switch from even calculus to higher level math is hard enough with the help of teachers, TAs, other students in the class, it would be pretty difficult to do so completely on your own. And if you decide to do this, you could probably include this stuff on your app somewhere, but also include a recommendation or something from your mentor that could specifically address this.</p>