IMSA Applicant Class of 2021

@0chotona1liensis Does IMSA do AMC as well? How are the results on average? (I know you got something like 6th in the division for NSML)

@romalex4

AMC 10/12 A/B are all offered. Not sure about the results, though…

@birdie02 I don’t think anybody from IMSA stood up when they ask for people with AMC score > 120 at the NSML awards ceremony, although almost the entire team stood up for Stevenson. Is it just that IMSA students are so consumed by coursework that they don’t have any time for training for extracurricular contests?

@romalex4

Hmm, I would think there would be a fraction of people at IMSA who do achieve more than 120, but I’m not sure how much statistically/numerically. And even if there aren’t, I would say some people who are able to achieve more than 120 don’t take the AMC. Not too sure though, sorry. Additionally, I would say people do have free time if they manage their time well (or at least make free time due to procrastination… cough like me cough). I would doubt anybody at IMSA studies 24/7 though.

so i applied for the forthcoming year and I made the waitlist, does anyone know how many people usually are on the waitlist and how many people get called from it/

@ka4521 About a third of the people on the waitlist eventually get invited.

By the way, does anybody know when EXCEL invitations typically arrive?

say you’re in an area where many people get in and drop out, does that increase chance of getting off the waitpool

@ka4521

I would say if the stats are similar in the area, then yes, I would be inclined to believe so.

I will answer my own question: EXCEL invitations come June 12th.

what is excel and is it a good or bad thing?

@ka4521

Copied from the IMSA website:
“If an invited student is selected to participate in the Excel program, it is a MANDATORY two-week summer residential experience prior to beginning their sophomore year at the Academy. Excel is designed to improve a student’s academic skills in math, science and English and to assist in making the transition from home to the IMSA community.”

Link here for more info: https://www.imsa.edu/calendar/excel-program

@ka4521 Excel is a mandatory camp during the summer that helps those who did not do well or answered mostly “I don’t know” on the Placement Test prepare for the school year. Though some may look at EXCEL as a bad thing, it is not. As a past Excel student, Excel really helped me know what awaited me during the school year and taught me the basics for the classes that I took.

@JG0313
Well, yes, it might be a very good thing for those who are free during the summer. However, a lot of us have important plans for the summer which they absolutely cannot cancel. In that case, EXCEL can jeopardize admission, which is a very bad thing.

“I don’t think anybody from IMSA stood up when they ask for people with AMC score > 120 at the NSML awards ceremony, although almost the entire team stood up for Stevenson. Is it just that IMSA students are so consumed by coursework that they don’t have any time for training for extracurricular contests?”

wait this is false lmao. i was literally at NSML and stood up for > 120… also the only person who made MOP from Illinois this year was from IMSA… also IMSA has two of the three Chicago ARML team members who made ARML tiebreakers… we got 6th at NSML this year because no one at IMSA cares about NSML, like none of the upperclassmen participate. its basically all sophomores who actually care about it

@maxo

Why are there not too much upperclassmen on IMSA’s math team?

technically, anyone can be on IMSA’s math team. just show up to the practice/tryout.

what actually matters are the competition tryouts… only a few people make it onto the team for each competition. how many people tryout, and how strong those candidates are for that competition really is based on what competition it is.

for upperclassmen, very few tryout for the NSML competition because most of them just see it as a waste of time, as I said before. however, more upperclassmen, especially the strongest candidates, tryout for the HMMT competition since its actually competitive + hard.

there are always a lot of sophomores trying out, especially in the beginning of the year. the first tryout we had i think there were about ~45 people… this obviously dwindles (last NSML meet only maybe ~15 to 20 tryout) because people get discouraged at just how good other people are

this discouragement is more apparent as your three year career at IMSA progresses. I’d say at least 90% of IMSA students did math team back at their old school, but only 5% end up continuing to do math competitions by junior/senior year. people are naturally inclined to do only things that they are good at, relative to others.

@maxo Sorry about misinformation: My school was on one of the last rows, I might not have noticed IMSAns standing up. Thanks for all the info.

Hello! I am going to be a freshman in August, and I want to apply for IMSA this year. I wanted to know what my chances are of getting in.

STATS:
Ethnicity: Indian-American (Asian)
Region: Peoria, IL (not sure what region this would be, Central Illinois I think)
Grade: 9th
GPA: 4.0 6-8 (I think I’ll get a 4.0 in 9th too)
SAT: 720-ish for both Math and Reading/Writing (on practice tests)

ECS:
FIRST LEGO League (3 years, 5th grade to 7th grade)
FIRST Tech Challenge (2 years, 8th grade & 9th grade)
North South Foundation (1st grade to 8th grade)
Scholastic Bowl (3 years, 7th grade to 9th grade)
Mathcounts (3 years, 6th grade to 8th grade)
Chess (4 years, 6th grade to 9th grade)
Junior Football League (7th grade & 8th grade)
Track (2 years, 6th grade & 7th grade)

Awards:
2013-2014 FIRST LEGO League Regional Champion’s Award (Qualified for State) (Team)
2013-2014 FIRST LEGO League State Champion’s Award, 1st place (Qualified for Worlds) (Team)
2013-2014 FIRST LEGO League Worlds Champion’s Award Finalist (Top 3) (Team)
2014-2015 FIRST LEGO League Regional Champion’s Award (Team)
2015-2016 FIRST LEGO League Regional Champion’s Award (Team)
2017 Scholastic Bowl County 1st place Champion (Team)
2017 Scholastic Bowl Regional Runner-up (Team)
2018 Scholastic Bowl County Runner-up (Team)
2018 Scholastic Bowl Regional 1st place Champion (Qualified for Sectionals) (Team)
2018 Scholastic Bowl Sectionals 1st place Champion (Qualified for State) (Team)
2018 Scholastic Bowl State 3rd place (Team)
2016 IESA State Chess 4th place (Team)
2017 IESA State Chess 2nd place (Team)
2017 Illinois All-Grade, 8th Grade, 10th place
2014 School Spelling Bee Runner-up
2015 School Spelling Bee Champion
2015 County Spelling Bee Runner-up
2018 Mathcounts Regionals, 5th place (Qualified for State)
2018 Presidential Award for Outstanding Academic Achievement

Classes:
Algebra 1 Honors (taken in 8th grade)
Geometry Honors
Algebra 2 Honors
Biology Honors
Language Arts/Literature 1 Honors
PE (Required)
Speech (Required)
Software Applications (Required)
Health (Required)
French 2 Pre-AP

I also have some additional questions.

What is the best time to take the SAT?
Should I include awards from North South Foundation? (North South Foundation is a non-profit organization that hosts competitions across the country for spelling, vocabulary, math, science, etc.). The reason I’m asking this question is because I have a lot of these, but some of them are from a few years ago.
Are any of the awards above ones that I should not include? If so, why?

I’ll probably do more extra-curriculars as a freshman, I just don’t know at the moment what my school has to offer.
Thanks.

has anyone gotten in out of the waitpool yet?

also what is mathematical investigations 3 and 4 the equivalent of? (aka geometry, algebra 2, trig, etc)