Hello. I’m in 11th grade and I want to study math(s) in the US.
My marks are pretty good – I always rank in the top three in the class, although my grades faltered briefly in 9th grade (around an 84%, I have no clue if it’ll kill me). This term, I got a 95%, which is about what I usually score.
I applied to, and was invited to attend, the math summer program at Hampshire College, HCSSiM, this year, but I couldn’t attend (because of an ill-timed family emergency).
I’ve been representing my school, including around five national contests that I’ve won or placed in the top three in, in quizzes (and two national-level spelling bees where I was the runner-up twice) from 3rd grade onward, and have almost ~30 trophies (and over a 100 certs) from these. I head the quiz club in my school.
I’d definitely require financial aid.
I qualified for INMO (the national-level olympiad, from where some students are invited to the training camp [i.e. the Indian MOP]) last year but didn’t get invited to camp. I could’ve prepared again for this year, but I’ve sort of lost interest in olympiad math after discovering the wonders of “higher” mathematics. I’ve found a mentor (ex- and soon-to-be-again Harvard prof) who now helps me study graduate-level math in my spare time.
What are some good math programs in the US where I have a reasonable chance of getting in? (i.e. “safeties”, I think?)
How important is olympiad participation? Is it (near-)impossible for me to get into a good American college (I'm not stuck on, say, MIT, although it would be nice, of course) with these stats? Does the fact that I work on advanced math with a mentor count for anything at all, or should I start working on olympiad math again?
Is an IMO medal an auto-admit to MIT / Ivies for someone with a profile like mine?
My mentor was a Harvard prof who left for some time and is again returning to Harvard next year; how useful would a rec letter from him be?
How impressive is the HCSSiM invite on an application? Would an invite to Ross next year (I tried their problems this year and I think I stand a pretty good chance of getting in next year -- I missed the deadline this year), probably in addition to an HCSSiM re-invite, be useful too?
With the possible exception of being Malia Obama, there will be few categories of auto-admit to universities at the HYPMS level. While an IMO is very impressive, it will not lead to guaranteed acceptance.
Someone who is already studying graduate school math is probably not going to enjoy small liberal arts colleges, in terms of course variety and availability in mathematics, perhaps except for the Claremont colleges, which allow for access to the Claremont Graduate University. Although competitive, many of the liberal arts colleges are the ones that offer financial aid to internationals, and are more realistic bets than Harvard. You could of course look for other colleges in a consortium that would give you access to larger universities, like Wellesley, Mount Holyoke, Amherst, Hampshire and Smith, but they are pretty limited in number and cross-enrollment may prove to be annoying.
Therefore you are pretty much stuck with finding merit-aid options at large universities, methinks. If you are a very competitive applicant, I would think that you would get into a top school, but yes, unfortunately a very competitive award may be warranted to nearly guarantee admission.
@BatesParents2019: Yes, I do. I’m appreciative of anything that’s better than the options available to me in India (i.e. I’m not stuck on HYPMS or whatever acronyms you have here), because the prospects for math at the undergrad level are just not very good here IMHO, and there is very little flexibility in the curricula (so everyone has to study advanced probability and statistics and whatnot). I know there are a few Harvard-or-bust people on here who think Carnegie Mellon is a community college; I’m not one of them.
The strength of the math program (whatever that means – I’d hope to be able to take a bunch of advanced courses while still a first- or second-year, i.e. “course variety and availability”, as @International95 put it, is important) and the financial aid are really the only things I’m bothered about, not how “big-name” the college is.
@International95: really very little, I doubt I could even cover a tenth of the average charges (which are ~$45K, as far as I know) comfortably.
At Reed, freshmen are introduced to concepts of real analysis. And multivariable calculus is a yearlong sequence because you basically prove everything instead of just solving questions (http://people.reed.edu/~jerry/211/vcalc.html). Our math professors pride themselves in offering such a rigorous treatment to mathematics, such that students know what to expect in higher level classes from the beginning. The mandatory thesis is the culmination of your education. There are some opportunities for self-guided learning as well, under supervision of a professor.
If the 300-level classes are new material to you, and you are willing to be a year behind than you would be if you went to a school that offers graduate programs, colleges like mine and others wouldn’t be too lacking in course variety for you. I am sure you could graduate from Reed in 3 years if you start with at least the multivariable calculus sequence, which many advanced math students typically do. In the meantime, you could study a foreign language or two (required by many PhD math programs for graduation–usually Russian, French or German, all of which are offered at Reed) and take advantage of the liberal arts in general. Additionally, you could also spend a semester abroad, probably at Hungary, and take more advanced classes there.
I am not really sure what your background is in math, or what you really want from college, so it’s hard for me to really say if going to an LAC would be disadvantageous. Reed does extremely well in placing students in top graduate programs, in large proportions indeed, and its reputation for science and math is absolutely stellar, but I’m not sure if I would push towards it if you would place into graduate-level classes at a large research university. But then again, your application choices are very limited, since even schools like the University of Alabama only guarantee full tuition awards, so you may have to compromise.
OP suggested that he is able to contribute <$5k to attend school. The University of Rochester offered $13,359,078 in aid to 573 international students last year, which amounts to an average of a number just shy of $24k (https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/college-university-search/university-of-rochester). Given this number, and since UR doesn’t promise to meet need for internationals, and writes that the responsibility of the cost primarily lies with students on its website, it would probably not be a good option at all–even to apply.
Large research universities or so that promise to meet need for international students are: Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, Chicago, MIT, Duke, Penn, CalTech, Dartmouth, Northwestern, Brown, Vanderbilt, Rice, Tufts, Brandeis, Lehigh… and maybe Yeshiva. I believe WPI also offers aid, but it sort of requires that students be able to at least pay upwards of 16k or so.
Yep, that’s it. And odds are bad given the very limited availability of money. Check every school’s generosity level on the above website for international students to get a sense of what college cares about international diversity and what doesn’t. OP, you will have to look very closely to see what kind of merit aid is offered where, and how competitive it is, and what not. Since admit rates are low for internationals seeking aid, you will need to apply to as many schools as you can to improve odds (basic probability). This is going to be expensive–not because of the application fee (you can get this easily waived), but costs of sending test scores and CSS profiles.
Very true on need based but Rochester does have merit for international students up to full tuition. It would be helpful if schools published the range and the average for financial aid.
I have had two years of German already, so that’s there.
@International95, the course variety is nice, but not as varied as I’d like. Nevertheless, thanks for the link. What I want from college is just what you said – to place into grad classes and learn more math.
If you need financial aid, IMO will help. Not auto admit to MIT for an international but you can probably get somewhere despite your financial situation. Working with a graduate professor could help but only if you accomplish something (like publishing a paper at a highly ranked journal or solving some unsolved mathematical problem). That is due to a huge percent of these" partnerships" arisen due to connections, which usually mean that the actual student in question is not a major contributor (as with s t arting a business, nonprofit).
To maximize your chances, olympiads would c be the way to go. But there may not be much of a point. If you can self learn and learn with a Harvard professor to pursue with your passions, what else do you need? Life is not necessarily a probability game. Besides, even with 99% chance of success, the 1% may win out. I’d say just do what you like and worry about college when it comes.
I’m just curious but when you say Malia Obama you mean the president’s daughter right? Has she done anything significant to warrant being auto-admitted to HYPMS? Surely she won’t get auto-admitted to HYPMS because she is just the president’s daughter? I mean I can understand it being a hook like a recruited athlete, but auto-admission for just being born lucky?
I mean this is the nicest way, but you are being naive. Short of being a poor student (highly unlikely) being the President’s kid, especially while he (or she in some future) is still in office, is as close to an auto-admit as you can get. Not to mention she is a double legacy at Harvard (both Barack and Michelle), and legacy at Columbia (Barack) and Princeton (Michelle). But yes, short of being a very average or worse student, being the President’s child is enough. Might as well accept that life is not fair now.
Yep. She will get into whatever school she wants. Just because she is the president’s daughter… (even though you know nothing about her accomplishments.) I guess the mentality is that once you born into this kind of position, your wealth, power and connections will probably put you in a good, wealthy, famous position as well, which would attract attention to your institution after graduating another famous alum.
I’m not saying she doesn’t have any accomplishments I’m just using her as an example. So theoretically any currently in office US president’s child can get into any college they want as long as they meet the bare minimum requirements? Wait, do they even have to meet the minimum requirements since they are the president’s child right? Though I doubt they wouldn’t meet min req since they will get the best tutors and other stuff wealth and power can buy…
