<p>Due to decisions just coming out and stuff, I just wanted to pose the question of whether it is impressive to be in Linear Algebra and Multivariable senior year or not? I've maintained a A-A+ in all Math classes at my high school and now am taking an independent study of Linear Algebra and taking Multivariable at the local Uconn campus(well come senior year, Im currently a junior). At my particular school, most people only get to Precalc by senior year, maybe 20 get to Calculus, so I'm definitely going against the grain when it comes to my school but I'm not sure if it's as impressive to MIT. If you are/ were in the same situation as me, I'd love to hear how your decision turned out and such.. Thanks!</p>
<p>At the local college where I took math classes during my senior year, the regular multivariable calculus curriculum is split up into two semesters. I received an A the first semester, sent that in my midyear report, and am currently in the second semester. Unfortunately, I was rejected Wednesday after being deferred EA. Don’t let this discourage you however! Another high school student in my multivariable class was admitted, and as most MIT applicant are not taking multivriable or linear algebra, I think it must make you stand out. Even if you aren’t accepted, if you’re a math nerd like I am, the courses are fun! Good luck!</p>
<p>It helps.</p>
<p>10char</p>
<p>It definitely helps; I go to a school where most people take AP Calc BC in sophomore, sometimes junior year, and we send lots of people to MIT 
MIT definitely cares about Math/Science/Physics grades and courses; several of my friends have been accepted there with their strongest suit being academics/math&science (:</p>
<p>I agree with Piper. However, there are a lot of people who do the same thing.</p>
<p>It will definitely help but as others have said it’s not that uncommon. Even really uncommon stuff like graduate level classes is unlikely to guarantee admission.</p>
<p>I disagree. I would not take a class to try to impress admissions. They don’t have a scoresheet where you get extra brownie points for taking a harder class not offered by your school. If you already have taken AP Calc BC and done well, you are fine. Take a class you really enjoy, take the AMC and try to get to the AIME, participate in competitions, work in a lab or in the community on some science project…These activities are much more likely to demonstrate your interest in math/science than sitting in on an extra foundation math class. You won’t get credit for multi-variable Calc anyway. There is a world of difference between multi-variable Calc at UCONN and multi-variable Calc at MIT.</p>
<p>It’ll at least help if you have to take those tough classes again should you be admitted to MIT. Be careful though, those are the two toughest non-math major undergrad math classes and require a ton of time. I have taken both, and paired with the time required for applications, it MIGHT be too much/not a good allocation of your time.</p>
<p>drummer182 - You never know.
I was Deferred ED —> Rejected RD
I took AP Calculus BC in 10 grade, Diff. Equ. in 11 grade at college, Linear Alg. self-study in 12 grade.
In our school it is very hard to pass Algebra 2 and we have only one class for Calculus BC. Almost every year that class is empty (15 to 20 people) In school we have 2500 kids.
I was the only one in history of our school who got to AIME. On the top of that it was twice in 9 and 11 grade. This year I didn’t make it.
I think it was the reason that I was rejected.</p>
<p>PS
I passed 8 AP tests. (Physics C has 2 tests) This year 2 more AP tests (Economy has 2 tests).
Our school has only 13 AP classes. I didn’t take AP Biology, Art History, Spanish, Japanese or French.</p>
<p>Isn’t your GPA 3.6 also SFO?</p>
<p>Btw, To the OP, I say go for it if you are confident!</p>
<p>okay thanks guys/girls! haha but im definately not taking these classes just to try and impress MIT admissions. I just love learning about math and figured why not. I was just trying to see if it was impressive to them because i really have no other hooks. what is exactly is the amc and aime? are they tests or competitions?</p>
<p>Yeah, the AMC is a math competition, and if you score in the top 2.5% or something like that, you qualify for the AIME, which is a lott harder. Haha I qualified this year through the AMC 10 (there’s the 10 & the 12 depending on which grade you’re in), and took the AIME and it was really hard lol. But if you do well on the AMC/AIME, it does definitely help with college admissions. In fact I think there’s even a spot for your AMC/AIME score on the MIT application.</p>
<p>If you like math, then by all means take MVC and linear algebra. One possible problem is that you may have to wake up really early and spend a lot of time traveling between high school and UConn.</p>
<p>yea i would take linear algebra at my school and mvc at uconn in the afternoons. i was looking up amc and stuff and noticed it passed so is there anything i could do this year and next year?</p>
<p>To answer your question: I took Calc AB and BC my freshman year, Calc 3 (MVC) my sophomore year, Dif Eq my junior year (first time it was available), and Linear Algebra my senior year. I applied EA and was deferred. I later applied ED2 to Pomona College, where I was accepted.</p>
<p>However, whatever is said on this site really shouldn’t influence your decision. If you love math and want to take the classes regardless of acceptance/rejection from MIT (or any other school), then go for it!</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Why, may I ask? I don’t see why making USAMO would demonstrate more interest. It’s imaginably more impressive, but that’s different from demonstrating interest in math/science. </p>
<p>As for science projects, if your interest is mainly in mathematics, how would it be demonstrating your interest in math/science more? Even as a high school student, I think sometimes it’s pretty easy to tell that someone is much less likely to go very far in lab sciences. It was really clear to me at least. Well, at least as clear as it is now.</p>
<p>I agree that these classes by themselves won’t get you into any great school, and are unlikely to actually change the outcome, so my questions stand quite independent of that.</p>
<p>^ I think personal challenge is more important than demonstration of interest. But they are not mutually exclusive. My son finished MVC, ODE, and Linear Algebra at a community college and at a UC campus by the end of his junior year but he found those classes were not as challenging as solving AMC math competition problems. He took the tests to place out ODE, LA, but re-took the harder version of MVC at MIT to have a better foundation.</p>
<p>I think taking advanced math classes can be very helpful in terms of getting better at math if the math classes are sufficiently abstract and rigorous. There’s a big difference between classes like LA, MVC, and ODEs are community colleges or local state universities and math classes at MIT. The classes at community colleges or local state universities are likely to be focus on computational aspects and will typically be mainly plug-and-chug without much actual mathematical thinking. Classes at more selective universities will tend to be much more abstract and emphasize proofs. </p>
<p>I think if available the best use of time is to take challenging proof based math classes. If those aren’t available than math competitions like the AMCs are probably a better use of time than plug-and-chug math classes at local colleges although you could probably do both.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>For impressing a school, maybe. Otherwise, I’d pick how to spend my time based on what I’d rather do.</p>
<p>I mean, for a school which routinely grabs international medalists, I think all this is splitting hairs.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Agreed.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I am not sure we agree or disagree on this. For me “demonstration of interest” means trying to impress college admission office.</p>