<p>Hi guys,
I recently received mail from the Mathematical Foundation of America's Mathcamp, and they say it is for dedicated and talented math students. Is it really that great? I mean, it costs around 3k, but would the experience be worth it and is it considered prestigious? Thanks</p>
<p>It really is that great. I went last year, and had the time of my life. Expensive? Somewhat, but there's financial aid, and you'll love it. I don't know the prestigious factor, but it's rumored to be on the shortlist of activities that MIT likes to see. If you have any questions, I'll be glad to answer them.</p>
<p>Wow, that definitely sounds interesting. I think I'll really consider going for it then, cuz I love math and I wanted to know if the program was for real. What kind of math did you learn, tetrahedr0n? It isn't like a regular curriculum is it?</p>
<p>No, the only things that even remotely resemble the high school curriculum is a 2-week calculus class (I didn't take it.) You can check out previous class schedules on the website, but there's a huge selection. There's 5 class hours a day, and you pick what you want to take (usually there's 5-6 class options for every hour.) Some classes are just an hour, others are 4 or 5 weeks long. I was interested in problem solving, so I took both Introductory and Olympiad problem solving classes (both for the lenght of the camp.) I also took Abstract Algebra (followed by Fields, Representation Theory) "Geometry Treasures" (class on famous geometry problems like 9pt circle, Napoleonic triangles, Hilbert's polyhedra problem.) also, Metric Spaces - Point-Set Topology, Symmetric Polynomials, and Constructionism (a philosophy kind of thing.) These are mostly longer classes, as I had a variety of shorter 1-2 day classes.</p>
<p>How did u get admitted into this camp? What did u get on your psats</p>
<p>Your PSATs have absolutely nothing to do with Mathcamp admissions. The process is pretty simple - put in some typical info (you don't need test scores or a school transcript - some math competitions might be helpful, though not required), write an essay about why you care about math, get two teacher recs. Finally, there's a qualifying quiz - 10 problems that you attempt to solve. The quiz is hard, of course, but you can qualify with half or less of the problems solved completely.</p>
<p>i got that mail today too and it said something along the lines of "due to your high score on the AMC10 blah blah you have been invited to teh US-Canada blah...."
i still have to pay 3500 and do that quiz (but i am busy this summer and family cant really afford it so....)</p>
<p>If you have to be away for a week or two from Mathcamp, that can be arranged, but you'll need to communicate with them. It's certainly been done, however.</p>
<p>Mathcamp is only that expensive if your family makes a decent income - you automatically get reductions for an income less than 100k, and there's extra scholarships available. See the website, there's complete info.</p>
<p>From what I have heard it is a very good program and very interesting. It sounds very exciting to me too, but I am attending another summer program so I won't be going to Mathcamp. I would go if I was free and they gave me enough finaid though....I suggest it to all who are interested! This is not one of those crappy NYLC-type things that are basically scams. It will help in college admins, I believe.</p>
<p>MathCamp spammed me too. However, I cannot go to MathCamp because a free math summer program at the local university (SIMUW) accepted me and my parents see no point in sending me to MathCamp for $3,200 more.</p>
<p>is this the one at Reed college Oregon? I got one too. It says dear high scoring AMC student or something</p>
<p>The letter says Maine but the brochure-thing says Oregon...</p>
<p>It is at Reed College in Oregon. That's a mistake - the camp was held in Colby College in Maine last year.</p>
<p>Hey, tetrahedron, do the college-level classes give you credit, or are they just brief surveys?</p>
<p>If you don't mind saying, what scores did you get on the AMC 10? I know 2 students who are interested in mathcamp for next summer. One is a freshman and one is a sophomore. Neither qualified for the AMC, but both were over 100. Thanks.</p>
<p>I'll join in here to say that MathCamp is wonderful and, yes, it is known to college admission officers. My son is younger than the minimum MathCamp age this year, but it's on our list of things to do in a few years.</p>
<p>What is the minimum age for math camp?</p>
<ol>
<li> Their site says they'll consider someone at 12 years, 9 months, but only with demonstrated math ability.</li>
</ol>
<p>thats quite unusual..
most educational facilites dont institute age limits...</p>
<p>Only US law that applies to 13 year olds is:</p>
<p>-It is illegal for a private business to store information about 13-year-old without the permission of the parent.. (applies primarily to online registration services)</p>
<p>The reason MathCamp has a younger age limit is that it is VERY unstructured. The sister program of MathCamp, [url=<a href="http://www.mathpath.org%5DMathPath%5B/url">http://www.mathpath.org]MathPath[/url</a>], is designed for middle-school-aged math students, and is one of my top recommendations for top middle school math-likers.</p>