My Experience with the Texas State Honors Summer Math Camp

Pre-College Issues Summer Programs
1

<p>Ok, so I have attended this math camp once and I just want to share with all of you my experiences of the camp. Ima try my best not to show any bias and give you a truthful, accurate representation of the camp based on my experiences.</p>

<p>So this camp costs 2700 for 6 weeks and includes room, board, supplies, field trips, food, and etc and compared to other camps, its actually pretty darn cheap. But 2700 dollars is still 2700 dollars and if any of you are interested in attending this camp, here are my experiences.</p>

<p>What makes this camp special is that if you go to the camp for your 2nd summer and above, you get the chance to do a group research project with a professor at Texas State. Obviously, you can then submit your research paper to the Siemens competition and potentially earn a lot of recognition through you hard work. </p>

<p>And yeah, this math camp is now quite famous since the first place $100000 team came from this camp and it has numerous semi-finalist and regional finalist. However with the glitz and glamour of this recognition, here is another perspective.</p>

<p>Based on my experiences, I feel like they stack the teams. Like they purposely put all the smart math kids together so they have a better chance of winning; I can't blame them because the math camp is trying to gain more publicity but I feel like it is unfair to the other students. I have noticed that the URM kids are put together in the same group for the research team and for the 4 hour study groups in the evening. However, I'm not sure if they did that on purpose or on accident and if on purpose, if they had a good or bad intention.</p>

<p>In addition, the amount of actual "classes" you take as a first year is not worth it. Basically you are paying 2700 to take a number theory class and a mathematica programming class. They have something called Honors Seminar and Special Topics but most of the time it's just free periods where you get to goof off and play games. 2nd years and beyond take more meaningful classes such as number theory, analysis, and another math topic that gets changed every year and get to work on the research project.</p>

<p>However the method they use to assign research topics is... unorganized in my opinion. Basically they send you a list of the title of the topics available without any description of what your going to do and you pick your top 3. Then they put you in groups without you having your say of who should be in your group. And if you get stuck in a bad group, the staff won't let you change it. </p>

<p>In addition the counselors, although geniuses themselves with many of them attending prestigious universities like MIT, Cornell, Caltech, UT, Rice, UChicago, behave like the math camp students. As a result a lot of them goof of during break periods and stay up into the wee hours of the morning (like 4 AM) and also kind of encouraging the first years to stay up late as well even though they shouldn't be. </p>

<p>However the good thing about that is the atmosphere is very casual, laid back, and there isnt really a competitive vibe at camp allowing students to develop strong relationships and bonds with each other. And even though they do have a casual atmosphere, students still get a lot of work done in the 4 hour study sessions every night solving complex therems by writing page long proofs. </p>

<p>Overall, most students love the experience at camp and they develop a lot of friendships through it. However as for the actual "substance" you will get from this camp, unless you are really gifted in math, you probably won't get much out of it because chances are you wont be placed in a good research group your 2nd summer. The proof writing experience you'll have is only for the higher levels of math contests like USAMO and is not very applicable to every day school math. I'm not saying you wont have a fun time because you'll have a blast as the math camp director is very nice, the staff is nice, and counselors are concerned about the students. However, just be aware of what might you be facing with if your going to spend 6 weeks and 2700 on something. </p>

<p>I know some ppl might not care about the research project and might just like to solve complex theorems and write proofs. If this is the case, this camp is for you because they do a lot of that. However please be aware that in order to solve these proofs, your math level needs to be quite advanced or else you'll get very confused and be unable to comprehend what you are doing. At best you'll be able to understand how to solve something if somebody explains it to you, but you won't be able to solve it by yourself if your math is not advanced enough. Chances are if you dont know how to solve it by yourself, your going to forget all of the theorems you proved very soon after camp is over and everything you learned would just sink down the train. (No joke because that happened to me. )</p>

<p>Overall the atmosphere and environment of the camp is absolutely amazing you yourself will be amazed by the talent of the students at camp. However unless you enjoy writing proofs or are very talented at math, this camp probably is not right for you. I know how they advertise it as a place where anybody can discover the joys of math and all, but honestly, from a frank point of view, you gotta already have a strong background in math to understand what on earth the people are talking about. If you are one of those people, then chances are you'll do very well with your research topic and place well at Intel, Siemens, and etc with your paper and you would benefit a lot from camp.</p>

<p>And compared to Ross, this camp is like 180 in terms of atmosphere. At Ross, they do math theorems into the wee hours of the night, at Texas State, you play games until the wee hours of the night. It is extremely laid back outside of classes unlike Ross which is hardcore math 24/7 (slight exaggeration but still... very intense) but I stress that this camp still makes you do a lot of work, but just only during classtime hours and not outside. The staff is very nice and care about the students although what I didnt like about it was sometimes the counselors, being high school graduates or lower classmen college students, can sometimes be a bit immature and cause some camp drama themselves. However overall they are very fun ppl to hang out with.</p>

<p>Hope my review helped. :)</p>

2

<p>Hello!
Since you have participated in this program (btw, was admission competitive - the homepage of the texas honors program makes it seem really competitive (congrats on making it in!)? did you have a lot of math awards and stuff? other awards?), I wanted to ask a quick question:</p>

<p>What topics did you cover (assuming that you still have the material - would you be patient and kind enough to list out the topics that you covered - like, say, Texas honors version of teaching material listed out in this format or something close to it [The</a> Ross Mathematics Summer Program for high school students, held on The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio](<a href=“Ross Mathematics Program - Introduction”>Ross Mathematics Program - Introduction) )?</p>

<p>Thank you so much for your help!</p>

3

<p>would anyone like to respond?</p>

4

<p>Hello Math&Sciencerock. I have been to HSMC for 2 years; I’ll try to answer your questions.</p>

<p>I don’t know much about the admissions difficulty - I’d say it’s probably not too competitive. I had some math awards, but nothing really significant, and I think my essay was actually pretty poorly written. To compensate though, I think my math teacher’s recommendation was strong. If you apply, I would recommend that you send in your application early, since the decisions are made on a rolling basis.</p>

<p>I haven’t been to the Ross program, so what I know is only from what I’ve heard and from their website. Ross seems to be a lot more ‘hardcore math 24/7’, as ArtLuvr said. It says in their [FAQ[/url</a>] that “students are expected to spend most of their waking hours working on the mathematical problem sets,” which is pretty intense…</p>

<p>As for the curriculum, for first-year students the course will cover somewhat less than what’s listed on [url=<a href=“Ross Mathematics Program - Introduction”>Ross Mathematics Program - Introduction]Ross</a>’ curriculum](<a href=“Ross Mathematics Program - Introduction”>Ross Mathematics Program - Introduction), which is to be expected since HSMC is 6 weeks long while Ross is 8 weeks long. As a very rough approximation, I’d say HSMC covers from Euclid’s algorithm down to Gaussian integers on that list. To be honest, I don’t think the actual number of theorems and topics covered is important, since you start forgetting them soon after the summer anyway. The understanding of the methods and ways used to prove theorems is much more important. At HSMC there is also Mathematica lab, which some students love and some students hate. Personally, I loved learning Mathematica, and it was an important part of some research that I did later on.</p>

<p>Generally, I really enjoyed HSMC, and I actually did ‘discover the joys of math’ there (I enjoyed math before, but I never understood much about theorems and proofs until I went to HSMC).</p>

<p>Feel free to ask me any other questions!</p>

5

<p>How come there is like no application quiz for this camp? Also how many people are doing research each year? Can only returning students do math research?</p>

6

<p>thanks soo much for replying!</p>

<p>Just wondering…</p>

<p>1) are the daily problem sets (if there is one) hard?</p>

<p>2) Was doing the research fun?</p>

7

<p>Thanks artluvr for your info. I wondering how HCSM compares to say, Promys , since the Ross website says that both promys and hcsm were modeled after the Ross program. Is it as competitive? Are their students attending from all over the country?</p>

8

<p>First-year students don’t do research at HSMC, but all returning students are offered the chance to do research in a team under a mentor at the university. These are typically math projects. Last summer there were 24 students students doing research in 9 teams, and a lot of these teams entered the Siemens Competition (and did [very[/url</a>] [url=<a href=“http://www.txstate.edu/mathworks/about/news/first_at_siemens.html]well[/url]”>HSMC team wins First Place at Siemens Competition : Mathworks : Texas State University]well](<a href=“http://www.txstate.edu/mathworks/about/news/siemensCompetition2009.html]very[/url”>Four HSMC student projects recognized by the Siemens Competition : Mathworks : Texas State University)</a>).</p>

<p>There are daily problem sets from Monday to Friday, which are done each night from 6:00 to 10:00 pm in your study group. They can certainly be challenging, particularly for people like me who never had to prove theorems before. I think most people wouldn’t call them easy, but they aren’t impossible for anyone either. The focus is on collaborative teamwork, so you’ll be working with around 3 other people in your group. Typically, most study groups won’t finish each day’s problem set, and there isn’t much pressure to do so either.</p>

<p>Sorry, but I can’t really compare HSMC to other programs since I’ve never been to other programs - maybe others can offer more insight here.</p>

9

<p>I’ve attended both HSMC and the Ross Program.
ArtLuvr: I never actually thought about the staff of HSMC grouping students by their math abilities. However, since you mentioned it, that’s probably what they do after all… </p>

<p>Anyways, I attended the Ross program during my summer after 8th grade and attended HSMC the summer after 9th. The difference between the two in terms of atmosphere is pretty large. </p>

<p>At Ross, competition was on a scale of 1 to 10… a 10. Completing the sets was strongly encouraged and the counselors usually didn’t want you go to the next set after you completely finished the previous ones. If you were wasting a bunch of time, they’d usually talk to you about it. The director (Daniel Shapiro) occasionally came and talked to the students who weren’t doing well at all (pretty much all the slackers). Most everyone did their problem sets till late into the night because they wanted to (or they felt so much pressure to do so). There are things called celebrations, also. They are given to the students during lecture and you are given 2 hours to write up as many solutions to the proofs given. Then you turn that in and keep the celebration paper with you. Almost everyone pulled all nighters completing that since it was mandatory that you turn it into the professor the next day. </p>

<p>We had these problem sessions after lecture each day where there were about 10 to 15 students in a room with a professor. And he usually gave hints to difficult problems or just explained a particular concept. </p>

<p>Now… at HSMC:</p>

<p>Everything was laid back. I remember working on my problem sets during free time hours and the counselors were telling me to stop being lame. I found that pretty annoying since the counselors should have been the ones pushing the students to work as hard as possible and gain the most from the six weeks spent at camp. The lectures at HSMC were definitely slower that at Ross. The director (he lectured) joked around quite a bit and went off on tangents quite often. I think the best thing about HSMC is that we did problem sets in groups of 4 or so people. If we didn’t finish the problems on the set, however, no one noticed and they usually pushed us to go on even …</p>

<p>I definitely agree with artluvr. The counselors could have been more… counselor-like rather than student-like. I feel like HSMC is not selective- like, at all. Ross, on the other hand, is definitely selective. If you are either a fast learner or already have a little experience in proofs/number theory, definitely go for Ross. </p>

<p>On the other hand, if you are a slower learner and don’t have much experience in proofs, I say go for HSMC. Because you’ll probably lag behind at Ross. </p>

<p>By the way, pretty sure I know artluvr, heh.</p>

10

<p>Full disclosure: I’ve been a student and counselor at the Honors Summer Math Camp (HSMC) for the past nine summers. Now I’m working full-time at Texas Mathworks, the center that hosts the HSMC.</p>

<p>I’m glad to see all these questions being posted about the HSMC, and would love to hear how you think we can improve the program.</p>

<p>Applications are online now!
[Honors</a> Summer Math Camp Application : Texas Mathworks : Texas State University](<a href=“http://www.txstate.edu/mathworks/hsmcapplicationonline.html]Honors”>http://www.txstate.edu/mathworks/hsmcapplicationonline.html)</p>

<p>Lastly, thought I’d try to answer some of the questions that have been posted throughout this thread:

  1. Admissions
    We don’t screen candidates solely on test scores and math awards won. We’re not out to build the “smartest” group of campers. Another important factor is one’s passion and interest for mathematics and learning.</p>

<p>2) Content
For Number Theory, we go up through proving Quadratic Reciprocity</p>

<p>3) Why is there no application “quiz”?
This relates to 1) above. There are other fine programs that have admission “tests”, such as AwesomeMath.</p>

<p>4) Are the daily problem sets hard?
This is dependent on your mathematical background. The problem sets emphasize clear reasoning and writing of math proofs.</p>

<p>5) Is the research fun?
Returning students have the opportunity to work on original math research projects. We recruit Texas State University faculty, as well as faculty from other nearby colleges, to be project mentors. The exact topics are determined by the mentors. Upon completion, students may choose to enter their projects into contests such as the Siemens Competition or ISEF.</p>

<p>6) Where do your students come from?
About 30% of the students are from outside of Texas. This percentage is dependent on the number of people from outside of Texas who know about the HSMC and apply. We have had students from other countries attend, such as Hungary, Albania, Taiwan, and Hong Kong.</p>

<p>7) How do you group students?
Students at the HSMC are divided into groups of four, guided by an undergraduate mentor (counselor). As much as possible, we aim for geographic diversity in these groups.</p>

<p>I’d be happy to answer any more questions.</p>

11

<p>Say if I was accepted at this program this week, what’s the deadline for sending the deposit?</p>

12

<p>We don’t ask for a deposit. If you are accepted, your acceptance letter will indicate your balance due for the whole camp. That amount is due before the start of Camp. </p>

<p>We do offer scholarships based on financial need, so don’t forget to fill out that portion of the application.</p>

13

<p>^Thanks Andragon, so how many returning students are doing research with the mentor each year? Also, does it take a tons of in-state residents?</p>

14

<p>“Thanks Andragon, so how many returning students are doing research with the mentor each year? Also, does it take a tons of in-state residents?”</p>

<p>We usually have teams of three students with each mentor. So that’s about 8-9 mentors.</p>

<p>Again, we don’t have a “quota” on how many in-state or out-of-state students we admit. There are quite a few Texas students who attend simply because a lot more of them apply.</p>

15

<p>^Thank you for the prompt reply!!! I think HSMC will be way more attractive to top mathletes if it has an option to do math research for first year student. When I mentioned HSMC to many of my USAMO-qualifier friends they were reluctant to apply because they can’t do any creative stuff in their first year.</p>

16

<p>We’ve heard that from other students as well. I’d refer to them to RSI or other programs whose sole focus is doing a research project. I’d also highly encourage students to do research projects during the school year, if you can set that up. You get far more out of it then just the few weeks during the summer. </p>

<p>The primary goal of the HSMC is to help all students build a solid math foundation, by having all students carefully examine fundamental concepts. We’re also set up as a multi-summer program, so we’re not simply looking for students who want to do a project for one summer.</p>

17

<p>Hi :slight_smile: thanks for all the useful infos. </p>

<p>This is my first-year applying for the summer camp,
and I was wondering what would be the average math level of HSMC participants? AIME, USAMO, or even IMO?
The thing is that I haven’t put time aside for math outside of school this year (various reasons…) and I didn’t really do well in any math competition. I only have experience in MATHCOUNTS during middle school, and it wasn’t even that excellent. (like among the top 5 teams in state)
Is it foolish to believe that if I study math competition type problems rigorously until the summer and build stronger foundations, I’d be able to keep up with the camp where there are Siemens finalists and all the brilliant kids?</p>

<p>I really love to do math and I believe I am a very determined, fast learner.
Please feel free to give any advice. Thank you!</p>

18

<p>I’d put whatever extra math experiences you have in the essay.
We look at your essay, teacher recommendation, and transcript.
Also, just like applying to colleges, apply to more than one summer program.</p>

19

<p>Have acceptance letters been mailed yet ?</p>

20

<p>Admission decisions will be sent via e-mail. Hope to finalize all decisions within this week or the next.</p>