<p>Applications will be out in a week or two! Nervous but excited to see the problems...anyone else applying?</p>
<p>two year alumni here 
if anyone has questions I’d love to answer them!</p>
<p>Although I haven’t posted much on CC LOL so wait a bit for PM</p>
<p>About how many people were at PROMYS, and was everyone super-talented at math? (You obviously need a lot of passion, but is everyone on different levels as to what math classes they’ve completed and the extent of their knowledge?)</p>
<p>there are around 80 kids every year; 60 new and 20 returning</p>
<p>the math level ranged a lot, from IMO attendance to getting ready to take precalc the following fall. I’d say that most people were on the better side, either competition math or in their school courses
PROMYS is number theory though, so most of that outside math knowledge doesn’t help. I’d say 95+% of the first years are learning number theory from scratch</p>
<p>Thanks for your response!</p>
<p>Applications just came out; about how long were your responses to the open-ended questions (why PROMYS, what other interests do you have other than math, etc.)? They seem like they can be answered with just a few sentences.</p>
<p>Also, how much do you feel grades are considered? I’ve always had 100+ averages in math classes, but I’m also taking AP Stat this year, which I had a 90 in for first quarter. Not the best grade.</p>
<p>I definitely answered the open-ended questions with short and sweet responses haha. I think I just filled the space provided.
What really counts in the application are the math questions- put lots of effort and detail into those. Even if you can’t come to the final answer, your thinking process is very important. </p>
<p>IMO grades are not considered that much in the application. In other words, having stellar grades in math and science won’t help you, but it might hurt you if they’re terrible. As I said, #1 part of application considered is the problem set.</p>
<p>Started working on the problems today.</p>
<p>I solved part a of one problem and I spent around an hour to an hour and a half getting the answer/finding the answer again a similar way. I noted a pattern, but how far in-depth to they expect you to go? I’m not too sure how to explain WHY the pattern occurs - it just does because of addition properties - and my two “different” methods are essentially the same, the second one just explains the first a bit more.</p>
<p>Is it worth it to dwell on this for another hour, or should I just move on? /: I do actually want to stare at it for another hour and see if I can find something, but I’m not sure if I’m just looking into the question too much and will end up attempting to prove “why addition works”.</p>
<p>Ugh I think I’m overthinking everything.</p>
<p>It’s great that you came up with multiple ways to solve the problem. If you can’t figure out how to explain a problem then move on to the rest. Don’t try to rush through the problems though - leave room to go back. The most important part of the problem is not the answer you get, but how you thought it out. Definitely try to go back and think about the “why” portion of a problem. A huge part of PROMYS is figuring this part out.</p>
<p>That said, don’t be discouraged if you’re stuck on a problem. Many people have gotten in without solving all 10 (or however many it was) problems completely</p>
<p>I looked at the problem set and they all seem very hard for me. I have participated in mathcounts and AMC 8. I am in 9th grade right now. How do you suggest I go about trying to solve these problems? If this is the kind of stuff they expect us to do then how will I ever get in? Please help!</p>
<p>I’ve finished the solving problems. I guess now I’ll work on trying to prove a generalization or something and I will be done. It does help that they repeat problems because I was rejected last year as a freshman. HCSSIM was super though so no regrets.</p>
<p>There are IMO attendees at PROMYS? Shouldn’t they be at MOSP then? </p>
<p>Also, is PROMYS as “math 24/7” as ROSS? Is the food good? I love Math but I don’t want to do it all day.</p>
<p>I heard that PROMYS is more lax than ROSS.</p>
<p>You solved all the problems already? Kudos to you! I finished one, planning on beginning the rest tomorrow. (:</p>
<p>@dsi don’t let the problems scare you! You can ask around for help (I’m pretty sure the instructions say this, as long as you cite who helped) but just be detailed in showing your thought process. As I said, getting the answer isn’t as important as working through the problem.
PROMYS actually focuses on number theory, which I guess is related to the problems, but the format is very very different. It’s more like a class then a mishmash of problems, in the sense that you learn and you build on the previous day’s work each day.</p>
<p>@schakrab I think there were people who made IMO previously, or from other countries, or qualified after USAMO idk. But I’m pretty sure the times conflict so you can’t go to MOSP and promys at the same time</p>
<p>Technically, you only have 1.5 hours of lecture each weekday at PROMYS. You have problem sets to work on, however, which can take as much or as little time as you want. Usually the people who go are all interested in math and want to spend all day on their problem sets. But it’s alot more fun then you’d expect! You work together with people, joke around, go on 10 PM food runs, etc. You’ll have down time on the weekends- I played alot of frisbee, I went out to eat a couple of times, went to a couple of movies. Some of my friends last year spent every saturday exploring boston. The general rule is “after lecture you can do whatever you want, as long as you finish your problem set”</p>
<p>oh and the food is decent- it’s provided by BU. There’s a big selection, a great vegan selection if you’re into that. There’s “traditional american food” aka burgers or something similar everyday, a pizza bar, vegan station, ethnic foods, mexican/taco-ish bar, salad bar, pasta bar, deli, and great desserts! You do eventually get sick of the food but promys is in Boston aka food places everywhere.</p>
<p>@catchinginfinity I also heard that. But I’ve never been to Ross so I can’t compare. But boston > ohio anyways </p>
<p>Honestly, besides the math portion, I think the best part of promys is the people. I’m a high school senior atm and I’ve never met any other group of people who are so smart/accomplished/passionate while being fun and interesting at the same time. People come from all over (I have really good friends who live in england/dubai/guam if you’ve ever heard of that LOL) and so they all have really interesting life stories. Super excited to see them again in college :)</p>
<p>@mojo - Wait, we can ask for help…? I thought the website stated we couldn’t ask parents, teachers, friends, etc. for help at all. Then again, the directions said to cite any articles. Kind of confused…</p>
<p>Also, what if you don’t finish the problem set…? D: I’m not too optimistic about my chances of getting in, but if I do happen to, I’m scared that I won’t be intelligent enough to get through the problem sets at the actual camp…</p>
<p>@schakrab - Forgot to ask in my previous reply, which question did you find the easiest and which did you find the most challenging? I’m a little unsure about the second part of #3 right now. Taking a break and I’ll hopefully be able to figure something out tomorrow.</p>
<p>Should I apply if I’m not a math person? I’m more of a biochem guy, but I would like to attend something like PROMYS. Problem is, I’m not a super mathy genius like you’d find at these types of programs.</p>
<p>PROMYS spans pretty much the entire summer, so if you’re not really into math, it probably wouldn’t be the optimal way to spend the summer…I guess it wouldn’t hurt to try the problems, though, and if you find them interesting, then actually apply. I’m not a math prodigy or anything and I’m still applying (mainly because I just really like math, even though I’ve never tried out for USAMO or anything). 
The deadline isn’t until April.</p>
<p>I like math, but I’m worried I’m not good enough :(</p>
<p>@catchinginfinity I don’t remember the directions exactly (2 years ago & can’t be bothered to look them up) but I think you can look at websites for enrichment help, not for solving the problem help. for example, on one of the problems I had to do, I solved it then discovered that there was a theorem related to the problem so I looked it up and talked about that</p>
<p>@teamrocket if “not a math person” means that you don’t do math competitions every weekend and do math for relaxing fun, but you’re still interested in math, then sure try out promys. if “not a math person” means you actually don’t like math, then maybe look up some science summer camps. Promys is 40 days of 8+ hour math (problem sets) so you have to like math quite a bit</p>
<p>tbh before I went to promys, I was kind of in your shoes- I was decent at math but I didn’t know if I was good enough to attend. Promys is actually much more based on your problem solving skills than your ability to do pure math because the course moves pretty quickly.</p>
<p>@catchinginfinity</p>
<p>I did some of these problems last year so I kinda just had to work on the new ones and brush up the old ones to finish. It would have taken a lot longer if all of them were new</p>
<p>I think 4 is definitely the easiest. As for the hardest…maybe 5? 10 had me perplexed at first but once you figure out the little trick it isn’t that hard.</p>
<p>@mojo</p>
<p>How are the problem sets? Like are they super long and will the TA’s help you out if you are really stuck? Are all the problems proof based?</p>