Hi, I’m a HS freshman looking to go into pure math as an undergrad.
Currently, I have a 4.0 GPA, 1570 SAT, and USAJMO qual.
I want extracurriculars that can make me competitive for universities such as MIT, Caltech, CMU, HYPS, etc., but I found that it was quite challenging to get EC’s, especially research.
Is it possible to do any meaningful research under a prof. in math as a HS student? If yes, what fields would I have the best chance in actually understanding the work?
Aside from research, what other things can I do? I applied to Ross and PROMYS, and I’m waiting on the results. The easiest thing that I thought of would be just stacking DE courses and going to camps, but I feel like I wouldn’t have a singular strong hook.
Get a job, join a sports team, walk dogs, volunteer at a food bank.
Make yourself a complete person.
Some folks on here post this blog - not sure if this is the latest but it serves the point - you don’t need all the math stuff. You need the stuff that you’re passionate about.
Agreed. For some people a specific area of academic interest or personal cause can be narrow and consequently focusing entirely on that area can be extremely rewarding. I think we should encourage students to pursue what interests them not impose a value system of “normalcy”.
OP I admire your determination to find outlets for your passion for math. Good luck on your personal journey.
I have a seen a high school student do research in math with a Columbia prof and publish it in a journal. Not qualified to judge the quality of the work, except to say that I did not understand it. This person matriculated to a T5 school last year. There could a lot of other things going on with the student’s application – so this EC in math should not be seen as determinative, but it wouldn’t have hurt.
@thankingcow, math research by high school students is relatively rare relative to other forms of STEM research. And the reason it’s rare is because it requires a significant amount of training in how mathematics research works before even bright students can start making a contribution.
The only place that I know that regularly has high school students do math research is MIT, through their PRIMES program. There are two versions of PRIMES. The first, just called PRIMES is for students within driving distance of MIT, and is very selective. Students accepted into this program typically spend multiple years in the program, but much of the first year was spent on teaching students on how to read existing math papers and how mathematics research is actually conducted. This period could get either shortened or lengthened depending upon how quickly the students learned these concepts.
The other version of the program is called PRIMES-USA, and as the name suggests, can be applied for by anyone in the USA. It is much more selective than normal PRIMES, and typically the students accepted this program are some of the strongest math students in the USA. Traditionally this was only for juniors, but they are now starting to accept sophomores.
Apart from this, I am not aware of any summer programs where students could do research in mathematics. I am not talking about things like PROMYS where students can learn advanced concepts in mathematics, but actually do research. AwesomeMath had a specialized program that did this a few years back but don’t know if they still do.
Even if you can’t do math research, you have done great in terms of qualifying for USAJMO. If you think you can qualify for USAMO next time, I recommend going after that rather than another USAJMO qualification.
ETA: RSI is another summer program where students can do math research. But that’s also extremely selective.
And that’s fair - it’s clear their efforts are there - but he’s looking for a strong hook (his words).
And I’m just advising, it’s ok to be a kid.
People with regular stuff get into fine colleges, top colleges.
If that’s his desire, his passion - then of course it’s ok.
I was simply noting - he can diversify. In fact, in many ways, it might look better.
Up to him of course - but I hope he’s doing things for the right reason - and not to create a profile that may or may not work for them as a “hook” vs. following other passions - if there may be some.
It’s all I was trying to say - and I provided the link to the Applying Sideways that so many do. It’s an interesting read for sure.