Putnam exam

<p>If I had a low GPA in high school with nothing on my high school transcript--i.e., virtually no ECs; got a 2400 on the SATs; got a 4.0 at a tier 4 college, although with minimal rigor because of the school's nature; and placed as one of the top 5 individuals in the Putnam competition during, say, sophomore year; would I be a competitive junior applicant for top schools? (Would it be almost imperative that I study math, then? Or is it considered an effective EC?) I just need to grasp how much I need to do in college to effectively make up for my inactivity in high school.</p>

<p>This post is not exactly indicative of my current situation; it is simply a slightly made-up and skewed--yet precise--situation that exemplifies having the capacity to be great, never being it in high school, but wanting to be it in college.</p>

<p>NOTE: There is no need to focus on other things that you may prefer to give me advice on.</p>

<p>if you had Putnam Fellowship, that is, top 5 in the nation, you won’t need any EC or 2400SATs or 4.0 gpa or anything else to get into any school in the country. Seriously, literate people understand what Putnam means.</p>

<p>But getting top 5 on that test is insanely hard.</p>

<p>i was preparing for putnam in my freshman year in COLLEGE with cal 2 completed. it was extremely hard and i didnt even understand the question, so i quited.</p>

<p>crazybandit, the type of people who are most likely to become putnam fellows are former IMO medalists–who started medaling in 10-11th grade. no offense, but if you haven’t taken calc III or linear algebra yet, you won’t even understand how to approach many of the problems, much less solve them. if you can get a score above a 0, then you have an above average score. </p>

<p>as for putnam fellows from cuny, there has been only one. he was a student aide at my hs, and ridiculously brilliant, probably the most brilliant person i know in terms of perception and novel reasoning(well except for this ten year old version of him in my hs calc class…). becoming a fellow is an incredible achievement, but you do not need to be a pfellow to transfer into a top college. just keep your grades up and find something you like doing.</p>

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