<p>Some conversations I've had in real life prompt me to ask this rather open-ended question. Suppose you knew a high school student who likes math, wants to study math in a good college math program, and is willing to study hard to make that happen. What would you recommend that he do to increase his chances of getting into Princeton? Any and all advice will be much appreciated.</p>
<p>hmm...</p>
<p>Take more advanced math classes that maybe wouldn't be available in his high school?</p>
<p>Tutor kids, maybe.</p>
<p>Do some sort of independent research project in math.</p>
<p>Ask him to explore similar subjects such as computer science, physics, etc</p>
<p>Do some sort of independent research for the Siemens competition or Intel Competition.</p>
<p>Thanks for the very quick reply. Replying to your first point, </p>
<p>
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Take more advanced math classes that maybe wouldn't be available in his high school?
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</p>
<p>in my town there is </p>
<p>1) a university-based program at the state flagship university that teaches very advanced math classes (and which definitely has alumni who attend Princeton) </p>
<p>and there is also </p>
<p>2) the possibility of using the statewide dual-enrollment program to take college math classes in various local colleges with varying degrees of selectivity. </p>
<p>Do you think it would make a difference to Princeton's admission committee or math department to choose one path rather than the other of those two paths to advanced math courses?</p>
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Do some sort of independent research for the Siemens competition or Intel Competition.
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</p>
<p>Thanks for that suggestion. I'll have to check where Siemens and Intel winners from my state have matriculated in the last few years.</p>
<p>There aren't many of them (only about 60/year who are regional finalists in Siemens)...you can practically write your ticket being a regional finalist in the Siemens competition.</p>
<p>Have your child email a Princeton professor - not per se to ask how to get into Princeton, just to ask them what do they think about learning math in middle school and high school....</p>
<p>Thanks, Alumother, for that specific suggestion.</p>
<p>Why doesn't the student check out Canada/USA mathcamp and experience how much he or she really enjoys math.</p>
<p>MathCamp is another good suggestion. I have been aware of several of these good ideas for a while, but the local friend on whose behalf I am asking is newly aware of how cool a college Princeton is for studying math, and hearing your good ideas will help in deciding what to do in that family's circumstances.</p>
<p>How about independent study? I'm not homeschooled or anything, and I am taking a class next semester at the U of Memphis, but this semester I don't have anything at my school to take and couldn't sign up for a normal class.</p>
<p>I'll bump this now. The earlier answers were very helpful, so I hope either they help someone else who sees this thread, or prompt even more helpful answers. I'll have to check with my local friends and see what they think their kids will do to prepare for the possibility of studying math at Princeton. A lot of the kids on the math team I've been coaching end up going to our state university honors program, but I think one kid is quite interested in Princeton, but curious about what is good preparation for Princeton.</p>
<p>My S is currently a Princeton math major and former AOPS aficionado. I was an observer in two meetings he had with two different professors in the math department when he was a senior in high school, so I got a first hand look at what they are interested in:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>They are definitely most interested in what topics the student has studied during their high school years. They are looking for students who are interested in and have the ability to do very high level mathematics i.e. proof based mathematics. S was encouraged to begin studying analysis during his senior year in high school, which he had the opportunity to do.</p></li>
<li><p>They do pay attention to how someone has done in math competitions, but this is not as important to them as prior coursework. Unlike other branches of science, you have to be very advanced in mathematics to begin to do any significant research. Thus the research competitions aren't as important in math as they would be in the other sciences. My S began taking calculus classes when he was 13 and he will be 20 by the time he begins to engage in any type of mathematical research.</p></li>
<li><p>Princeton expects its students to be interested in and take advantage of its strong programs in all fields. Thus they are looking for students who demonstrate and interest and ability in humanities as well as science. It is interesting to note that although undergraduate math majors are in a minority (only 15-20 majors per class), they seem to win a lion share of academic awards and honors that require outstanding academic performance in all subjects. Here's a recent quote from president Shirley Tilghman on admissions:
[quote]
There seems to be a sense that while in the past Princeton looked for very well-balanced students, now Princeton wants a well- balanced class, with different students who are exceptional in different things.
Both [former admission dean] Fred Hargadon and Janet Rapelye have said to me that this is a misrepresentation of what an admission department thinks about and what they face. Because the pool of applicants is so strong, you don</p></li>
</ol>
<p>
</p>
<p>Thanks, cookiemom, that's a helpful addition to the earlier helpful replies. One issue that raises in the local cases I know is what kind of high school or college-as-high-school program is likely to be the best preparation for a prospective Princeton student? Here in our town, some students stay in regular high school for most classes, perhaps taking the University's talented</a> youth mathematics program for most of their math courses. Other students do dual-enrollment at the University for part or all of eleventh and twelfth grade. And some do dual enrollment at other colleges in town. What's your sense of which kind of "high school" program would be most apt for preparing a student for Princeton?</p>
<p>TokenAdult,</p>
<p>Another way DS has learned about various math programs is by talking to the junior staff at the summer math program he attended last year. Virtually all of them were at top collegiate programs, welcomed questions at the time, and have become useful contacts via Facebook, etc. since.</p>
<p>DS's school gives students the option to prepare a research project -- they strongly recommend contacting local universities for math-type projects.</p>
<p>A scary thought -- it's like developing a network of professional peers at the age of 15! On the other hand, some of these folks (grad students and instructors/profs) are now starting to offer DS some very useful advice and offering contacts to yet others who have more specialized knowledge in DS's areas of interest.</p>
<p>
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A scary thought -- it's like developing a network of professional peers at the age of 15!
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</p>
<p>Yeah, I'd have liked to have had a network by the age of 25. :( But better late than never. My son does a summer program every summer, but he is the only one on my math team who does that. It sounds like I should talk up how to make those connections--through one channel or another--with the other parents in town who may have children applying to Princeton in the next year or two.</p>
<p>I don't think it matters which path a student takes to advance themselves in mathematics during the high school years. They are mostly interested in their knowledge and ability and not how this was achieved. My S didn't take any math classes at all his entire junior year of high school. He had a full schedule of classes with two AP sciences. He was also a three season athlete and was working on his Eagle Scout requirements, so he couldn't take classes after school. He did engage in self study to prepare himself for taking the AMC, AIME, USAMO and did quite well in those exams.</p>
<p>He was a junior staff at one of those math camps last summer. The most frequently asked question from his very bright and eager students was, "How do you get into Princeton?" His advice, "Do really well in school and get involved with extra curricular activities that don't involve math."</p>
<p>I know a Princeton applicant who received two IMO gold medals and a rec from a very very top math prof. He sadly got rejected, but he's also an intl student.</p>
<p>There are plenty of international students in the Princeton math department, especially from Romania. A kid like that would probably get a nod from the math department, but not make it past admissions. Because it has such a small student body they are looking for students that can offer more than one thing to the vitality of the campus. As indicated in the president's statements, their applicant pool is so strong they can get students who are phenomenal at math and are also musicians, athletes, etc.</p>
<p>
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Do really well in school and get involved with extra curricular activities that don't involve math.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>OP, if you are the same tokenadult as on AoPS, then I doubt many people on CC know more about HS opportunities in math than you. I strongly agree with the quoted statement. There will be lots of applicants who are great at math, but Princeton is not going to accept every USAMO qualifier who applies. The students who bring something extra to the table and set themselves apart are much more likely to get the nod. The specific HS math program that the student follows is somewhat less important (given that it is fairly advanced) because the adcoms do not have an encyclopaedic knowledge of math EC's.</p>