<p>Yes, I am the same person who first used the screenname "tokenadult" to indicate my belief I was one of the few adults on AoPS (actually, these days there are quite a few). I used the same screenname over here on CC (after learning about CC over on AoPS) because I figure--Occam's razor--there is no need to have a lot of different screennames. </p>
<p>I'm really appreciating the good information in these replies. I'm inviting local friends of mine to visit this thread to pick up the helpful ideas here.</p>
<p>DS1 got his first taste of proofs this past summer at his math program. It was not overtly geared to competition math as some programs are, but as I've posted previously, he came home converted from CS to math! He now grumbles about the math dept. here -- "it's all computational!"</p>
<p>He sat in on the Honors Analysis course (20700) at UChicago last week (he and DH visited campus) and LOVED it. Said he couldn't actually <em>do</em> the math yet, but could follow the proofs and understand the discussion, thanks to last summer. He was pleased he could pop in on a course like that and not be utterly lost. </p>
<p>He said there was at least one rising HS freshman there, and many rising sophs and juniors. There are only 40 kids in the program, so the students and staff get to know each other rather well. IMHO, the program also did a nice job of selecting folks with a variety of different interests (CS, linguistics, chem, engineering, etc.) with the common link being math (and Ultimate Frisbee). Since this program is on the East Coast and is highly regarded, I am certain Princeton is aware of it.</p>
<p>DS1 is swamped in competition stuff at the moment, but when he gets his head above water, I'll see if he can write up something about the program (assuming he doesn't have something handy already). Ah, junior year! :)</p>
<p>Haha this is really funny, we were talking about Occam's Razor today in Theory of Knowledge and my teacher was like "it's actually really simple (rather ironic, for it values simplicity), but the vast majority of the American public has never even heard the phrase." </p>
<p>So it figures that it would be on the best CC forum.
Yayyy Princeton.</p>
<p>Math majors are not evaluated any differently than other applicants, and as a result, no section is given more weight. Standardized tests count but after a certain point (maybe 2250 or 2300) differences in scores become less important.</p>
<p>Hmm. This is just anecdotal but I bet most math majors at Princeton are 800 or close on their SAT I math sections. My daughter, 740 SAT I math, 800 SAT II math, 5 on AP Calc? She took multivariable calculus her first year and said it was incredibly hard. The math majors were already two or three classes ahead of her. And the SAT I score has an impact on what you can place out of, i.e. they put over 750 kids in a different class. Go look at the math department courses and their requirements. It tells you.</p>
<p>Thanks for the link to the old thread about the math sequence in Princeton. Answering the other replies, yes, I would expect that Princeton is looking for kids with high scores all around, and getting them. And indeed I wouldn't expect all prospective math majors to stay with a math major--there are lots of cool major programs at Princeton.</p>
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I thought that intended major does not really play a large role in admissions, as majors are highly subject to change?
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<p>This is what every admissions office will tell you but it's not entirely true. Every school wants a balance of different majors. They know a lot of kids are going to change their minds, but for most students there is some indication that their interests lie more heavily with humanities or arts vs math /science. In fact the Princeton application asks you to state how sure you are of the major you intend to pursue.</p>
<p>Of those, about half of them are what the department considers serious math majors. These are the kind of students that the math department is interested in attracting. I have to agree with Alumother that the math majors all likely have 800 math SAT's, and that they got those scores in the 8th or 9th grade. </p>
<p>When Cookieson first arrived at Princeton everyone told him there was no way he would be a math major once he started taking math classes. It has the reputation of being the most challenging discipline on campus and the faculty supports that notion. However, I must add that the faculty themselves are very warm and supportive of their students. Once Cookieson had emailed a professor saying he may be arriving late to class because of a Dr.'s appointment. When he entered the class room the professor stopped the class and asked how he was. When he has requested to speak to faculty members privately, they respond immediately and schedule appointments within days.</p>
<p>i was accepted this year to princeton's class of 2011, and i ticked my would-be major as math (along with like, tons of other uh certificate programsthey asked if i'd be willing to thika bout ) and.. i don't think they look at any majors specifically. i just read up that some dude with two IMO medals got rejected, and I'm wondernig whether to switch to some other major, i mean... to think of all the other geniuses there, it's sort of daunting.</p>
<p>having said that I think my passion for math just came through. I asked my math teacher for one of my recs, and every class for me i just enjoyed math; i thought of math class as just an extended break more than a class to be endured. cracking jokes, giving diff perspectives on the questions on the board, i think that made my math teacher write a great rec .... plus i did "decently" well (no major IMO awards or anything, AIME was the best i could do, and that was a low low AIMe at that). yep, i did get 800 for sat I and sat II level 2 (funny enough i got 770 or something for math level 1 :P) but i guess its not like the scores are looked at any differently cuz i'm going to be a math major.</p>
<p>they just want to seeif you "fit" the princeton crowd; i just feel my choice of a major didn't have that sort of an effect on admissions.. this is just conjecture as well, but i figured doing the poem prompt for my essay would make me stand in a diff light because i figured most ppl would do the einstein one or the "quote of your choice"... i worked day night to make that poem work for my essay, and i figure that's what tipped me.</p>
<p>rambling.. im just not sure what got me in, thats all</p>
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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
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<p>no no when i said "i just read up" i was meaning that in previous posts of this topic... someone said that, got freaked!</p>