Influence of AIME on Wharton

Colleges & Universities University of Pennsylvania
1

<p>Somewhere I read that Wharton places a huge emphasis on mathematics, since it is heavily used within finance and econ and well, everything. That being said, what is the difference between being someone who qualifies for the AIME and gets a 0, someone who gets a 3, and someone who gets double digits? </p>

<p>I believe that merely qualifying and doing a few of the earlier questions shows some recognizable mathematical ability, enough to handle the difficult work of Wharton. They may also act as indicators of problem solving ability (which I imagine would be very helpful, e.g. in OPIM). But what do others think about this, and about math competitions in general?</p>

<p>I ask primarily because of the people I know who attend Wharton, none of them competed in the AMC’s or other math competitions, with more liberal arts backgrounds.</p>

2

<p>I was accepted ED to Wharton (I’m in the Vagelos LSM dual-degree) this past fall, and I never reported my AMC scores. In fact, this past Feb is the first time my score qualified me for the AIME. I didn’t have my math teachers write me a recommendation, either. So, I’d say the proof lies mostly in your grades and scores----I’ve been a straight-A math student since the 3rd grade (though obviously only HS grades are sent to admissions) and I had a 800 on both the SAT Math and SAT-II Math Level II.</p>

3

<p>Even for MIT, you don’t have to be AIME qualified to be admitted to Engineering major. Some kids just take these tests for fun, ie cold no prep.</p>