<p>My son is a Sophomore who has taken Alg 2 Honors as a Freshman and earned an A. This year, he took both Trig Honors and AP Stats and earned an A in both. He wants to try SuMAC, but I thought it would be hard for him. How hard is SUMAC?</p>
<p>Please answer! Bump</p>
<p>I took a quick look at the SuMAC website. It seems to me that they are quite careful only to admit students who would benefit/enjoy the program. They look at courses taken, grades received, test scores, AND they have their own admissions test. I’d say they’ve got the bases covered. If your son is accepted into the program, most likely he will enjoy it and do well there.</p>
<p>My daughter did SUMAC but after her Junior year of HS – I think your son might want to wait another year. She had already taken AP Calculus AB and BC and I think most of the other kids had taken at least AB. At that time, kids who did SUMAC all seemed to get into Stanford – BUT – even 3 years ago was a different time than now so it might not carry the same bounce with admissions.</p>
<p>@fracto
Was the course content involving Calculus related stuff or anything beyond?</p>
<p>BTW He is applying to program I.</p>
<p>Sorry – can’t answer more specifically about the content, I just don’t know. If he can do the problems required for entrance, then he will probably be in decent shape I suppose. Why don’t you write them and ask if he had adequate prep?</p>
<p>Number theory doesn’t require Calculus. Topology didn’t either really, at least until I tried to work my way through differential geometry and differential topology books. If he wants to go, he should apply, and if he’s accepted that means he’ll be able to do the work. The program was very interesting and a lot of fun. One of my closest friends now is someone I met at SUMaC. </p>
<p>fracto, which year did your daughter do SUMaC? I wonder if I know her… Is she a Stanford student now?</p>
<p>i went to sumac program II this last summer and absolutely loved it! i did my research in differential topology, which was pretty cool. problem sets are assigned after every lecture, and if you finish early, then you have the rest of the time to just do whatever you want! personally, i thought the problem sets were really manageable and throughout the four weeks, i still had time to play ultimate frisbee with friends, run several miles every morning before lecture, explore the campus, go out to palo alto every once in a while, and spend ample time enjoying the buffet-style cafeteria!! within a few days i was head-over-heels in love with everything there and decided that stanford was the only college i wanted to go to (yay for early action!). in any case, a few of my friends were in program I, and some thought it was challenging, while others thought it was really easy. so i guess it varies from person to person. but i think the main thing is to stay away from thinking about the math as the sort of plug-and-chug, straight-forward stuff that they preach in many high schools (my high school included). i had a wonderful time there, and i think your son will, too, regardless of whether he finds it hard or not. you meet incredible minds, make lots of solid friendships, and i think it’s just an all-around awesome experience!</p>
<p>as for future stanford admittance… SUMaCers go through some sort of admissions process for mathematical ability and such. i think that stanford figures that if you can prove yourself to the mathematics department, then you’ll probably be able to succeed at stanford. all of the SUMaCers who applied to stanford early this year made it, but they were all so amazing in the first place that they probably would have gotten in without SUMaC. wow. i’m really inarticulate. anyway. i agree with facto. most, if not all, SUMaCers seem to get into stanford even today. =)</p>
<p>wow that was a long entry</p>