Math for Junior and Senior Year

mackinaw
Sat, 01 Jun 2019 19:35:47 +0000

Reed. I just checked and at Amherst 88% of enrolled students had a composite ACT of 30-36. BTW/ I’ve never been on an admissions committee for first-year students. But I have been on one for doctoral students, both within my department and in all-university fellowship competitions. The first thing I look at when I get an application in my hand is the numbers: test scores, GPA (esp. in major field).

Then I look at the curriculum of undergraduate study and the grades in key courses and overall. Then I read the essays, statements of career goals. Then I read letters of recommendation. I’m going to hinge a lot of my expectation on past performance – curriculum and grades. I’ll read the “softer” part of the application with the numbers as background. In the end it’s not always a test of numbers. I might discount numbers if there is reason to question their validity (applicants from certain countries may have fudged the numbers, or the TOEFL scores are inflated). But I do start with the numbers.