Send AMC score? And how...?

Colleges & Universities Massachusetts Institute of Technology
101

<p>zoogies – excalibur is closer to the mark here. I don’t know what you mean by “truly qualified” but California almost certainly has more applicants total and a higher proportion of applicants in the elite group (just because so many universities are there, professors’ kids, high tech employees’ kids, etc.). As it stands now, the number of kids admitted from 20 midwestern states whose total population equals California’s population significantly exceeds the number of kids admitted from California. So something is clearly going on.</p>

102

<p>

Exactly, which is why I’m convinced that there is some form of “geographical affirmative action.” Frankly, many of the people (including me) who were admitted from less competitive states might not have had the same luck had they come from California. And although I don’t think that there is an explicit quota system, there may well be an implicit one that results from these admissions policies. RSI admissions, when confronted with two applicants who are in the same neighborhood qualifications-wise, seems to almost always pick the student from the less competitive state. This may mean an effective cap of 4 or so on students from California.</p>

103

<p>randomperson, what about the idea that people like you from less competitive states (obviously very smart stats-wise, but no experience), are “excused” somewhat since there is less opportunity…?</p>

104

<p>When my son applied to RSI I read all the materials and seemed to recall wording that led me to believe that geography was a factor. His national math coach who has been around for years told him that there was a cap on the number of students from our state. We live in a high SAT/ math and science competition state, where lots of kids would have access to labs in high school. </p>

<p>There are probably more RSI rejects at HYPSM than there are Rickoids.</p>

105

<p>My memory from AP Stats in 9th grade is rusty but don’t you need at least 30 trials of something to draw any real conclusion? Seeing as there are 50 states, 50 admits, extreme competition, I would say that you can’t really analyze RSI admissions. Perhaps if RSI admitted maybe 5000 kids, then you could start drawing good conclusions. But at the level of competetiveness kids are applying to RSI with, I believe the lines start blurring.</p>

106

<p>Sagar’s right. Small fluctuations in who they accept can influence your conclusions. I don’t think there are actual hard quotas, although they probably do seek nationwide representation.</p>

<p>And cookiemom, that’s a pretty moot point. There are 20 times more RSI rejects than Rickoids. But an actually useful statistic is that the acceptance rate of Rickoids into HYPMS is a lot higher than RSI rejects.</p>

107

<p>I bet the acceptance rate of RSI rejects is quite high as well. Those who apply have to meet eligibility criteria and are a select group in and of themselves.</p>

108

<p>Yeah, Iwould suggest sending in the score…I’m a freshman and qualified for the AIME, but idk what exactly to do to prepare…I’m in Precalculus…and do you need upper level math to answer questions on the AIME?</p>

109

<p>Nah, precalc is it.</p>

110

<p>Hmmm, I still don’t know why Rickoids consider RSI to be significantly more beneficial to college admissions than USAMO/USpHO/USCHO/etc. Participating and especially doing well in the respective olympiads shows a clear and distinct passion for a certain subject, whether it be Math, Physics, or chemistry. While RSI seems like a really cool research program that offers motivated high school students the opportunity to do research during their high school years, I personally don’t feel that a 6-week summer program should be even comparable to years of hard work as demonstrated by olympiad involvement.</p>

111

<p>There’s a big difference between “should be” and “is.” I think the reason some people consider RSI more beneficial for college admissions is that they believe they have seen evidence in admissions rates; whether a 6-week summer program should carry more weight than olympiad participation is a separate question.</p>

112

<p>Anyway, the sets {Rickoids} and {Olympiad Qualifiers} are not disjoint sets.</p>

113

<p>Exactly right, flierdeke. evil<em>asian</em>dictator seems to be confused about the difference between reality and normative contemplation. RSI does tend to be better for admissions than Olympiads, so the answer to “why Rickoids consider RSI to be significantly more beneficial to college admissions than USAMO/USpHO/USCHO/etc.” is because that opinion reflects reality (even outside the intersection of the two sets). End of story.</p>

114

<p>

perhaps the key is that the selection process for RSI is similar to the selection process for college (grades, test scores, rec letters), while the selection process for olympiads is not. A math genius can rise quite high in the Olympiad process without necessarily having the other things that colleges look for. At some point, if they rise high enough in the process, colleges like MIT may not care if their recs, and non-math grades and test scores aren’t stellar. But that’s probably pretty high.</p>

<p>Knowing both some Rickoids and some people who have made it to the camp or int’l competition level in the olympiads, I’m generally more impressed with the level of raw talent and drive it takes to be in the top 60 people in the country in Olympiads than what it takes to get into RSI. But that doesn’t necessarily translate into things like grades and recs.</p>

<p>People who are interested in this stuff might enjoy reading Countdown by Steve Olson. It’s about the 2001 US team to the IMO, but it is also about much broader issues like the nature of genious and about math education in different countries. <a href=“http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0618251413/sr=8-7/qid=1140812804/ref=pd_bbs_7/103-7689812-1885449?_encoding=UTF8[/url]”>http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0618251413/sr=8-7/qid=1140812804/ref=pd_bbs_7/103-7689812-1885449?_encoding=UTF8&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

115

<p>I’ve been meaning to read that for a while – thanks for the reminder!</p>

<p>You are right – the similarity of the RSI process and the college process probably accounts for the observation that RSI “helps” more, if only as a correlating indicator.</p>

116

<p>Just wondering…how many of you ACTUALLY qualified for USAMO?</p>

<p>nuff said…</p>

117

<p>worth reporting a 105?</p>

118

<p>^^yes…</p>