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<p>It’s the only country wholly located within a city.</p>
<p>I can’t believe this thread is pushing a thousand posts…</p>
<p>It’s just THAT GOOD.</p>
<p>Perhaps some of you could call a USAMO qualifier for basic math and averages. </p>
<p>The Vatican City is 109 acres and that is less than 1/5th square mile. That would yield 5 popes per sqm.</p>
<p>Are retired popes considered emeriti?</p>
<p>re. Secrets of Princeton</p>
<p>I just finished Joyce Carol Oates The Accursed so I have Princeton on my mind. The article was timely for me. Anyone read the book? Think it is any kind of modern day comment on Princeton? Any Princetonians around who are in the know? I know absolutely nothing about Princeton except what I read in the papers.</p>
<p>This is morphing into the Meta Thread.</p>
<p>In case anyone is tracking the issue of admissions to the military academies, although one does need a nomination from a U.S. Representative, Senator, or a Presidential nomination, no connections are needed for the nomination.</p>
<p>A student who wants to go to one of the service academies should begin the pre-application process in the spring of the junior year in high school. </p>
<p>As mentioned by sseamom, students who would like to be considered for the academies typically put together an application packet, and submit it to their Representative and ideally to both Senators. I believe that most of the Senators and Members of Congress have committees that interview the applicants, before deciding on the nominees. I think that the service academies probably provide considerable written guidance to the committees, so that the Representative or Senator does not wind up nominating a person who does not have a serious chance of receiving an appointment. </p>
<p>The Vice President has the authority to nominate applicants from across the U.S., but the numbers are very strictly limited. The Vice President does not nominate to the Coast Guard Academy.</p>
<p>The President normally nominates only children of career military officers. Presidential nominations are unlimited, but (for example) there are only 100 appointments at the Air Force Academy for Presidential nominees.</p>
<p>In addition, as sseamom pointed out, children of Medal of Honor winners do not need a Congressional nomination. From the Air Force site:
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<p>There are also appointments for children of deceased or 100% disable veterans, or children of those in “missing” status. Nominations for residents of Puerto Rico and international nominations are covered at the Air Force site below (as one example) </p>
<p>[Military</a> Academy Nomination Process | The White House](<a href=“http://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/vice-president-biden/academy-nominations]Military”>http://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/vice-president-biden/academy-nominations)
[Nominations</a> | Air Force Academy](<a href=“http://www.academyadmissions.com/admissions/the-application-process/nominations/]Nominations”>Nomination Requirements | U.S. Air Force Academy)</p>
<p>I took a break from my normal topics to post this, because I did not want parents of a student who feels a vocation to serve his/her country in the military to be deterred by the need for a nomination.</p>
<p>Eh, Consolation (#967), there’s only one Meta Thread (garland’s), and it’s considerably funnier.</p>
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Now THAT’S accurate. Should be the swansong post in this thread.</p>
<p>Yeah, but 1700 shy of our previous party.</p>
<p>why don’t you just pick the best years for US and calculate your average! 
Anyways, someone here notices, that the majority of US IMO team in the recent years have Asian names, probably kids of recent immigrants, not home grown talents.</p>
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<p>That sounds even better. I mixed up 0.5 with 1/5th; it’s been two and a half years since I read that essay.</p>
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<p>Are photographers who chase down pictures of His Eminence called popearazzi?</p>
<p>One can dream.</p>
<p>There are some posters who really enjoy talking about the stock market, and it would come up intermittently in many threads. It was suggested that perhaps they might want to start their own thread to discuss it, and despite some initial concern that their thread wouldn’t have “legs”, its still going strong today. And its the “go to” place for those who want to talk puts and calls, etc.</p>
<p>Perhaps those that want to talk about the USAMO, the Putnam, etc, might similarly start their own thread, and have a “go to” place to discuss it, rather than having it pop up and redirecting other threads. Am betting you could come up with a really clever thread title!</p>
<p>Yeah, B1G Math. - Legends and Leaders.</p>
<p>Despite claims that it does not exist, welcome to the “Formulas to get to an Ivy-League school”. These formulas assume that the kid has good enough stats so as not to be dinged by low SAT/GPA. As you will see, these formulas require resources or serious connections.</p>
<p>1- The big donation method. Probably will require donations north of 2 million. This is a well-known formula, so no big news here.</p>
<p>2- The start a charity method. The $10K does not work anymore. But if someone in the family has experience with charities, starting a $250K+ charity can work wonders. In particular because it becomes legitimate and will gather friends and family donations and will actually make a difference.</p>
<p>3- The national science prize method. This requires hiring a skilled researcher to ghostwrite the research project and submitting those projects to recognized science fairs/competitions. A related method is the poetry/prose ghostwriting, but my impression is that the literature route does not work as well as the science route.</p>
<p>4- The noteworthy lab EC + article. Perhaps you are not rich but have good friends in academia. Problem solved: Get the kid working in the lab form freshman year HS. In the beginning you will need to promise your friend that the kid will be there and to all the secretarial work available, but if the kid get interested in the subject, he/she can be upgraded to doing some more high-level bookkeeping or data-entry tasks. After three years, he may be a co-author in a paper. This route only works if the kid has the endurance to show up frequently – anecdotal evidence says that many kids who offer to be an RA for free end-up not showing up for work regularly or dropping out a few weeks later. Bonus points if the RA work is at MIT, Stanford, or Caltech.</p>
<p>5- The serious “world saving” ECs. They exist but they are risky. Take a gap year and go to places that really need a pair of extra hands. Think about, for instance, going to teach in Afghanistan or helping Syrian refugees. At least 6 months there is required (the two-week vacation at a nice hotel does not count). Very risky, I know, but it does work. </p>
<p>As my list demonstrates, Piano, Violin, Marching Band, Running, Karate, School Newspaper, Debate, etc. are pass</p>
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<p>Quote of the day.</p>
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<p>The recent Harvard cheating scandal occurred in a class on Congress was reputed to be a “gut”, attracting a lot of students. The professor made the class harder (and arguably gave a final exam with ambiguous questions), and many students cheated, according to Harvard. There do seem to be Harvard students who want to coast through classes, sometimes because they are spending more time on extracurriculars, including sports.</p>
<p>Yale students are required to earn more credits over four years than Harvard students:
[Degree</a> Requirements | Yale College](<a href=“http://yalecollege.yale.edu/content/degree-requirements]Degree”>http://yalecollege.yale.edu/content/degree-requirements)</p>
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<p>I don’t know whether Yale students have more fun than those at Harvard, but my guess is that they have to work a little harder.</p>
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<p>Yes, high-IQ kids know more upon entering kindergarten and continue to learn at a faster pace. A recent NYT story [Investments</a> in Education May Be Misdirected](<a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/03/business/studies-highlight-benefits-of-early-education.html]Investments”>http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/03/business/studies-highlight-benefits-of-early-education.html)documents the phenomenon you noted but pretends that the explanation is purely environmental. Some of it is, but not all.</p>