<p>For my son, it’s probably because he will finally be challenged. It’s been really hard to find challenge in his coursework at the community college (and it would have been impossible to find it at our local schools). He could have taken coursework at the local UC but it’s quite far and quite over our budget and he would have quickly exhausted his small 529. Math Circle and math competitions have given him plenty of challenge but he didn’t start them until last year. Also, if you look at some of the courses at places like Harvard, Princeton, Mudd, Stanford, etc. , they are so <em>interesting</em>!! I mean, did you know there’s a freshman seminar course at Harvard called something like math and chess?! I mean, how cool would that be for my son? :-)</p>
<p>Really though, I haven’t the foggiest idea if my son will get into any selective college or even want to attend. You raise some great questions. For some kids who have never really been challenged or been with peers who have an equal amount of excitement about learning (we know exactly one homeschooler in our circle who is excited about math and science), it can be very motivating.</p>
<p>When we visited Princeton, my son really enjoyed seeing an old friend from math circle. Their eyes lit up as they talked math (or whatever it was since I’m clueless). I think <em>that</em> is the reason kids choose to go to places like Mudd, or at least that’s my best guess.</p>