What is MIT's view on self studying and taking hard math classes earlier on?

mootmom
Wed, 06 Jun 2007 18:51:39 +0000

Two years ago when my son was accepted to MIT, there were 13 students from his class accepted. Two of them had completed AP Calc BC by ninth grade. At least six of the others never took BC. There were probably four high AMC scorers in the group who qualified for AIME; most of the 13 did not take the AMC. (And if you qualified to take the AIME at all, you’re showing ability in mathematics, even if you “only” earn a score of 1 or 2.)

These 13 students all had the same opportunities to take the same advanced classes (in some cases four years of math beyond BC, or two years of physics beyond Phys C); some chose to take advantage of those opportunities, some took other paths. They were all admitted, though, so it clearly was not a requirement to have taken highly-advanced math or qualified for AIME in order to gain admission, even when students from the same school did.