Which would help my chances more?

Random_Bob
Tue, 24 Jul 2007 16:19:29 +0000

I’m a current TAMS student.

On whether you should do TAMS, there’s a couple of things you need to think about. First off, how good is your current school at getting kids into college? Judging by your school size and the fact that you’re considering TAMS, I’m guessing you’re from Plano (East?). If so, TAMS won’t really improve your chances. Plano is as good as or better at getting kids into Ivies from what I’ve seen, though maybe a little worse when it comes to MIT. If you’re not from Plano, you’re just going to have to judge for yourself. TAMS is not something that’ll magically make your application stand out.

There are some major drawbacks from the college application perspective, the biggest being it’s definitely very difficult to get good recs from the professors here, as the classes (especially bio and chem) are huge and the professors aren’t as interested in getting to know you (if at all).

Be warned, just because all those high level classes are available doesn’t mean you can take them. If you’re currently taking Algebra II, then you will not be able to take anything above calculus and lin al until your very last semester, and if you want to take many math electives.

That being said, there are also some nice things. The thing that tipped it for me was the ease of doing research here. The professors treat you like any other undergraduate, or even preferentially. I actually just submitted a scientific paper for publishing, and I know a few other tams kids that are doing the same.

One last note, if you are from plano and ranked so high, TAMS will probably be actually easier for you than your old school and you’ll have a lot less work to do. Whether this is a good thing or bad thing is for you to decide.

If you want to know anything more about TAMS (the dorm, food, curfew, etc) just pm me.