I’m pretty much done arguing about whether or not private schools give an advantage to Ivys. I say yes, you say no. For top privates and publics (Stuy, BxSci, etc.), it is not even worth a discussion. The numbers are what they are.
Just a clarification, it was not an alumni interview but rather a discussion with a H admissions rep who also graduated from H. She was probably a non-stem person anyway or she wouldn’t be an admissions rep.
I’m pretty sure Math 55 is such an epic course even non-math majors have heard of it.
According to Paul Allen, Bill Gates got a B in Math 55 and was so shook up by not being the top math student, he changed to Applied Math.
When my kid and I toured my Alma mater (not close to a T10), I grabbed an undergrad catalog and not only were course numbers the same in the Math dept., the descriptions were also the same. I guess Linear Algebra and Differential equations haven’t changed much in the past 30 years;) How did I remember? Long term memory is weird.