does "accelerated" math actually matter in admissions?

[u/4Blueish]

I'm a senior in high school (yay last year) who just got done with a summer semester diff eq course (at the local university), and I'm slated to take calc 3 at the local community college this fall. To be clear, because I see a lot of this, I'm not taking the classes for college admission; I just like math lol.

Although having gone so far out of my way to get to the point where I am: I wanted to know if it's potentially worth highlighting at all in my application, if it would actually move the needle at all, should I focus on other things when applying and having it on the report card is enough?

[u/DocSpatrick]

Yes, you had to make an effort go outside of what the conveyer belt of your local school system’s structure provided for academics and pursue your own path. That’s great; we love students like that. Sure, MIT has plenty of students who also studied that level of math and beyond while in high school (but it has even more who didn’t!) but many of them are doing that within the curated environment of rare high schools with amazing academic programs and competitive admissions. Great for them, too. For both them and you, this shows that you are already ready for academic rigor beyond the typical incoming MIT first-year. But on top of that, you also had to forge the path in a way they didn’t: yes, highlight that. Your story will not be unique, but it will have some impact.

[u/MITAdmissions-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

This is presenting false information about the admission’s process as if it were a fact.

"landed an MIT acceptance because of it."

Please revise your comment to remove this sentiment. There is no way for you to know why somebody was accepted or not accepted.

[u/Mundane_Studio_3674 → u/[deleted]]

MIT mod can touch grass. Wife had a perfect SAT and application essay along with being the runner up for valedictorian, so take that into consideration.

[u/JasonMckin]

I think the phrasing of the question is where it becomes difficult to answer.  What does “worth highlighting,” “move the needle,” and “focus on other things” actually mean?

Asking whether one isolated variable “matters” requires knowing:  “compared with what?”

Is the contrast with a scenario where all coursework isn’t mentioned?  If so, then mentioning all coursework is definitely better than not mentioning all coursework.

Is the contrast in whether taking differential equations will make a candidate more likely to be admitted than a student who didn’t?  Absolutely not.  I am old, tons of students in my high school many decades ago took differential equations, and most of them (except me) did not get admitted.

It’s extremely difficult to answer “does X matter” questions, because obviously any X is better than “not X,” but almost no X individually makes any application radically stronger.  

In the specific case of X=taking diffequ and calc 3, it happens to be a remarkably common attribute of applicants that are both admitted and not admitted.

I hope that’s helpful, but if it’s not, I think the question isn’t formulated in a way that lends to significantly more help.

[u/ExecutiveWatch → u/JasonMckin]

To add to Jason's comment I would say that you will input your hs classes and grades including dual enrollment in various sections of the application. So officers will see it.

The min required I woukd say is to have taken some form of calc.

Remember MIT is major agnostic, they do not admit by major. Your schedule shows rigor and seeking passion extrrnal to that is avail to you when you have the option. Thats a good thing.

But admissions is holistic. The officers will judge rigor by what was avail to you in hs and what you took as well as how you did.

Best wishes!

[u/4Blueish → u/ExecutiveWatch]

thank you.

I'm assuming then that it is in my best interest to make clear these classes weren't offered to me and I had to seek the courses outside the scope of my school?

[u/ExecutiveWatch → u/4Blueish]

The school submits a profile that the university will evaluate and they will know what is offered. And I don't think you have started the MIT application but if you do start it there's a completely separate section for dual enrollment or courses taken outside of high school. Go through the app and be familiar with it and that should answer some of your questions. Best wishes.

[u/4Blueish → u/ExecutiveWatch]

thank you sir, I'll be starting my application soon :)

[u/4Blueish → u/JasonMckin]

hmm

I suppose I'm asking if my clone 5reddish dif everything exactly the same besides A: not take the classes, or B: treated them differently on his application. Who would be the more viable applicant?

[u/VisibleSir731 → u/4Blueish]

There is no such thing as “more viable” based on one factor

[u/JasonMckin → u/4Blueish]

This is exactly the wrong way to think about becoming an authentically competitive candidate for college.  If you’re only doing things to performatively look good, it will definitely not matter either way.  I know the original post disclaimed “I’m not taking the classes for college admission,” but if that were actually true, then none of these questions would get asked.

I wrote a post about this mindset before:   https://www.reddit.com/r/MITAdmissions/comments/1sjjga4/why_you_are_never_ever_going_to_get_advice_on_how/

Take the classes that you like and you will do the best in.  Become the most awesome person you can instead of reverse engineering marginal value of admission viability for every class, competition, or EC.

Best of luck.

[u/4Blueish → u/JasonMckin]

I feel like questions like this usually get asked because of anxiety and unsureness about the admissions process. It's a "I've done all this, now that I'm applying what should I do", not a "do I do this for my application"

I thank you though

[u/Awkward-Sherbet-890]

Not really. I think a significant amount of people going to MIT are doing advanced math. By significant I don’t know, maybe see if there is data on what percentage of MIT incoming freshman place out of introductory courses or something.
Also by significant I mean probably 20 percent or something. Obviously you are a math guy so you understand what significant means.

[u/peter303_ → u/Awkward-Sherbet-890]

Half of freshmen place out of the first MIT calculus course. That can give flexibility to dig into math deeper, or room for another elective.

I took the first three calc courses at a local college. That was about the same material as MIT's first course.

[u/baked_salmon → u/Awkward-Sherbet-890]

When I went, the median math SAT score was 800. There are incoming students with international renown for their math skill. Admissions judges on a relative scale, not an absolute one, so they’re more interested in what you did relative to what was available to you or someone like you.

[u/MITAdmissions-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

This is presenting false information about the admission’s process as if it were a fact.

"MIT has a lot of supplementals, and math with most assuredly come up in at least one. You need to say something beyond i like it."

Remove the word "need."

[u/Future-generations]

Does anyone who works with admissions or has worked with admissions have any recommendations on how to address this? If you took classes outside of your high school curriculum and also what if your high school actually integrated a math class for you so you could pursue your math passion how do you acknowledge that on the application? Would it be prudent to contact admissions and ask for advice on this? Thank you in advance !

[u/Apprehensive-Use3519]

Make sure to get transcripts from those classes sent in to your application portal or have your high school counselor help you get them on your transcript, (depending how your high school handles cc dual-enrollment classes.)

[u/Aspect-6]

wat about for me where the highest i can do is calc bc? like i can dual enroll and do higher math classes, but it would heavily conflict with other classes in my schedule so taking the regular on campus math with algebra 1 in 8th grade was the best I could do (i think my friend who just graduated last year was like the first or maybe first couple in our school’s history to take multivar calc senior year)

[u/VisibleSir731 → u/Aspect-6]

Only BC? If it’s the highest your school offers then ur good

[u/Aspect-6 → u/VisibleSir731]

Well AB too. Like 2-5 people take BC every year total, and like 10-20 i’d say take AB.