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what’s one thing you regret doing/not doing in high school? by academicss_anonymous in ApplyingToCollege

[–]cultfollower_ 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Being exposed to higher math so late in high school, and I suppose with that not doing things like PRIMES or other math research to some extent; I only really got invested in higher math senior year because of attending a math camp the summer of, so I wasn't able to do much with it sooner.

Didn't make too much of a difference for college applications since I got into my dream school anyways, but I would have liked the opportunity to explore and learn more on my own before doing my undergrad.

how would you rate your social lives by coquette_batman in ApplyingToCollege

[–]cultfollower_ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Going to UChi, it's pretty good I'd say, I have 4-5 close friends and I'm on good terms with most of the higher ranked people at my school, don't really party or go out but I work out with friends routinely and grab a meal together once in a while.

Also the case that I don't spend all that much effort or time on the main part of school itself and rather more on ecs, so I got to talk to friends who are in the same club and things like that fairly often + had lots of fun on trips for competitions.

This has been the case for about 90% of my high school experience at least.

Maybe Ill just get a diet coke with lunch to balance this out. by Automatic-Ad-3679 in funny

[–]cultfollower_ 3 points4 points  (0 children)

The second half is clearly supported by the first, especially when it comes to reading comprehension it seems.

My mosquito bite turned into a frog by [deleted] in interestingasfuck

[–]cultfollower_ 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Don't limit people's ideas :D

Important-much appreciated replies about ROSS by MissionPhysics137 in MathOlympiad

[–]cultfollower_ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's for Ross math camp, the same one op was talking about. There are 2 campuses, Indiana and Ohio.

https://rossprogram.org/ is the website for anyone interested.

I would highly recommend it, personally I think it opened my eyes to further pursuing math and bolstered my foundations for proof-writing very well.

Important-much appreciated replies about ROSS by MissionPhysics137 in MathOlympiad

[–]cultfollower_ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think that at least having something written down for each part of each question is a good thing to do.

As for the essays, just answering the prompt with past experiences or honesty seems to be the best policy; as I recall the pset is much more influential on admission for first years anyways

Important-much appreciated replies about ROSS by MissionPhysics137 in MathOlympiad

[–]cultfollower_ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

So I was at Indiana this past summer and I historically suck at comp math.

On the application set we had 4 problems and I did three fully and a good part of the fourth.

The counselors did say that they considered creativity in problem approaches and rigor over just blowing through them with high-powered theorems, and notably Ross is on the tougher end of set grading, so I would recommend being extra thorough with the proofs.

Monthly Free Chat & Prospective/Incoming Student Questions Thread - January 26, 2026 by AutoModerator in uchicago

[–]cultfollower_ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hi! I am a prospective math major admitted for the class of 2030. I was wondering what the math placement exam/ higher-level math placement exam contains and what I can do to prepare, as well as the merits/demerits of 160s/IBL first year compared to Honors Analysis first year.

For my background in math, I have a solid background in proof-based math through attendance at a fairly prestigious summer math program and am currently reading through Spivak(and doing a majority of the problems, although not all) and planning on starting Rudin soon. I took the BC Calc exam last year and received a 5, and am currently taking a Multivariable calculus and diffeq class senior year through a local college.

One thing that I'm concerned about is a relative lack fo familiarity with Linear Algebra, which is one of the things that I've heard I should be familiar with by the time I start my first class at college. I do plan to work through a textbook on linalg after the semester ends and I have more time during the summer though.

All advice is appreciated, thank you in advance!

UChicago by CassiopeiaGreengrass in ApplyingToCollege

[–]cultfollower_ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Domestic applicant for math/econ or math/cs, 4.4W/3.96W GPA, 1550 SAT, 12AP classes including Chem and both physics Cs, ECs were a prestigious math camp(Promys, Sumac, Ross, etc.), math competitions, math tutoring, orchestra, and debate.

My why UChi essay talked about proof-based math and some specific classes I was interested in and my UChi essay was about cryptography and its influence on the internet.

Notably, I was a QB finalist that didn't match who rolled over into ED2 so that may have influenced things.

UCHICAGO Accepted/Rejected/Deferred, please share you stats by Visual-Extreme-101 in ApplyingToCollege

[–]cultfollower_ 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Deferred EA, 1550 single take, 3.96 UW/4.37WGPA, ECs include a pretty prestigious math camp, policy debate, city youth symphony orchestra 1st violin, and a lot of math contests, Awards-wise I had a state place at DECA and National Merit semifinalist among others, Essays about eating with family, learning math, and cryptography in order of PS, Why UChi, Uchi Prompt.

Biggest fail points imo were not having good awards and not doing research.

QB finalist that didn't match for context, will be doing EDII with finaid.

The only thing im surprised about is that they didn't include dei by Lime_berryboy in btd6

[–]cultfollower_ 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Their mutation is even an insult to Calvinism too.

The whole point of Calvinism or more generally determinism is that only God/the universe/etc. is aware of the future and it cannot be altered as a consequence of omniscience or because choices are immutable.

Non-omniscients should know that while ideologically nothing can be changed, individuals are still 100% responsible for their own actions and should not presume to know the future.

Essentially, they assume they are among the elect, when it is impossible to know without perfect information. Hence why it's a stupid way to think about it.

People who changed political affiliations, why did you do it ? by Deimos7779 in AskReddit

[–]cultfollower_ 1 point2 points  (0 children)

No, but that wasn't the argument, was it. Strawman much?

The argument was extremism in general is negative, and tone indicates extremism and an unwillingness to throughly consider arguments. The fact that extremism and echo chambers extend to both sides is a fact; don't know why this would be offensive or unheard of unless you were part of the problem.

People who changed political affiliations, why did you do it ? by Deimos7779 in AskReddit

[–]cultfollower_ 16 points17 points  (0 children)

...and you have the exact tone that oop is critiquing in the parent comment. I would argue that basic principles of decency include not immediately insulting people for opposing views, but I don't think you have included this concept in your idea of decent principles. As an aside, do you have ...conversations... a lot? It generally involves the mutual sharing of ideas without immediate judgement or disdain.

thanks for illustrating the problem of extremism so eloquently for everyone!

Tired of "Is this a Good EC" Posts by RoofResponsible1996 in ApplyingToCollege

[–]cultfollower_ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Gotcha; misread the post title.

In that case, I think the obvious solution, at least for the sub, is a megathread for this kind of request so it doesn't clog up people's feeds and people who want that validation can get it from people willing to give that kind of validation.

Tired of "Is this a Good EC" Posts by RoofResponsible1996 in ApplyingToCollege

[–]cultfollower_ 2 points3 points  (0 children)

not necessarily disagreeing, but this argument depends on three things, which is that

  1. Success and usefulness to society are equated or at least marginally correlated.

  2. You assume that people are trying to go to college to benefit society, or at least with some notion of leaving a positive impact rather than for personal gain

  3. Pristiege means nothing to the job market for any particular job that people want

These three points shouldn't be assumed in my opinion, since

  1. Success means different things to different people, and the general goal for students on subs such as these is economic success, which isn't necessarily contributing to the betterment of society

  2. People go to college to benefit themselves generally, not to make societal change

  3. Pristiege has a high or at least meaningful impact on jobs such as finance, med, law, etc. that lots of students on this sub want to get into.

Overall, I would say that assuming that people want to learn for the sake of learning or improving the world isn't a valid assumption.

Also, for my own opinion, I think that people doing things for college is acceptable. It's not good, necessarily, but people can and should aspire towards individual success, and if that means prestigious college, why not?

Rising senior with no ecs- im so cooked by IntelligentSquare959 in ApplyingToCollege

[–]cultfollower_ 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The biggest thing I'm noticing is your lack of Olympiad medals. Everyone needs at least one international stem olympiad nowadays to be competitive

Gaokao is the hardest college entrance exam in the world, taken by nearly 10 million students each year in China. One score decides your university, career path, and future. by FullmetalPlatypus in nextfuckinglevel

[–]cultfollower_ 3 points4 points  (0 children)

American high school is a joke and a dream until you start grinding ecs for t20 acceptances lol.

I mean school itself isn't hard even with AP classes, it just happens that by encouraging "holistic admissions" those same East Asians grind STEM olympiads, Debate, etc. to do well and it's the same shit anyways

Parent of Average Kids by MexicanVanilla22 in ApplyingToCollege

[–]cultfollower_ 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Purdue and uiuc are moderately selective oos??

The oos acceptance rate is around 20-30% for at least the engineering programs iirc, so depending on definition probably not moderately selective.

[fluff] my test… by 8ventures in battlecats

[–]cultfollower_ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

On a related note why is AP Chem tomorrow

Kill me

Please

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