What Can I Do to Improve My Chances of Getting Into Harvey Mudd?

[Tcanch]

Oops, accidentally hit submit thread, I meant to say Harvey Mudd in the title

Hi, I'm a sophomore in high school right now and I want to get into the pure maths. In particular I'm wanting to get into and go to Harvey Mudd, however, I do know that its quite challenging to get into the school and am kinda lost as to what I should do to improve my chances of getting accepted when I do apply.

I'm currently enrolled in Honors Precalc, Chemistry, Honors English 10, Honors World History, Spanish 2, and Business Marketing/economics. And I am planning to take AP Calculous AB, AP Chemistry, AP US History, Honors English 11, Honors Spanish 3, and Physics next year.

I am also taking courses on Edx like the Introduction to Probability course, and plan to take the classical mechanics review, but how could I make my independent learning an advantage in my application. And in general, what else should I do to help increase my chances of getting into the school while also actually learning something helpful?

 

[jedishrfu]

Well you could connect up with a prof there in mathematics. He could give you some advice on the kinds of mathematics they teach and what each prof specializes in.

I did that many years ago with a high school project on the lunar orbit and simulating it with electric potential in a pool of water and comparing it to a computational model I developed and programmed with the help of my uncle (okay he had the access and he had the know how and knocked the program in like 15 minutes in Fortran).

Some colleges have open house days where anyone can walk in and listen to a seminar. Also the math department may reach out to local high schools with seminars on various topics. From there you can meet up with a prof and start a dialog going via visits or via email. You have t be sincere and consistently persistent to get your foot in the door.

Great SAT scores will help, any papers you write showing your math skills help too. There are also some high school math competitions like the MAA competitions or local competitions similar to the college Putnam competitions that you could enter to get noticed and to add to your college application. Find a passion and explore it.