Many MC2 students over the years have participated in UChicago’s Young Scholars Program. That program continues, but has now expanded to UIC! The key differences between the programs:
- UChicago YSP is a 4 week commitment starting the week of July 5th, serving 7th to 12th graders. Their website should be updated with the Summer 2021 application soon.
- UIC YSP is a series of four 1-week programs, the first starting on June 28th. You can participate in as many or as few as you’d like! Students must currently be in 9th to 12th grade (aka Rising 10th to 13th graders).
My colleague Will Perkins at UIC shared the following detail for UIC’s program:
This program is a fun introduction to exciting topics in mathematics, applications of mathematics, and the work mathematicians do in education, research, and industry. Each of the four one-week sessions will focus on a particular area of mathematics, not covered in a typical high school curriculum, and its applications to science, technology, and society. The program is free to participate in and students may sign up for as many of the four sessions as they like. Any student who was in high school during the 2020-2021 academic year is eligible to apply. The program will take place in-person on UIC’s east campus and participants will follow the UIC Covid safety guidelines.Every day students will learn something new, get hands-on practice solving problems and exploring new topics, and hear a guest speaker describe their work and how it relates to mathematics. Students will learn what it’s like to major in math in college, learn about how math is used in different careers, and meet fellow students excited about learning math.
The program is run by UIC faculty, and instruction will be provided by UIC faculty and graduate students.
Each day will run from 9:30am to 3:00pm and the daily schedule will include
9:30-10:30: arrival and mathematical lecture
10:30-10:45 break
10:45-12:00 small group problem solving
12:00-1:00 lunch break
1:00-2:00 invited speaker or video
2:00-3:00 small group activities
3:00 dismissal
The topics of the four sessions will be:
Week 1 June 28 – July 2: Probability, games, and statistics
Week 2 July 6 – July 9: Number theory and cryptography
Week 3 July 12 – July 16: Graph theory
Week 4 July 19 – July 23: Algorithms and social networks
Week 1 June 28 – July 2: Probability, games, and statistics
Week 2 July 6 – July 9: Number theory and cryptography
Week 3 July 12 – July 16: Graph theory
Week 4 July 19 – July 23: Algorithms and social networks
Each of the four sessions is independent and students may apply for as many or as few sessions as they want.
For more information and for a link to the application, see our website here: https://willp.people.