math team - by benedict - bene dictio

and other horrible things you do to get into stanford

I remember with perfect clarity what it was like to get rejected by Princeton. I was at math team practice when my dad called. The early decision letter had arrived, he said. He didn't mention anything about the letter's size – large envelope for acceptance, small one for rejection – and I tried not to read anything into his voice. I asked him to come pick me up right away. I blew up at him when he tried to stop for gas on the way home. I got home and opened the small envelope, which I'd somehow already known was waiting for me. I skimmed the first few lines – we regret, exceptional group of…

saved by

• abinaya dinesh

related reading

• math team - by benedict - bene dictiobenexdict.io
• You don't need to work on hard problems | benkuhn.netbenkuhn.net
• returning to stanford | writingmasonjwang.com
• No Country for Mediocre Mathematiciansgarvvee.substack.com
• Is YC for Cowards?stanfordreview.org
• The Backdoors.boxx.substack.com
• School, Homenotes.ekzhang.com
• No Country for Mediocre Mathematicianssubstack.com
• Getting In | The New Yorkernewyorker.com
• What Harvard (almost) stole from mesubstack.com
• Although of course you end up becoming yourself | MIT Admissionsmitadmissions.org
• Yitang Zhang’s Pursuit of Beauty in Math | The New Yorkernewyorker.com