Aarush Vailaya

I've always had a minor passion for mathematics, but I think my interest really took off after attending the HCSSiM summer program during the summer of 10th grade. After then, I decided I wanted to more seriously pursue mathematics and participated in the PRIMES-USA program at MIT. I did research on algebraic combinatorics and graph theory with an MIT postdoc and really enjoyed it---we continued collaborating even after the program ended. I decided that I wanted to learn mathematics in my undergrad.

Junior year, I joined Random Math’s Tesla G2 class and winter program, and it completely transformed my math game. My AMC score shot from around 106 to 136, but more importantly, the constant AIME- and USAMO-level problems rewired how I think.

Senior year I barely studied math at all - college apps consumed everything - yet Random Math’s training from the year before carried me the whole way. That foundation alone earned me two USAMTS Golds, a USAMO Gold, and a perfect BAMO score. Random Math was the single biggest reason I succeeded when I had no time left to prepare.

My experience at PRIMES and development from RandomMath were a major reason for why I chose MIT---it felt like the perfect place to continue my passion for mathematics research. I also enjoy rigorous and difficult courses, and thus I wanted to pursue math and computer science research at MIT (CS moment, but trust me I like math). I am currently unsure whether I want to pursue academia or enter industry.