Seventeen state-sponsored residential math and science schools have been created across the country to direct talented teens toward STEM careers. Admission is selective, based on competitive grades, standardized test scores, and references. Most of the schools also require preadmission interviews. However, selection interviews may be challenged as…

The Texas Academy of Mathematics and Science (TAMS) is a publicly financed, residential early college entrance institute at the University of North Texas at Denton. Created in 1987, TAMS enables high-achieving students planning STEM careers to complete their last 2 years of high school simultaneously with their first 2 years of college. Admission…

Roughly 80% of the math and science schools under the National Consortium for Specialized Secondary Schools of Mathematics, Science, and Technology (NCSSSMST) umbrella are non-residential programs, with about 18% residential and 2% both residential and nonresidential. Now numbering 16 (with the Tennessee Governor's Academy closing May 2011), the…

Unless we sharply increase the training of homegrown math and science talents, we may suffer negative economic and technological consequences. One means of addressing this challenge has been through specialty schools devoted to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) training. In 1980, the North Carolina School of Science and…

A survey of 159 non-applicants to the Texas Academy of Mathematics and Science indicates that students were confident in their ability to meet admission requirements. However, students were unwilling to leave home 2 years earlier than usual and reluctant to abandon a variety of athletic and associated extracurricular activities. Recruitment…