[saagarjha]

> What it comes down to nonetheless is preparation and school support, e.g. via training for math competitions. Saying the interviews are about 'evaluating the thinking process' of the applicant is a fantasy when most applicants come from schools where they have been trained to do them for years.

I'm from the U.S., so take my input with a grain of salt with regards to applying it to the English school system, but in my experience the majority of mathematical talent comes from outside work, with next to zero support from schools.

[fjsolwmv]

That's because you didn't go to an elite math school.

[saagarjha]

What kind of school are you referring to when you mention “elite math school”?

[naturalgradient]

There are schools in various countries, e.g. Romania, which are known for producing extremely well prepared applicants. They select for these schools from the entire country and have them focus on sciences, math and computer science early on. They practice Oxbridge style interviewing/math olympiad questions to death.

This results in for instance there being proportionally many more Romanians at Oxbridge Cs/Math/Physics than you'd expect by population.

[saagarjha]

Ok, sure, but there are very few schools like that in the U.S. outside of homeschools.