Advice on Which College I Should Choose

College Search & Selection
1

Hello. I have been accepted to the following colleges and am currently trying to make the decision on which of them would be best for me to attend. A little about myself first:

I am interested in numbers and strategy and probability and how decisions can be made based on data. Therefore, I am planning on majoring in mathematics, statistics, or economics in colleges. After college I’m not sure what I want to do, but I’m leaning towards working as an actuary as they deal a lot with math, probability and numbers, and I find the career path in that profession interesting. For those who don’t know actuaries generally work for insurance companies and do the math that goes on in that industry.

Anyway, here are the colleges that I have been accepted to and a little about what I am thinking about each of them. (I was rejected from Princeton Early, Stanford, U Chicago, Duke, Vanderbilt, Cornell, and Harvard):

Northwestern U:
Northwestern has highly ranked math and economics departments and from what I gathered from my campus tour it is quite easy and common to double major in the two. I also live in the city of Chicago so it is close to home. I also like the idea of the quarter system, however, I have read this school can be stressful at times.

Brown U:
Brown is known for the flexibility of courses that can be taken. I like this concept but I feel that it may be harder to get a good math education in this kind of system. Also, future employers might look down on a math degree from here since the degree doesn’t involve as many rigorous math sequences. From what I heard from talking to students everybody has close to a 4.0 GPA which means that classes are probably just super easy and not rigorous. However, I really liked the campus from my tour.

Washington U in St. Louis:
From what I saw of the school it looks really nice and has one of the best room and board systems in the country. However, it is not very well known outside of the St. Louis area. Its students seemed really nice (a 2013 Lumosity study found students here are the smartest in the country too). From what I’ve read its math and economics programs are kind of mediocre though.

U of Pennsylvania:
U of Pennsylvania has a good business school but I don’t know about it’s math program. I have also read multiple stories about students being unhappy here. I guess I should take that with a grain of salt though.

Dartmouth:
From what I’ve read it has a good undergraduate program but I’ve also heard that Greek life is very big there and I’m not looking to join a frat. Also it seems like central New Hampshire would get really cold in the middle of the winter.

U Southern California:
I mostly applied to this school because of the great weather and it is supposedly slightly easier to get into than other schools I applied to. I’m not sure about the quality of its math, statistics, and economics departments. I’m not sure if a degree from this school looks as impressive as one from one of the other schools I was accepted to as well. Still, living in So. Cal for 4 years sounds appealing.

U of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign):

This is my state college. It has okay math, statistics and economics programs as far as I know but does’t have the prestige of one of the other private schools.

In terms of cost NU, Brown, Wash U, U Penn, and Dartmouth all cost relatively the same after financial aid (I got roughly $30k from each). USC costs a more. U of Illinois costs a bit less but not significantly.

Right now I am leaning towards: NU>WashU>Dartmouth>Penn>Brown>USC>U of IL. This is mostly because in my opinion NU and WashU have the smartest students and and therefore I will be able to learn the most and grow intellectually the most from becoming friends with these people. Also, probably I am a bit biased since I am from the Midwest, but it seems like Ivy League students may be overly pretentious.

Anyway, let me know if you have any insights into these schools’ programs or student life or advice on anything else that would help me make my decision. Which would you choose if you were in my shoes?

2

I don’t know the details about actuarial sciences…but I can see the Northwestern talks about preparing students for actuarial careers… I think you have already thought this through and came up with a reasonable conclusion based on academics and social fit.

3

I would probably Northwestern, or Penn. I would investigate the CS programs in addition to math because data analysts need to be skilled at math, statistics, and CS.

A student may major in one of those three subjects, and minor in each of the other two.

4

Couple things:

-You are choosing a college/university, not a “program”. Programs are for graduate students. Most of your classes will actually be taken outside of the math/economics departments and you’ll also be living there, meeting friends and future colleagues there, and hopefully participating in extracurricular activities there. Career services are important too. SO don’t focus overmuch on the department or major, given that you may change it later too.

-The flexibility at Brown means that your math degree can be as rigorous or as non-rigorous as you want - you’re the one who shapes it. Brown has a top 10-15 math department on the doctoral level, so I’m pretty sure future employers would respect a math degree from there. (Doctoral program rankings don’t map perfectly onto undergrad rankings, but some features - like professors, research production, and resources - will likely be shared). Also, grade inflation doesn’t mean the classes are easy; it just means there’s grade inflation. Some top schools, for example, justify their grade inflation by commenting that their classes are probably much harder than the classes at schools without it.

-Wash U is pretty well known outside of St. Louis, especially for people who are in a position to hire college seniors. Math is good and they are ranked in the top 15-20 for economics PhD programs.

-Penn’s math program is pretty great- top 20-30 for doctoral programs. Besides, actuarial science is really a business field that incorporates a lot of math and statistics, and Penn’s business program is top-notch.

-You don’t have to join a fraternity at Dartmouth. More than half of students are not in fraternities or sororities (54% of the student body). However, in a school that is 46% Greek, Greek life probably does play a very significant role in the student life there.

-USC is an excellent school, with great solid departments in all of those fields. A degree from USC will be very impressive, at least as impressive as Northwestern I would say. Some people have a tendency to elevate “Ivy” simply because of the Ivy label. Also, the impressiveness of your college won’t really matter too much even in your first job, and after your first job or two it stops mattering at all.

-UIUC is an academic powerhouse; it’s math and statistics departments are actually ranked in the top 15-20ish for doctoral programs. They also have a pretty good economics department.

I’d also like to point out that out all of these, UIUC is the only one that is named a Center for Actuarial Excellence by the Society of Actuaries: “Centers of Actuarial Excellence (CAE) are university/college actuarial programs that have met eight specific requirements related to degree, curriculum, graduate count, faculty composition, graduate quality, appropriate integration, connection to industry, and research/scholarship.” You can actually major in actuarial science there through the math department.

That doesn’t mean that the other programs won’t prepare you for a career in actuarial science, it just means that UIUC has been recognized by the profession as one of the best place to do that.

5

I found juliet’s post interesting. If I were the OP I would reconsider UIUC. Being from Chicago I understand the pressure of perceived prestige. However, keep in mind that there are many opportunities to get involved with the “smartest students” through RSOs.

You may find a visit to the “University of Illinois Actuarial Science Club” Facebook page informative. You could even contact current actuary students and perhaps even make a one day trip downstate in order to shadow a student. If you were my child I would encourage it. Good luck with your decision. :slight_smile:

6

UIUC is a very good school, but often it is difficult to transfer into high demand majors. If, like many students, you decide to change your major at some point.

UIUC allocates a disproportionate number of seats in those majors to International students and OOS students. If they let too many in-state students in, then they have fewer seats to sell.

For that reason, I would not choose UIUC unless you are prepared to transfer to another school, if you can’t get into the program you are interested in, as your interests develop.

7

Despite the fact that the math program is highly ranked, I personally think these other programs at Northwestern may suit you better:

  1. Industrial engineering and management sciences. The graduate program is ranked in the top-5. So you know the faculty are leading experts in their respective areas and there should be plenty of classes that suit your need. http://www.mccormick.northwestern.edu/industrial/
  2. Mathematical method in social sciences. Great program for student interested in data analytics and well known/respected among employers that regularly look for "quants" at the undergraduate level. If you haven't looked into it, you can still apply for sophomore entry. http://www.mmss.northwestern.edu/
  3. Kellogg certificate program in managerial analytics. Regardless of what major you choose, this certificate program is probably a must based on your interest. http://www.kellogg.northwestern.edu/certificate/academics/managerial-analytics-certificate.aspx

In short, for what you are interested in, Northwestern has a lot to offer.

8

Note that the pure math department is generally going to be quite separate from the stats/accounting side of math. If you want to look at accounting look at the colleges’ applied math and stats departments (if they have one).

9

^Accounting is not math and often has nothing to do with math. There’s no such thing as accounting side of math. Getting into accounting while mistaking it for math (or data analytics) is one of the reasons how accounting grads regret terribly after their first season of public accounting.

That said, you are on the right track in thinking stats and applied math probably offer more relevant courses for data analytics.

10

I would look at outcomes.

Not prestige. Not smart students.

What school will lead you to the best graduate school to launch a successful career.