Apologies for the late reply, didn’t know that this thread would garner so much feedback - thanks everyone!
@DadOfJerseyGirl I’m not a full pay applicant and I believe I qualify for some aid. Something around at max 30-40k a year would be preferable. However, I’m still open to any school suggestions regardless of the cost and can narrow things down myself accordingly. My safeties currently consist of some local schools including an honors program at a state flagship. In all honesty, this part of my list is lacking and so I’m definitely open to any recommendations.
@hebegebe That makes sense, I’ll look into other options like Cornell ED. How significant would a published paper be in my application?
@NiceUnparticularMan Thanks for all the feedback! I’ll definitely spend lots of time developing my personal factors in my application with essays and supplementals. I’m also planning on cutting down my reaches as well - the ones I listed were more of giving a general picture of the schools I’m interested in. I haven’t really considered any liberal arts colleges but I’ll try exploring them and other options for math.
@DadTwoGirls I think I’ve heard about Wisconsin for math before and I’ll definitely take a look at it.
@tsbna44 Thank you for all the recommendations! Kansas and Arizona have been on my radar as potential safeties and I’ll try looking at your other recs.
@hebegebe Is Courant a masters program or an undergrad institute? I’ve heard of it before and have tried researching it but I never found anything specific to answer this question.
@sgopal2 I’m not exactly sure about my class rank, but I’d suspect that I’m somewhere in the top 20 students.
@tsbna44 Thanks, my state flagship honors program is currently my main safety right now.
@thumper1 Thanks for the clarification; ik the definition for Midwest can get muddled sometimes but I do live in one of those states.
OP- Princeton is likely THE most generous college on your list when it comes to need based aid.
So run the Net Price Calculator ASAP. If you cannot afford what Princeton will cost your family, we can help you come up with an entirely different list. But in terms of need based aid- Princeton’s package will likely be at the top (so if you can’t afford what Princeton tells you, in rough numbers, what it will cost, you surely cannot afford Columbia, Yale, Cornell…)
Having a budget of 30-40K is all well and good. But if the most generous colleges are showing a cost of 50-60K (which means you are getting need based aid), you need a different list. We can help.
But get with your parent(s) ASAP before you get too enamored with your list!
I would suggest adding Wesleyan to the list even though it is not on the “official” list of Math LACs. Wesleyan has a small graduate school over the STEM part of the LAC which allows advanced STEM undergrad students to enroll in grad courses and even complete a free 5th year graduate degree. My son has just finished his math major requirements and will start graduate level math courses this fall as a junior. With the open curriculum and few GenEd requirements, he is able to triple major in math, physics and computer science.
Since there is not a large grad school population, he has been able to be a paid TA for upper level math, data science, physics and computer science courses. He is currently on campus doing paid summer research directly with a math professor who will continue as an ongoing mentor working together on research towards his eventual master’s thesis. He also will start a math-heavy quantum physics research project this fall which he recently proposed directly to a physics professor.