College help...hah

College Search & Selection
1

<p>So like many other juniors, I'm looking at colleges. I want to major in math and I want the department to be strong. I had quite a huge list, but I realized, I don't want to live in the snow! So I cut out schools like University of Michigan, University of Wisconsin Madison, Cornell, etc. I also realized, I don't want to live in warm places, so I cut out schools like UCLA, UC Davis, UC Irvine, etc. I live in the SF Bay area, so a weather similar to that would be nice. This is what I am used to: <a href="http://www.weather.com/outlook/homeandgarden/home/wxclimatology/monthly/graph/USCA1005?from=tenDay_bottomnav_undeclared%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.weather.com/outlook/homeandgarden/home/wxclimatology/monthly/graph/USCA1005?from=tenDay_bottomnav_undeclared&lt;/a> I think it's great, not too cold, not too hot, well sometimes a bit hot. I looked up the temperatures of the current schools on my list, and they seem fine to me. Do I have enough schools on my list, or should I add some more?</p>

<p>My current list:
UC Berkeley
UC San Diego
UC Santa Barbara
University of Washington
Stanford University</p>

<p>My stats, some predicted:</p>

<p>Chinese female
CA resident
GPA: 4.1-4.2W, 3.8-3.9UW
Top 10% of class for sure...
SAT (took some practice tests): 2000-2200 (800 in math, 600-700 in the other two, probably closer to 2000 or 2100 than 2200 though)
ACT: Ranged from 31-33, with 35 and 36s in math/science, lower in the other two.
Subject test: Math 800 (got results), Physics 700 (got results)
APs: AP Calc BC (5), AP Physics B (4), AP Chemistry, AP Statistics, AP English language, AP English literature, APES, AP Econ
College classes: Taking multivariable calculus right now, differential equations next semester, linear algebra also next semester or senior year, possibly going to Berkeley over the summer to senior year to take something?</p>

<p>EC/Acheivements (so far):
Math team 3 years...qualified for AIME in sophomore year, should qualify again this year. Won 1st place freshman year in 9th grade Pythagorean division in school, 2nd place sophomore year for California League in school. Officer fresh/soph year, captain junior year.
Founder of model rocketry club...1 year
Founder of moonbuggy team...1 year
Play viola in youth orchestra...5 years
Viola in quartet...3 years
Wrestling/MMA
100+ hours of volunteering at local hospital
Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth Mathematics Talent Search award in 7th grade for scoring over a 700 on sat 1 math.</p>

2

<p>Weather is the lamest reason to add/delete schools from a list. Look at school funding, research opportunities, strength of faculty in your major, graduate school, blah,blah,blah. Global warming will make it toasty everywhere.</p>

3

<p>I think weather is important; I wouldn’t want to spend 4 years in somewhere that I hate the weather…would be terrible! Even with global warming, some places will have better weather than others.</p>

<p>I think these schools on my list are pretty good in what you stated, some better than others, obviously.</p>

4

<p>Best start planning your weather friendly graduate school list.</p>

5

<p>I’ll worry about that when I get there</p>

6

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<p>I disagree. Different people have different tolerance levels. My S liked a school in Minnesota but finally admitted to himself he hated very cold weather, so ruled it out. It’s not as though there weren’t similar choices with better climate.</p>

<p>If you like to be outdoors a lot, if this is important to who you are, then why get into the habit of compromising years of contentment for the sake of school or a job by sticking yourself in a setting you don’t like? Not if there are other good choices, anyway.</p>

7

<p>Hm so it seems like the schools I have up there are fine?</p>

8

<p>

While everything you listed is more important than weather, that does not make weather irrelevant. There are lots of places that have solid academic credentials - using weather to filter them seems perfectly valid to me.</p>

<p>The schools you have are fine. You might want to apply to one more in-state UC, just as an absolute safety.</p>

<p>I think you might want to do more in-depth research. Visit the websites for each of these schools’ math departments and read about special programs they offer. Check out the undergrad research pages for the universities and look at what has been done in your prospective field.</p>

9

<p>The rest of the UCs are hot :frowning: Well I should be Eligible in the Local Context so when the time comes, I’ll ask my counselor which UC it will be, and that will be my additional safety (unless it’s already on my list…probably not)</p>

<p>I’m quite familiar with UC Berkeley, UCSD, UCSB (CCS), Udub’s math/honors/etc sites now. I spent quite a while reading through! I’m not sure what kind of math I want to go into…guess there’s time to discover that in college?</p>

10

<p>

I’m sure - many college students change their whole major, so you definitely have time to specialize. Some of that will also be determined by where you go, since many schools excel in a certain area. Udub is amazing at anything computational (they have an ACMS major).</p>

11

<p>Thanks! :smiley: :D</p>