Colleges with large math departments

<p>I see a lot of school suggestions, but I’m not sure if I can get in! I think I have quite a few reaches already. Dartmouth, Cornell, MIT, Chicago, Northwestern, all seems like reaches to me. Perhaps I’ll add Boulder and Wisconsin in, Boulder as safety, Wisconsin as…something?</p>

<p>Stanford #6 (or Princeton #1) - high reach
Dartmouth #49 - reach<br>
Cornell #15 - low reach</p>

<p>Berkeley #2 - match
Wisconsin #13 (honors?) or UT Austin #23 - match
Colorado/Boulder #61 - low match</p>

<p>UCSD #17 - safety</p>

<p>All but Berkeley are on the Outside Magazine list (top 40 for outdoor rec). They span a range of selectivity, size and locations. The numbers are the NRC-95 graduate program departmental rankings in math. Dartmouth is more like a LAC than the others; its relatively low rank ought to be considered in that context.</p>

<p>Your stats are very good, but all the top-caliber schools are reaches for anyone who isn’t a USAMO finalist (or similar genius). The lower UCs probably are safeties, but I actually think you would get a better math education at Utah (and WUE would make it pretty cheap).</p>

<p>It is important to consider that “math” is not all the same. While the top-tier math schools excel in everything, some areas are definitely stronger than others. Chicago is superb overall, but their applied areas are comparatively weak. Some places have individual strengths or areas in which they stand out - look at the research being done.</p>

<p>I’d prefer to go to Stanford, as I have been living 30 min away from it my whole life XD And really, Cornell would be low reach? UCSD safety but Boulder low match?</p>

<p>Which schools are the top caliber ones you are talking about? And yea…I doubt I’ll be a USAMO finalist…don’t even really have a chance in competing in the USAMO!</p>

<p>Which UCs are you referring to as the lower UCs? And why would you think I would get a better education at Utah?</p>

<p>I’m thinking of either pure or applied math (haha…doesn’t really narrow anything down -_-).</p>

<p>Utah would probably be in behind UCSD, but that’s just me.</p>

<p>As for which UC’s you’d get into, assuming a 2200 + 4.2 you’d probably get into all of them, certainly all the ones below UCLA/Berkeley.</p>

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<p>For the OP in particular, I cannot say for sure that Cornell would be a “low” reach. I was thinking of it in comparison to Princeton or Dartmouth, primarily on the basis simply of SAT scores. Your mileage may vary.</p>

<p>As for UCSD v. Boulder, you have to take into account in-state v. out-of-state (including the cost considerations). If you think Berkeley is a comfortable match, I would think UCSD is closer to a safety. If you don’t feel too lucky in these matters, pick a less selective state school as a safety. I would think Boulder OOS is an easier admit than Wisconsin/honors OOS, but a skosh harder than some of the California publics for a California resident. Perhaps not; maybe somebody else can tease out the relevant data.</p>

<p>75th & M+CR SATs (stateuniversity.com):
Princeton 1580
Dartmouth 1550
Cornell 1500</p>

<p>Berkeley 1450
Wisconsin 1380
UCSD 1360 (but in-state)
Texas-Austin 1350
Colorado-Boulder 1280</p>

<p>UC-Santa Cruz - 1260 (#1 on the Outside magazine list; ~50 math majors)</p>

<p>In the Cornell College of Arts ans Sciences, the SATs are:
650-740 CR
670-770 math
1320-1510 CR+math</p>

<p>math is higher than CR</p>

<p>Hmm I think my SAT will be closer to a 2100 than 2200, and GPA closer to a 4.1 and 4.2</p>

<p>I’m not soo confident that UCSD is a safety, but I think Davis/SB/Irvine should work out to be one.</p>

<p>Dang my math+CR is probably going to be in the 1400s…</p>

<p>Hows University of Washington? I heard theres alot of outdoors stuff to do and it’s math department is pretty good. Is it true?</p>

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<p>I was referring to UCI, UCD, and UCSB. Utah has a stronger history with mathematics, although UCSB does have a great physics department.</p>

<p>Udub is indeed a great school for math, especially computational and discrete math (thanks to their strong CS department). Seattle is a city, but a very outdoors-oriented one.</p>

<p>2010 US News top math graduate programs:

  1. Princeton
  2. Harvard, MIT, Stanford, UC Berkeley
  3. Chicago
  4. Caltech, Yale
  5. Columbia, NYU, Michigan</p>

<p>NRC 1995 top math graduate programs:

  1. Princeton
  2. Cal Berkeley
  3. MIT
  4. Harvard
  5. Chicago
  6. Stanford
  7. Yale
  8. NYU
  9. Michigan
  10. Columbia<br>
  11. Caltech</p>

<p>Hmmm . . . . surprisingly consistent, notwithstanding the 15 year time lag. I wouldn’t worry about the absolute numbers or percentages of other math majors. All you need is a critical mass, which you’ll get at any of these schools—even at Caltech which is tiny but is a very math/tech type of place. They’ll all hover around the math department and converge on the advanced math classes. Plus, you’ll meet the grad students. You’ll never have a shortage of advanced math classes at any of these schools.</p>

<p>Hmmm I’ll think about Utah, do more research on that. I think I’ll add Udub into my list. </p>

<p>Heh those schools are good, but not very sure I can get ino them! I’d say I just have a good shot at Berkeley, NYU, Michigan. Others…different story.</p>

<p>[NRC</a> Rankings in Mathematics](<a href=“http://www.stat.tamu.edu/~jnewton/nrc_rankings/area31.html]NRC”>http://www.stat.tamu.edu/~jnewton/nrc_rankings/area31.html)</p>

<p>ml, by now you’ve been offered many good suggestions. Almost any of them could give you a good experience. Now you need to weigh and consider the various criteria (big/small, urban/rural, public/private, near/far, etc.) Especially if you can bring up your non-math scores a little, I don’t think you need to rule out applying to some of the reachier schools if you like them. Check out the Collegiate Choice Walking Tour videos if visits are not practical.</p>

<p>Yup, I received great recommendations. I started to (as you can see from my other thread). I realized I don’t want to live in heat or snow…that cut out a lot of schools from my list…for the better or worse? The schools on my list are now in either Washington or California. I live close to Berkeley/Stanford, so no problem in visiting those. Probably will go down to SD/SB spring break, should be fun. And I’ll find sometime to go up Seattle. Yea it would be great if I can get cr/writing up :(</p>

<p>If I may ask, what were your AMC and AIME scores?</p>

<p>Last year (sophomore) I got a 105 on AMC 12 and 4 on AIME. I think I’ll do better this year.</p>

<p>You’ll need at least 80 more points on you index to make USAMO this year thanks to the new qualification process. Good luck!</p>

<p>Yea…and Hi Omelette!</p>