Thank you. Excellent advice. I’m currently doing research into UT vs Texas A&M programs also. My parents are grads from both and they agree on many points but what stands out to me is that UT is a bit of a colder “sink or swim” atmosphere than TAMU and TAMU will likely give me more money. I’m considering all options though. Both are my safeties.
Take a look at Wesleyan. Often confused with Wellesley, it’s actually in the same athletic conference as Amherst and Williams. It is notable for being a small college with doctoral programs, including one in mathematics:
WesMaps - Wesleyan University
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Are you instate for Texas universities and would they be affordable? If so, are you top 6 or 10%?
Would you be eligible for some of the special programs at UT?
(I don’t think of one being cold over the other, btw. They’re both very large, but the differences are mostly vibe and fit, with UT rather liberal and TAMU one of the most conservative universities in the country, and with one in a city and one in a college town.)
A Porsche is a great fit for my personality…but my bank account disagrees. First find how much you can really afford, then that should give you a good perspective. Even if you could afford an exotic school now, that might not be true in 4 years. I would recommend somewhere in your home state, because you could finish a degree independently if, God forbid, a layoff should happen. Also, seriously look at merit aid, especially in underrepresented areas like U of Alabama and U of Arizona. A scholarship is guaranteed money in writing for 4 years.
Baylor is right up your alley. I have friends that go there and have visited from time to time. It is a great fit for you!
Also, you may consider Furman, in South Carolina. Seems like that may be a good fit also.
I’m in state and top 1-2%, so I’m in. I’m going to see which one offers me more perks. I’m a liberal but my dad went to TAMU and he’s a HUGE liberal and loved it there. He said I’d be fine. I prefer a more liberal school but won’t be too picky about it. I live around conservatives now and I’m fine. (Sorta…lol)
I draw the line at Baylor. Sorry but my Catholic roots and agnostic “beliefs” will not allow me to attend Baylor. I totally agree it’s a high quality education but the lifestyle there is WAY too strict and uptight for me. Make no mistake, I’m not a party guy but I’m not going to be put off if others do so. I’m just looking for a campus that fosters a little campus fun in other ways. I know schools that host festivals, movie nights, buggy races, quidditch teams (wouldn’t participate but would be hilarious to watch) etc…that’s what I’m looking for. When a school doesn’t offer anything fun on campus, that’s when the drinking starts. Nothing else to do, right?
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I know you said you don’t care about weather, but as someone who has lived long term in upper Midwest and now SE, I have to ask - are you sure? Have you ever lived in Midwest/NE? Are you good with the weather TX just had being around the majority of the school months? For one thing you mentioned not wanting to be around people never leaving the room, so keep in mind weather is a factor in people’s tendency to hunker down or not.
I had Barrett Honors College at ASU (probably safety for you) in my head until I got to the prefer not more than 30k students part, but am still going to mention it. It came to mind because my (admitted) D is strongly considering it (engineering) and I saw something where current student mentioned kids hanging out debating Star Wars v Star Trek. Also, while Math major is not that highly ranked, engineering and applied math type majors within highly ranked b-school are (top 10 for analytics) in case that would be a field of interest. Barrett itself has 6k students, so enough to find whole teams for nerf wars 
. They are doing (IMO very well done) live virtual tours done by current students, so you can “tour” from the comfort of your living room with
live hosts and get a sense of the vibe.
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Have you looked into the College of Creative Studies (CCS) program at UCSB. Very small school within the larger UC Santa Barbara. No experience with it other than research for my '21.
I was born in Chicago, so I prefer the cold. I hate the Texas heat
Then never mind about Barrett;-)
Check out Case Western, Elon and University of Denver. They are all around 5000-6000 students and I think you’d be eligible for generous merit at each of them. From the descriptions I’ve read (haven’t been there) CWRU, in particular, seems to fit much of what you seek. On the LAC side, I’d encourage you also to look at the Univ of Redlands (they have a program where you can design your own major) and for bigger schools to also take a look at Univ of Delaware or Univ of Oregon honors, though the merit may not compare to what you could get in TX. You’d probably also gets tons of $$ at Trinity in San Antonio (not religious, despite the name). Good luck.
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@frankenkid It’s interesting that you prefer cold weather. My guess is that you probably know that there are two outstanding universities in the Windy City. I used to work in Chicago and had recruited bright young blood from both UC and Northwestern. Both schools are small and strong in several disciplines (UC is traditionally better known for liberal arts/social sciences such as econ and poli sci, while NU has several strong engineering departments, such as IE, mechanical and chemistry/bioengineering/nanotech). With your strong academics, why not give them a try and apply for FA? You just might get a chance to enjoy the snow for 4 years or more! Good luck.
If you are looking for OOS publics with merit, an honors college and a strong math program then Utah is a good option to consider.
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Thank you sir. I do love UC and Northwestern. My aunt attended Chicago and it’s an amazing school! I’m going to give it a shot but the acceptance rate is insane these days. I try not to get my heart too set on the schools that are below 20% acceptance…but unfortunately that’s practically my entire list. Ugh. When my aunt went to U of C it was a 40% rate. I wish.
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I’m going to second U Rochester (private, midsized, in Rochester, NY). They sound like everything you are looking for in your OP and if you like cold - even a better fit.
They might not be affordable. It seems hit or miss with that, but it’s worth a try.
This is an old admissions video made by one of their male acapella groups from my son’s time, but it still shows the place off quite well:
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Brown, HMC, Pomona, McKenna, Wesleyan, URoch … Haverford, Swarthmore …
but I, personally, would stay with UT 
+1 for Northwestern
-1 for Chicago - while it’s an amazing school, it’s UBER-hardcore as far as workload plus there is cold … brrrr
I am not sure how resourceful or knowledgeable your school counselor is, but I would bring a preliminary list to him/her and seek some advice. As a conventional wisdom, you should apply to target/reach/safety schools, perhaps 3-4 in each group. UT should definitely be in the mix, because it has a nice combo of solid rep + affordability for you.
Again, best of luck!
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You may want to look at MIT, University of Michigan, Purdue, UCSD, Cal-Tech, Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech, UC Berkeley, Stanford,University of Minnesota, or Northwestern.