Small liberal arts colleges (LACs) have a lot of headwinds to contend with in this country because the default college destination for the vast majority of Americans is to a state flagship university thousands, perhaps tens of thousands, of people big. Once the predominant form of American higher education, LACs have had to adjust to the emergence, in the late-nineteenth century, of the German model of university built around the production of research as a primary mission. This means having to prove that they can be as democratic (with a small d), as social, as academically rigorous and as relevant as their elephantine siblings. So, a little forgiveness may be in order for the errant attempts to razzle-dazzle the occasional guest. 
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Check out Caltech. No Greek life, but 8 houses for freshman thru seniors. He will never run out of math courses. Caltech, like MIT, will look at the unusual student.
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It seems that Reed blew an opportunity to present its academics favorably. This is doubly painful in that your son clearly arrived on campus with a sincere interest in the school. Nevertheless, more socially balanced (partly because of their extensive athletics programs) smaller colleges such as Williams, Amherst, Bowdoin and Hamilton should remain of interest, in my opinion.
Given that your son desires a collaborative atmosphere, I suggest you consider further research into Hamilton. The school has been recognized by the Chronicle of Higher Education for the collaborative nature of its math department:
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My understanding is that they have their own classes for those two years, and then they are free to take whatever they want from the Universityâs entire mathematics offerings.
Here is a document that provides the details.
@Annaw Also, I just send you a DM. You can access it by clicking on your little âAâ icon on the upper right of your screen. It should be highlighted in a way that tells you that you have a DM.
The upper level math offerings listed at https://www.hamilton.edu/academics/departments/Courses-and-Requirements?dept=Mathematics show the following:
- Pure math (9 courses, 5 offered this year): 304, 314, 315*, 318, 322, 361*, 363*, 506*, 513
- Applied math (6 courses, 2 offered this year): 335*, 337*, 355*, 502*, 508, 510
- Statistics (5 courses offered this year): 351, 352, 356, 503, 551
If the student is focused on pure math and will be ready for upper level courses by frosh year in college, will 9 upper level pure math courses be enough and cover all of the desired subareas?
The OPâs sonâs interests seems to be broader than indicated by the topic title, and an evaluation of pure math department courses in isolation may be helpful but not definitive. For example, a student interested in hyperbolic geometry likely would be interested in the general relativity course at Hamilton, which appears in its physics department. And beyond the study of math, courses in humanities and social sciences, such as in history, government, philosophy and languages â of which Hamilton offers rich, varied and accessible offerings â seem to align with this studentâs greater interests and expectations for his college education.
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Hi there
I just wanted to keep everybody, who was so kind and took time to give us advice, updated. Your input has been very valuable - weâve checked out a few of the suggestions and moved some schools on to his list to check out.
Special thanks to @Twoin18 - my son looked closer at Oxbridge and completely fell in love with the âMathematics and philosophyâ course at Oxford (on second thought, might not delight you as much, seeing as youâre a Cambridge man⊠
). I am delighted, too, this solved a more immediate problem - I ordered a lot of the suggested reading books from their website for Christmas.
Applying and getting accepted would mean a lot of cramming, as he would need to try to get his three AP 5s by self studying and taking the AP tests on his own. Currently heâd sign up for that.
We both are super grateful for all of your suggestions, it has been very, very helpful! (And if anybody has more ideas or suggestions - keep 'em coming). Thank you!
Happy Holidays & merry Christmas
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Thank you - I answered you, I thinkâŠ
You did!!
Hi there,
My son, also a pure-math-loving kid, applied to Oxford this year (but in math, not math and philosophy). If your son ends up applying, let me know if we can be helpfulâ some of the UCAS form was puzzling, at least for us. He took the MAT (it can be hard to locate a test centerâ if youâre in northern CA, thereâs one in Fremont), and his 3 interviews took place last week. Decisions will be announced January 11.
Also, I may be mistaken, since my son had all his APâs done, but I believe your son can continue to collect his three AP 5âs even after he applies, during the spring of his senior year? But then any offer he receives will be a contingent offer. I also remember reading somewhere that Oxford doesnât like retestingâ I think the 5âs need to come the first time around? Again, donât take my word for it, though. All best!
One of my sonâs housemates read Maths & Phil. According to him, the âhardest degree program at Oxfordâ. Take that with a grain of salt. Feel free to DM me if you have any questions about the Oxford process for Maths.
This was my math kidâs list. He is going to Haverford.
Brownâs
University of Chicago
Pomona
Harvey Mudd
Haverford
Swarthmore
University of Michigan
Carleton
Macalester
Amherst
Illinois
Wisconsin
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Hey Beekmom
Oh, wow - keeping our fingers crossed for your son! Yes, we will have many questions, son is incredibly grateful for your offer and is making a list of things to ask as we speak.
Re: test center - How did you locate a test center? I was wondering about that, as there didnât seem to be a list of test centers I could find. We thought if all else fails he will try to get his school to apply to become one - that doesnât seem to be too hard.
Re: AP tests - yes, the idea was to take the tests in the spring of his senior year if (big if) he is potentially accepted. I thought (eternal optimist me) maybe he can ask his teachers to let him study in class and help him prepare, they have been very kind about him doing extra work in class.
It is a bit of a gamble, as he then HAS to ace them, but the alternative would be to give up on his extracurricular math this year just to do some AP tests he actually isnât that interested in. He doesnât want to do that on an off chance, but would happily sign up for 4 tests if accepted. This is where I would currently go with the stuff he is passionate about and screw it - you can only engineer life so much. Happiness now. (Famous last wordsâŠ)
We feel invested in your son now - best of luck from us to him! (Did he also apply to US schools?)
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Thank you HazeGrey - I will DM you!
Thank you groundhog - a lot of your sonâs schools are on my sonâs radar. I had always pegged Brown as kind of an artsy place (well, thatâs how a friend who went there descriped it to me) - what made your son choose it for math?
And may I ask what ultimately made him decide on Haverford? (My kid was at a summer program there - loved their dorms 
In my experience Brown can be artsy, entrepreneurial, intense, collaborative or whatever else you want it to be given the OC, vast resources, engaged professors and eclectic student body.
Your experience may vary. Please DM with any questions and good luck!!
Hi Anna, I will DM you!
Hereâs the finder for the test center. Donât be put off my the Cambridge name - search for Oxford MAT locations.
https://www.admissionstesting.org/find-a-centre/
The Oxford Mathematical Institute has lots of info on their website never too soon to start the MAT prep for next November.
https://www.maths.ox.ac.uk/study-here/undergraduate-study/maths-admissions-test