My parents are divorced, and my custodial parent (mother) makes little enough to qualify for about ~4000 in qualify for pell. My father only makes a little bit more.
I was planning to take out loans to cover remaining costs, but I have UC has my ‘financial safety’ because I live close enough to commute and get instate tuition prices. I’m not going to be NMSF, unfortunately.
@SOSConcern I didn’t really care about grades freshman year, ended with a 3.5. The first trimester soph year I messed up a bunch of things, and ended that trimester with a 2.8, bringing my CGPA to a 3.28, so that’s kept my GPA down since then
You can take loans up to $5,500 in frosh year without a cosigner (increasing slightly in later years). Cosigned loans are generally a bad idea for both the student and cosigner, since the implication is that neither really has the money.
A part time job during the school year and some summer work earnings may realistically be able to contribute another few thousand dollars (perhaps up to $4,500 to make the loan + work amount about $10,000). So your target net price should be $10,000 or less if need-based aid is involved (estimates and actual aid offers will include the Pell grant amount), or $14,000 or less if only merit scholarships are involved where you can stack the $4,000 Pell grant without the merit scholarship being reduced.
Some of the best programs for math are at HarveyMudd (where your background would not seem that unusual since they have a very, very strong math curriculum that attracts students that could be considered math prodigies ° as a div3 school you could get a boost from fencing), Northwestern (same thing, there’s even a special track there), and Williams (a LAC that’s really strong for math,ie., the 300-level classes you’re taking would be considered 200-level there - check out the curriculum, they meet full need and can be very generous with FA to EFC0 students; it may be the #1 LAC in the country, the Harvard of LACs if you will, and your GPA may not be competitive on its own, but you combine several hooks: fencing, lower income/first gen, under-represented state, “well lopsided” (advanced math), high college GPA, AND have good scores and strong curriculum rigor in addition to everything else - in fact, if you apply ED I’m willing to bet you’d get in.)
Apply to NYU because of the Courant Institute, but once you’ve applied, don’t think about it until you have your financial aid package.
I wonder if UCSB’s CCS could be financially possible since you’re in-state and you sound like the poster child for what they’re looking for?
On your application, highlight your 4.0 College GPA!
@MYOS1634 I’m not considered a first gen student because my mother has a bachelor’s degree. For UCSB, wouldn’t I be OOS since I’m a resident of Kentucky?
I’ll have to look into some of the LAC’s you’ve mentioned; I’m skeptical about applying due to the fear that I’ll run out of math courses during my undergrad, but I’ll have to check each individual department’s offerings before I decide anything
Shoot, i confused UC (Cincinnati) and UC (California). Please accept my excuses. Ucsb css c would je perfect though. Lets think of other universities with similar colleges (a grad school for undergrads in specific subjects) ;
I’ve checked out Williams some, it seems they advertise a broader education which I’m not too keen on given that I’d like to specialize in math pretty quickly.
I’ve heard NYU is pretty bad with need based aid, which is why I’m hesitant to apply, although their mathematics department looks top notch which would be a plus (if I could afford it).
NYU is indeed lousy with financial aid, but they’ve been known to be generous with exceptional candidates whom they want to attract. Apply just to see what package they offer, being ready to walk away if it’s insufficient.
BTW, do you have your fee waivers? Both for ACT and SAT tests, and for application?
Don’t pass on Williams just because you’re afraid of gen ed… in fact most great math programs will have gen eds too.
If you intend on specializing in math, for example, a fairly high level of French or Russian is required. Philosophy has Logic classes that would likely be of interest and would enrich your thinking. Working with algorhythms in CS will also help you think differently. And you can’t truly be educated if you can’t write well (Freshman seminar) or have no clue about the rest of the world. This is a fundamental principle at most American universities.
If you truly want to do math and nothing but, apply to UK universities, where your program (“course”) is strictly the subject for which you were selected. Use the UCAS website. Look into Oxford, Cambridge (choose one and have everything ready by October), plus Durham, Warwick, Imperial, St Andrews, Edinburgh. Look carefully at each “course” since the classes will be prescribed and required, but will differ from university to university.
Since you’re very young, another option for you would be to hold off graduating early and attending high school in a country with a very advanced math curriculum and STEM academies. However, you’re advanced enough that even Further Maths at A-Level wouldn’t be that useful.
Finally, there’s USC’s “early college” program.
Alright, I’ll probably add NYU to my list in that case, then.
It’s not that I’m looking for no gen ed at all - I’m aware there will be requirements essentially everywhere I go, but I believe I saw somewhere on here that it’s not highly encouraged to take most of your courses in your major, and that they even cap how many you can take in a single discipline during freshman year (I’ll have to check that info, though, since I wouldn’t want to completely disregard a college due to a single person’s comment on a forum).
I don’t have any fee waivers, which is why I’m hesitant to compile too large of a list - I’ll cut down on some later, hopefully.
I haven’t put too much thought into out of the US options, but I"all have to do more research into it.
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Since you're very young, another option for you would be to hold off graduating early and attending high school in a country with a very advanced math curriculum and STEM academies.
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If you don't mind, could you elaborate on this? I don't believe I've ever heard of a student doing this (at least not around here)
Lastly, I liked to say thanks so much for all the info and input I've received! I feel like I'm learning more from this one thread than from the hours of research I've spent on the web lol
I would add a couple of reaches / lottery schools such as Cornell, Chicago and CIT to the list. Dig deep and find the 2 or 3 “dream” schools that would provide you with best opportunity. Go through their course catalogues, perhaps even correspond with a professor or two. Carnegie Mellon might be an excellent option. Not too far from where you are, very strong in STEM. Another school that might sound odd but is worth looking into is Colorado School of Mines. They come up on several of the top math lists. They also offer a number of full scholarships. You can’t apply directly. Just apply early. I believe they have rolling admission and no application fee. Not on Common App. My S was invited to apply for the full-ride around January I think. This did require essays, further documentation, etc. He wasn’t ultimately selected but we found Mines to be a really interesting school. Good luck.
If general education requirements are a criterion, look up each school specifically. Do not assume that LACs versus non-LACs follow any pattern as to the type and volume of such. For example Brown (non-LAC) and Amherst (LAC) have minimal or no general education requirements, while MIT (non-LAC) and Harvey Mudd (LAC) have extensive general education requirements.
With respect to Williams, it has a large listing of advanced math courses for a LAC, but perhaps not as large as at a large math department in a large university, and they are not all offered every year: https://math.williams.edu/courses/ . Because you are advanced enough to likely want to take graduate level math courses as an undergraduate, you may want to compare catalog descriptions and/or ask the department directly whether any of the courses offered would be equivalent to graduate level courses elsewhere.
PhD programs in math often have a requirement of having a reading knowledge of French, German, or Russian. This may not necessarily require general fluency, but it means at least being able to read math articles and papers published in those languages and correctly understand the math being written about.
I only looked at 1 school in the UK to get an idea for financial aid, and the max award for international students seemed to be about 1/3 full tuition, unfortunately
True. Shoot, I’m used to applicants who can use the SAAS, deferred loans, and maintenance grants, and add scholarships to that.
Sorry Bandonh98 :s.
As for advanced math: Hungary or Singapore have advanced math curricula, as do JEET-prep schools in India. I don’t know how many schools teach them in English of course. If you speak French you could also attend a Maths Spé class, since it takes place in a secondary school.
Also, just to be clear, the list of classes I provided was what I’ll have completed by the end of senior year. Thus far I’ve only had MVC, DE, PDE, and Intro to higher math, so I’m not quite sure what the advantages would be studying abroad vs continuing dual enrollment at the local university
You’ll be a young HS graduate: Just trying to think outside the box for after senior year and before college, so that you have some time dedicated to math while maturing a bit if your parents worry about sending you to a far-away college. (When you’re abroad, you’re under HS rules and live with a family so you’re not 24/7 unsupervised.)
Here are some examples
