<p>Does any one know of good schools in math and science on the west coast? Preferably California, but I'm willing to go to Oregon or Washington (does anyone know if Reed has a good math program?) Thanks!</p>
<p>Cal Tech, Harvey Mudd, Pomona, and any of the UC’s</p>
<p>Caltech
Harvey Mudd
UCSD, UCLA, UCB, and UCI
UW Seattle</p>
<p>I went to Reed and majored in math, and the math program at Reed is excellent. I was really challenged and one of the B students. Two of my classmates were close to gifted in their math abilities. They were also the nicest guys and I wouldn’t have known how smart they were except that other people told me. Their parents would never have sent them to Reed unless they were confident it would be a good place for them.</p>
<p>Caltech, Harvey Mudd and Reed</p>
<p>Thank you so much! Is there anything in particular these colleges look for? Meaning, aside from grades and test scores.</p>
<p>Reed has a strong personality. You should definitely visit and in your essays let them know that you think you would fit in, assuming you want to go there. I would also think that it is the easier to get into that Caltech, Harvey Mudd or Pomona.</p>
<p>i agree with everything above
but also: </p>
<p>Stanford
University of Washington</p>
<p>Whitman, U Puget Sound, Lewis & Clark, Occidental</p>
<p>To answer your second question:</p>
<p>Stanford will look at practically everything. For example, if you are applying with the intention of doing engineering, they still care a lot about humanities and such, as they admit you to the entire university, not the engineering program. With Stanford, hope and pray; it’s pretty much a crapshoot. There are plenty of admits without fantastic test scores that got in, although almost all applicants have an A- average or better.</p>
<p>Caltech really wants to see intense math and/or science passion. Most of their admittees have very high test scores and go beyond the typical math club/science olympiad. They will not be much, if any, easier on females, minorities, and athletes. Unlike Stanford, they do not care much about anything outside of math/science in admissions. Very merit based admissions system. </p>
<p>UC Berkeley, like Stanford, also looks for more of the well-rounded types, so they take into consideration ECs and essays that aren’t math/science related. For math and science, they will want to see very solid achievement, although the apparent passion does not have to be on Caltech’s level. Out of state application, especially into engineering, is very tough, although probably not on Stanford’s level. UCB has a weird admissions weighting system, so most of the admittees have perfect UC GPAs. Which means you really have to stand out with test scores, ECs, recs, and essays. </p>
<p>In my opinion:
Emphasis on test scores: Caltech tied with UCB, Stanford
Emphasis on essays and ECs: Stanford, Caltech tied with UCB </p>
<p>I don’t know much about the other schools. At least in my opinion, Stanford, Caltech, UCB, and Harvey Mudd are the top science/math/engineering schools out West (although again I don’t know much about the other UCs or smaller schools like Reed or Puget Sound). All four will give you a very strong (although very different) education.</p>
<p>UCLA has similar criteria to Berkeley, though it depends on where you’re from. Out of state, UCLA will probably be easier to get into; in-state it might be marginally harder. UCSD too, though it is a little easier to get into than UCLA/Berkeley.</p>