My first "real" college list-- thoughts? Too ambitious? Not ambitious enough?

I agree with others that Cal Poly-SLO is a great school. It’s really in a league of its own within the CSU system not only for its academic reputation, but it’s also one of the few that’s not considered a commuter school, and SLO has been voted one of the best college towns in America. From what I’ve heard, companies from Silicon Valley to So. CA heavily recruit graduates.

As far as running, you could always start your own running club for those who just enjoy running, sign up together for 5Ks, half marathons, etc.

It is a very very good list.

You may be in the range at your high school for a guaranteed UC admissions. If so, consider removing CSU Channel Islands and replace it with UC Santa Cruz or UC Riverside. My son liked the math and physics departments at UC Santa Cruz. Both are more highly regarded than the school as a whole. Also add SJSU which, like Cal Poly SLO, benefits from its proximity to Silicon Valley.

My son and several of his friends (also math and other STEM majors in CA) ended up at schools in the midwest which offered them merit aid for their stats. These were often nearly as affordable as the in-state UCs if your family is full pay. Mind you, it’s cold back there, but if you’re thinking that you’d like to go to school out of state or would like to go to a smaller college, that would be a good place to look.

If you’re looking at prestige based bang for your buck, Cal Poly SLO can’t be beat. It is very highly regarded among people who will matter in your academic and professional future.

http://wue.wiche.edu/search_results.jsp?searchType=all

As far as I know, U of O no longer participates in western exchange program - they stopped several years ago.
Above is a link to currently participating schools.

I’m assuming you want to stay near home on the west coast? But just looking at the list, maybe add one or two other higher tier colleges? A lot of students tend to sell themselves short.

@DogsAndMath23 I’d say look in the 15-30% acceptance rate range, places like Notre Dame, Colgate, Hamilton, Grinnell, CMU, etc. Also, Rice, which is under 15% but gives great aid and worth a shot (more chance than Stanford/CalTech).

@1andonly You’re right, I must have been looking at an outdated list. U of W is also not part of the exchange like I thought but the OOS tuition there is significantly less there than for University of Oregon.

@Otterma I’m pretty sure I am, I think the cutoff is top 9% or something? I’m in the top 10%, my school doesn’t give more specific rankings past that though.

I actually was totally in love with UCSC, but they don’t seem to have an applied math program? I think SJSU is the same. Not sure about riverside, I have a spreadsheet that I’ll check when I get home.

1Dreamer: That’s true, competitive clubs that are already organized are ideal for me though. It’s not a deal breaker if a school doesn’t have one but since I have options that do, there has to be some compelling reason for me to keep the school in consideration. CalPoly’s club actually travels to go to meets and trains 5+ days a week, which is obviously preferable for me over just-for-fun once a week type clubs.

I’m glad to hear so many good things about CalPoly, I’m touring it soon, can’t wait!

Last year it was top 9%. I assume it will remain around there but you’d best check with your counselor on that.

UCSC calls it “Computational Mathematics” which makes it sound like a CS program but it’s not. They offer three math tracks: Pure Math, Educational Math, and Computational Math.

“Our Computational Mathematics track offers flexibility to students who are interested in mathematics together with its applications – students in Computational Mathematics pick up skills in statistics, computer science, and mathematical modeling, among other topics. Much of the coursework for the Computational Mathematics track is offered outside of the Mathematics Department, offering an interdisciplinary experience.”

And while I don’t know for sure, I assume that the SJSU program has a strongly applied math focus. By the nature of their mandate I think the math programs at any of the Cal State campuses will strongly focus on either applied math or math education.

@ClarinetDad16 I see, thanks. Yeah, I consider myself a hard worker and I hope I can convey that through my applications. I really put a lot of time in to teach myself math and I’ve been working hard to improve my running. Before that (in middle school) I was really interested in dog rescue and fostered some dogs and volunteered, but I don’t know if colleges really care about that since it was middle school? This summer I’m going to look into volunteering with dogs again though.

@Otterma Yeah I’m not really sure how much the “applied” label matters, people keep recommending to me that I go into applied math and it sounds like a good fit for me.

I think I was mistaken about SJSU and they do have an applied math program. There wasn’t any compelling reason for me to eliminate them permanently or anything but there are a lot of other schools that fit what I’m looking for better.

The main things I’ve been considering so far are:

  • Location
  • Cost
  • Running programs
  • 4 year grad rate
  • Religion (I’m not religious so I don’t want to attend a really religious school)
  • Frosh retention
  • Size
  • Commuter or residential
  • If they have applied math