Need help picking Midwest matches and safeties

Transfer Students
1

I’m currently a sophomore at a small liberal arts college and want to transfer to a bigger school. I plan to study math, and my top choices are probably UW-Madison and UIUC since they have strong math departments, are large and close to home (I’m from the Midwest). However, I’m unsure of my transfer prospects at these.

I didn’t know what I wanted to study my first couple of years here, so I spent time exploring and completing gen eds. As a result, my transcript isn’t very rigorous. I also have honestly been unhappy here - thus why I want to transfer - which affected my GPA, currently around 3.3.

I think I might have a shot at least at UIUC, since their website says math transfers have an average 2.7 GPA. But I definitely want to broaden the number of schools I apply to and pick safeties.

Things I’m looking for:
In the Midwest
Large or medium sized
Preferably near a large or medium sized city
Strong math department
Liberal, or at least not conservative
To be honest, as highly ranked as possible given my stats

Please let me know your suggestions for where to apply! ?

2

Cost constraints and state of residency?

3

@ucbalumnus, state of residency is Illinois. I have a sizable college fund, so cost isn’t really something that would affect where I am able to go (although I do receive financial aid).

4

Bump

I would really appreciate any suggestions

5

Honestly, you already know all of the universities that you can afford in the midwest. The only questions are which are likely to admit you (which we can’t necessarily predict with any accuracy), and what you will do if you don’t get admitted to any of them. Will you take a gap year and try again, or will you cobble together a mathmajor where you are?

Reasonably liberal communities: Iowa City, Lawrence, KS, Bloomington, IN, and just about anywhere in Minnesota.