<p>Can be big or small, it doesnt really matter right now.</p>
<p>I'm planning on majoring in math or statistics, so I need a strong program for that (and planning to go to grad school!)</p>
<p>Some activities I'd like to do are kayaking, rafting, snowboarding, mountain climbing. </p>
<p>I guess I prefer schools that are more in nature, than in the middle of a city!</p>
<p>Colorado college?</p>
<p>Dartmouth is very outdoorsy and offers a Math major. I’m not sure how strong/famous the math program is however.</p>
<p>Also, UC Santa Cruz is another possibility.</p>
<p>Cornell is the obvious suggestion. Very good mathematics and a fantastic location for outdoor recreation.</p>
<p>You might be interested in the University of Utah as well. It would be a safety school for most on CC, but they have a very good math department and being a “big fish in a small sea” might help you get in on research.</p>
<p>Thanks for the suggestions. </p>
<p>So far I have these on my college list</p>
<p>Carleton C
Cornell U
Dartmouth C
Grinnell C
Middlebury C
Oberlin C
Whitman C
Williams C</p>
<p>Colorado College’s schedule is unique; not sure if I like it though. UCSC…I’d rather go to a more “top” school, same with University of Utah. Dartmouth and Cornell are high on my list, but also tough to get in. So are some other schools on my list, like Williams I guess. Are there any well known schools that I can add as safeties? (I guess UCSC for this?) (And I pretty much got my list from collegeboard.com, searching for rural schools, then looking at schools that I hear to be good)</p>
<p>University of Oregon has a very strong math dept. and has a student population that is really into outdoor recreation activities.</p>
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<p>I won’t criticize you for this view, as I share it (to a certain extent). But I feel that it is important to think about WHY you want to go to a more “top” school. If you can identify the desirable attributes that “top” schools have, it makes it easier for us to suggest schools of all calibers.</p>
<p>You might also look at the University of Washington. It’s right in a city, but Seattle is very outdoors-focused for a highly urban area.</p>
<p>Id think that top schools better prepare you for grad school, your peers are as bright as you, “connections” later on in life.</p>
<p>I’m not sure if I really want to go to school right in a city, but I’ll check it out.</p>
<p>It doesn’t really dovetail with the outdoors, but the University of Waterloo in Canada has an outstanding math faculty. I think they do have some trails for running/skiing…</p>
<p>Colorado is a great state for outdoor recreation.
Colorado College is the most selective school in the state (the admit rate for fall 2008 was about 26%). Its students have a very high level of interest in outdoor recreation (its Outdoor Recreation Club is the most popular campus organization). Skiing, snowboarding, biking, hiking, mountain climbing, you name it. My S started there recently. Part of his orientation week experience involved trail maintenance around a 12,000 ft base camp in the Sangre de Cristo mountains, then summiting a 14,000 ft peak with his 8 person group. </p>
<p>He is a strong Math student (>750M SAT, very high AMC scores). He’s taking an unusual number theory course with 15 students that meets for 3 hours a day, Monday through Friday. The way courses work there, you only take one course at a time for a 3.5 week stretch (the “block plan”). All freshmen start college with a 2-block (7 week) “first year experience” course designed to introduce you to this system. </p>
<p>About 3% of Colorado College students major in math (compared to about 1% at Cornell or about 3% at Carleton). The percentage of math and natural science majors there in general is somewhat higher than at some of the east coast liberal arts colleges (such as Middlebury). It’s hard for me to say yet that the math department is very strong, though.</p>
<p>University of Waterloo…first I thought “its Canada, nah!” But then I looked into it, and its very interesting! It’s a huge math department…do you have any more information on it? How competitive is it for internationals to attend?</p>
<p>Colorado College…I was thinking of it, but I don’t really like their schedule. I mean it should be great for math classes, but torture for classes I don’t enjoy! I’ll keep it under consideration though!</p>
<p>I’m not an expert in math/statistics, but if you like the environment at Williams you might look at Hamilton, Kenyon, Bowdoin.</p>
<p>mathlegend, if you think the Colorado block plan would not work for you, then don’t apply there because it is definitely a defining characteristic. The schools on your list look like great picks (though it may be hard to assess which of the LACs have the best math). If Williams is a realistic reach for you, then Whitman should be a good match school (along with Oberlin or Grinnell). Have you thought about safeties? If you want to keep the list down, the first I’d drop would be Middlebury. It’s a great school but almost as selective as Williams, with relatively few math and science majors (16% recently, including 6% in Environmental Science).</p>
<p>Cornell is a great choice for students seeking great academics who love the outdoors.</p>
<p>All the top LACs should have solid math and statistics depts. Take a look at Bowdoin, Colby and Bates for student bodies that are dominated by ‘outdooring’ as the favorite EC. At Bowdoin, 10 minutes from the coast, there are folks to kayak every nice morning.</p>
<p>Colby ! I second Colby–in the middle of everything outdoorsy–climbing, kayaking, rafting, skiing–and great academics.</p>
<p>Stanford Stanford Stanford! :D</p>
<p>Best Stats department in the world and like #2 or #3 in Math. Great weather year round as well–lots of profs with seminar type classes like to have them outside. :)</p>
<p>Thanks for the responses guys.</p>
<p>I added Bowdoin, Bates, Colby, Stanford to my list. (Haha Stanford…I live about 25 min away from it…great place! Wrestled there over the summer, shadowed a few docs…good memories! Awesome if I get in)</p>
<p>I think I need to drop more than Middlebury. I think these schools would either be realistic matches/reaches for me, but who knows about schools like Stanford. I guess I’d also rather go to a place where there are more math majors than less. (More common topic to talk about)</p>
<p>This is my current list:
Bates C
Bowdoin C
Carleton C
Colby C
Cornell U
Dartmouth C
Grinnell C
Stanford U
U of Waterloo
Whitman C
Williams C</p>
<p>I think I need to cut this list down a bit! My parents are also forcing me to apply to some of the UCs as a financial backup…And safeties…I guess if all else fails, I wouldn’t mind going to UC Davis or something…but I would much rather go to a school on my list, I think?</p>
<p>The weather at Stanford would be great, and of course the math, but yeah it’s an admissions crap shoot for nearly anybody. Weather and geography do become an issue with some of the others. </p>
<p>One key decision is whether your priority is a world class math department or the outdoorsy small college experience (where there likely will be very few math majors and fewer course offerings.) No good college can ignore math - and what these schools offer is likely to be solid - but if a small school is under financial pressure (endowment meltdown) and has only ~5 math majors, you might want to ask if a course in graph theory or topology would be available every semester. You can check out each school’s Common Data Set to find the number of math/science majors, to help gauge demand for these courses. Carleton as I recall has something like 30% math/science majors (more than many LACs) and a good record of Ph.D. production. It’s in a nice natural setting with a beautiful arboretum, though frigid in the winter and maybe not the most exciting for outdoor sports other than x-country skiing.</p>
<p>If you’re considering schools like Bates, Colby, and Bowdoin, you might as well throw Connecticut College in as well. Unlike the other three NESCAC schools, Conn actually has a dedicated applied stats minor as well as a concentration track in statistics within the math major. But just a word of caution here, LACs generally don’t have the strongest or biggest math departments. This has nothing to do with the standard of teaching (I think teaching is probably much better in LACs in fact), but more to do with the fact that most kids at LACs aren’t that into math anyway and that there are only that many math majors around in a typical LAC. Thus there can only be that many upper-level courses offered each year. For instance, you probably won’t see a course like PDE or stochastic processes offered at a typical LAC, whereas that might be offered every other semester at a bigger school like Stanford. I guess there ARE some LACs that have fairly extensive course offerings in math (the most obvious ones being Williams and HMC) but they are usually few and far between. I don’t know how much of a math person you are, many people who are generally good at math but not passionate about it to the extent of wanting to pursue math grad school or take part in Putnam whatsoever should be quite happy with the math course offerings at a good LAC, but if you are the type of “math legend” kid that your nick suggest you are, I suggest you research more carefully into the course offerings by looking at the course catalogues.</p>