Recommendations for Research oriented STEM [math, CS] programs

Ah, it was just a miscommunication on my part. Thank you for the recommendations though.

Wow, that’s excellent, congratulations for all that your son has accomplished. it sounds like a fantastic program that has academic flexibility, academic diversity, access to grad-level courses, as well as research opportunities. I will be sure to consider this college.

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I am leaning a little bit more towards the computational side of mathematical areas, but at this point I am not too sure. I am considering algorithms as well as a field of interest.

Also it is good to know that there are a lot of possibilities for double majoring. I will keep an eye out for schools with CS and Math in the same college. Thank you for the info!

My point was OP would consider those schools which may be at a similar price point or potentially more expensive than others that have been eliminated. That’s all I was getting at.

Sorry for any confusion, I am trying not to consider schools that give out little aid and are x>=55k for total cost per yr. Most of these are the very competitive publish schools like Michigan and the UCs, whereas many of the private schools have higher sticker prices but give out aid more frequently.

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You are :wink:, and UCLA will not give the OP any money.

Algorithms (such as graph algorithms and heuristic algorithms) and computational geometry most often will appear as areas of expertise among computer science faculty.

OP- as a future math person, you need to do some analysis before you state “private schools have higher sticker prices but give out aid more frequently”. How frequent the aid is won’t be relevant if YOU aren’t getting the aid.

Do not rely on the blanket statements of how much aid, what percentage of students get aid, etc. Many families go wrong here. What’s relevant is YOUR anticipated aid package.

There are some very generous private colleges where even relatively high income folks can get some need based aid (Princeton for one). There are some allegedly generous private colleges where they consider home equity, so if you have a modest income but own a house in an expensive area, you won’t get as much aid as you think you will. And if your parents are divorced, your family owns investment property, you have a parent who is self-employed, that’s yet another level of complexity.

Do the math. None of us can be at all helpful to you until you do that. “give out little aid”-- ??? Many of these “give out little aid” colleges have a lower sticker price to begin with, so they could end up being cheaper.

I am not aware of ANY STEM program in the US where you won’t have access to research, so that’s not a good way to slice the pie.

In short: Run the individual NPCs for each college wherever possible.

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I don’t think you need to be too specific. Some general ideas (which you seem to have) are sufficient at this stage, and they will help you narrow down your list.

Be aware that in-depth courses in a specialty aren’t generally offered in the summer semester/quarter at many top schools. Besides, you probably want to participate in research in the summer.

Great points @blossom

OP should also note that some public schools will provide sufficient merit aid to bring the CoA within budget. So don’t write them off just because they don’t give much need-based aid.

Sorry for the generalization, I meant to avoid the bigger public schools with high cost because they are definitely out of budget whereas at the other school I will look at the NPC and similar sources for most recommendations.

Not all, just those that are known for high prices and low aid. I am willing to apply to strong state schools if the NPC is within budget.

I also am not that aware of the merit scholarship opportunities at most state schools outside of alabama and arizona, but I would certainly apply if I had a good shot at the scholarships.

Agree with Purdue. A friends kid is a freshman in his first semester there and already has committed to a research position for next semester after having several options. He is a CE major.

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Harvey Mudd College was recommended and you indicated that you would look into it. It does meet many of your criteria.
The HMC math department offers a joint Math and CS major, and it appears that a significant fraction of the math students are taking that major. A large proportion of math students go onto graduate school.
Participating in research during your time at Mudd is encouraged and a requirement for graduation.
The Math department is recognized for its quality. In 2006, the American Mathematical Society awarded its first Award for an Exemplary Program or Achievement in a Mathematics Department to HMC. The Henry L Alder Award for Distinguished Teaching by a Beginning College or University Faculty Member has been awarded to 5 different HMC math professors since 2003.
While HMC is a STEM school, it is part of the Claremont Consortium, so you can interact with many other non-STEM students in the surrounding colleges.
The one criteria that will be the biggest issue will be cost, and you will have to make that judgement.

If you would like to see estimated costs for scores of colleges quickly, this site can be helpful:

You can then substantiate the estimates for schools of particular interest through individual NPCs.

My only caveat with MYinTuition is just that - it’s largely based on intuition. It spits out a range of possibilities that are probably only helpful at the far ends of the scale and pretty much useless for families who are in the squishy middle. For example, there has already been much discussion about MyIntuition on this thread:

I prefer the collegeboard calculator but thanks tho. I just find it more detailed, and I have a collegeboard account so most of the info is saved.

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In general, I’d describe Hamilton’s curriculum as being more open than interdisciplinary. However, its research opportunities may be highly interdisciplinary, depending on a student’s interest.