Thanks. I haven’t looked into RIT, WPI, RPI, or any of those other letters. lol What are your favorite pure math safeties?
Would also consider Yale (they get disproportionately less math kids with ++resources compared to say HPS).
Are you in-state for UIUC?
No, we are in Missouri. Oddly enough, I grew up in Illinois and didn’t want to apply to UIUC myself. lol
A “pure maths” safety for him would be St Olaf.
However universities’ honors colleges may work better, as would HarveyMudd, Pomona, Harverford.
Rice would be very strong in math, no Greek and probably more conservative.
I think that Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois would fit your requirement for an OOS safety.
Yes. One thing about the Core at UChicago is that it isn’t just about the number of classes. It is about the sequence and limited choices. At many universities, you may have a requirement to take 2 or 3 classes in a broad subject area (Humanities, Social Science, Natural Science, etc.). You may have a hundred of classes to fulfill the requirement. At UChicago you may have less than 10. Also, at most universities, the classes within a subject don’t have to be related. A lot of time you can take multiple into classes. At UChicago, once you start a sequence, you continue it. For example, one you start a Social Science Core class (in Autumn only), you will need to take the next 2 classes in that sequence in Winter and Spring. The amount of material covered in that sequence will be >= 3 semesters of college work. Many of the Core classes are also limited to 19 students and taught using the Socratic method.
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Thank you for the description. He isn’t too big on core requirements. He said that’s what high school was for.
Despite his stats, he’s not a very competitive kid. I think a more collaborative environment would be good. Although he is somewhat oblivious to others being competitive.
I agree St. Olaf sounds like a great safety if he is ok taking a couple (?) of religious classes.
What level of math will your DS have completed in High School? One thing that you want to look at is the upper level math classes at LAC’s. Without a graduate program, some students that start college highly advanced can run out of classes.
He has only taken Calc 3. He probably knows more through summer programs and self-study.
I’m pretty sure he would not be up for taking religious classes.
Grinnell, University of Wisconsin, Case Western for easy matches/safety? All Midwest and Top 50 for Math in Niche. Grinnell is open curriculum I believe.
I wouldn’t dismiss St. Olaf on this basis, at least without further study. We looked at the school a couple of years ago, and from everything I read, the required courses are not religion courses per se, more theology, and most kids seem to enjoy them.
Edited to add: As I recall, there are a number of threads on CC that discuss this requirement.
Tufts could be a great fit. He’d find his people and his academics. Definitely no more left than Brown. Has ED2 if Brown doesn’t work out. Those 2 are often overlaps.
There are some pretty different vibes here but based on the description, most sound like they’d work. And there are definitely a few where his odds are very good.
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He’ll have to do some of that at Chicago, and as eeyore said, their core requirements are lot more restrictive than Brown’s on when you can take them, and you have the pass/nc option at Brown, if needed, though probably wouldn’t recommend that if he’s applying for Phd programs.
You may want to look at that some more, there are e.g. two Humanities requirements that involve a ton of reading, analysis and writing. Your son can still apply there of course, just dig more into the requirements.
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Okay, I updated the list slightly. He’d prefer a liberal, collaborative environment someplace that is not warm. He’s willing to consider Harvey Mudd and Pomona despite their warm weather. lol
Brown
University of Chicago
Pomona
Harvey Mudd
Haverford
Swarthmore
Carleton
University of Michigan
Amherst
Macalester
Carnegie Mellon
Yale
University of Illinois
Washington University
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Others have already raised the point that curricula at Brown and Chicago are very different, and I agree, but I also think that Carnegie Mellon also has a very different academic culture than Brown. Other than that, this seems like a well-put-together list. Maybe add another safety in addition to Illinois though?
Thanks. How would you describe their academic cultures?