Safeties w/ Merit for Math, maybe Psych?

College Search & Selection
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Hi! I’m a new CC user and a rising senior looking for some insight into safety/likely schools, particularly with good potential for merit aid to (hopefully!) have some breadth of financial choice come May '17.

My vital stats are:
GPA: ~98.5/100 (school doesn’t weight or rank), honors/AP taken where possible, dual enrollment credit in CompSci and post-AP/independent study in Math
ACT: 36
SAT: 1590, 8 essay, redesigned only
ECs: Most important ones are in Math (AIME qualification, attended Ross summer program, currently working on research with a local prof., starting a mathy book club this year) and Music/Jazz (two-time Interlochen Arts Camp, started school jazz band, played some orchestra with local college sophomore year, lead roles in 3 school theater productions), as well as school-specific leadership roles. Also some quiz bowl and serving as an advisor for my friend’s TOEFL tutoring service.

My current list is: U. Virginia, U. Michigan, College of William and Mary, Princeton, Yale, UChicago. I’m a Virginia resident. I prefer medium-size schools or larger schools with honors programs. My primary interests are Math and Music (I don’t plan on going the music school route, just fun stuff), although recently I’ve become interested in Psychology as well. Future plans include possible grad school.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions or advice!

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It may matter whether your post-graduation goals as a math major are:

  • PhD study in math.
  • PhD study in related fields like economics, statistics, computer science theory, operations research, etc..
  • Employment in industry (and what kind: finance, actuarial, computing, operations research, big data, etc.).
  • Teaching credential followed by employment as a math teacher.

Different math departments may have different emphases, as hinted at by their course offerings and (if available) post-graduation survey results of math majors. Some larger math departments may be suitable for math majors with all kinds of goals, but some may only have good offerings for students with some of these goals.

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At most of the good kinds of schools that the OP will find themself applying to - given their grades and test scores, which are very good - they will find solid all-around math departments that offer good preparation for anything. I don’t think it’s necessary for a senior in high school to try to predict what they want to do 5-10 years down the track; they just need a good solid all-around education in math.

One consideration may be, though, how advanced in math you already are. If you’re working on research and have done summer programs it’s safe to assume that you’re somewhat advanced in math. If you’ve finished 2-3 classes in calculus already, you may want to choose a department that has a range of upper-level math classes and maybe even some graduate classes so you can continue to stretch. You may also be interested in a five-year MA program, so while I wouldn’t make that a dealbreaker, it may be something you think about when selecting schools.

A VA resident has lots of great safeties in their backyard: Virginia Tech, James Madison, Virginia Commonwealth. Maybe George Mason.

You’d also be eligible for big merit at University of Alabama with your grades and test scores. At University of Georgia you’d be eligible for the Foundation Fellows scholarships, some of which are full and some of which are tuition.

Some really excellent universities where you may be able to get some merit may be Emory, Tulane, Case Western, Lehigh, University of Rochester, University of Miami and Fordham University. Places that are even safer, and an even better chance of merit aid, are American University, Syracuse University, Ithaca College, Marquette University, and Southern Methodist University.

Also, this is not a safety, but with your interests in math, computer science and psychology, I thought of Carnegie Mellon - because they have strengths in all of those areas and also a second major in human-computer interaction that may see the fusion of all your interests.

Are you interested in small colleges at all? If you are advanced in math some of them may not satisfy your needs there, but many of them will and/or have agreements with close by universities.

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-Boston University
-Clemson University
-DePaul University
-Louisiana State University
-Temple University
-University of Pittsburgh
-UT - Austin
-Villanova University