Hi I’m trying to decide between UMich LSA Honors, NYU, Vanderbilt, UCLA pre-math/econ, Cal Berkeley and Maryland (College Park). Any suggestions?
You have three premier research institutions (UCs and UMI) and two highly regarded private schools. First, I would eliminate the remaining schools. After that what are your priorities? Really, no bad choices…
Going to major in economics/math. Not business but more econometrics, theory based stuff. Planning on going to grad school afterwards.
What are costs?
cost not a big deal right now.
bump
But will they be a big deal a little later?
In state for any of the publics?
instate for umd with 32k over 4 years.
Instate for UMD is 100k over 4 years. Don’t forget to factor in housing at all of those options, Economics Major 
(You may have big scholarships or would live at home, but if cost isn’t a big deal, it’s gotta be the whole cost, not just tuition.)
They are all so different. All five universities are strong in Economics, and all five universities are large, but that is where the similarities end. What else can you tell us about yourself?
Those colleges are, literally and (to some extent) figuratively, all over the map.
How did you choose them?
I suspect you must have applied to many US News top ~40 universities and those are the ones that accepted you.
Right? Close?
If you did not have a more personal approach to building your list, then at this late date, one approach would be to stick to your original rank-driven formula (if that is indeed what you used). Let US News pick your college. Vanderbilt is the highest-ranked school on your list. So go to Vanderbilt.
Alternately, if UMCP is much cheaper than all the others … and if you have no clear personal basis for choosing among these 6, then go to Maryland. Cost is a rational basis for choosing among good research universities (which all of these are). Michigan or Berkeley are stronger than UMCP for econ/math, but maybe not by a big enough margin (at the undergraduate level) to justify a big price premium (such as the full diff between UMCP in-state and UCB/Michigan OOS rates).
One could make a case for each of the others (e.g. NYU for strength in applied math and for the NYC location), but probably not a very compelling one without knowing more about you.
Typical tk21769; always promoting the private school over other choices. Berkeley and Michigan are stronger in math/Econ than Vanderbilt as well.
Get the course catalog for each school and map out the Econ degree and Gen Ed requirements. Some of these schools require foreign language. Some do not allow AP classes to fulfill Gen Ed requirements. Some have established study abroad programs in Economics. Some require Econometrics for the major. Some require you to formally apply for the major after admission, with a minimum GPA. There are considerable differences once you dig in. Let those be the basis for your decision.