<p>UNC can be top 5 in whatever it wants, but it’s not top 5 in math. Rather, it’s not even top THIRTY-five. Michigan is giving me $15,000 a year, and it IS top 10 in math. I could potentially go to Columbia or Chicago, with chicago being top 5. I want to get into a phenomenal grad school and, personally, I don’t think UNC gives me that opportunity.</p>
<p>I can go to SUNY Stony Brook for $5,000 a year and get a math education that is 20 ranks higher than that at UNC.</p>
<p>“I want to get into a phenomenal grad school and, personally, I don’t think UNC gives me that opportunity.”</p>
<p>If that is the case, go to Michigan. It will give you the most bang for your buck. Who knows, you could be the next Ted Kaczynski? :-)</p>
<p><a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodore_Kaczynski[/url]”>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodore_Kaczynski</a></p>
<p>Do you have strong feelings against Chicago? I like the extra 60k over 4 years to deal with nobel prize winners in physics and economics, and an elitist population where I can sit and discuss math with grad students et al</p>
<p>
Why couldn’t you do that at the other three universities? You choose the group to hang around with in college.</p>
<p>p.s. How many of the Field medalists did their undergraduate at a top 5 math program?</p>
<p>“Do you have strong feelings against Chicago? I like the extra 60k over 4 years to deal with nobel prize winners in physics and economics, and an elitist population where I can sit and discuss math with grad students et al”</p>
<p>Just go to Chicago then. It’s great for math and you won’t always be second guessing yourself. Then again, you might end up disappointed. Who knows?</p>
<p>“I like the extra 60k over 4 years to deal with nobel prize winners in physics and economics,…”</p>
<p>I doubt you will “deal” with many Nobel Prize winners at Chicago. Nobel Prize winners seldom teach and/or hang out with undergrads.</p>
<p>“…and an elitist population where I can sit and discuss math with grad students et al”</p>
<p>Michigan students are not elitist. In fact, they tend to be down to Earth. I hear students at Chicago, Columbia and UNC are no different. This said, if you are good enough, you will take graduate level courses at any of those schools, befriending faculty and graduate students alike.</p>
<p>Elitist is not meant to be a negative term. By elitists, I just mean those who are willing to sit and discuss esoterica. At home, I discuss esoterica with my friends in term of history, foreign policy, etc. But this is not the esoterica I most wish to discuss. I like discussing math, and I hear that mathematician undergraduates at Chicago love doing Problem sets together and discussing the answers in-depth and love hearing each others solutions.</p>
<p>At UNC, this doesn’t happen, and I know this because 1) I’ve spoken to math majors who go there, and they say they’re more there for the “broadening college experience.” 2) No one seems to major in math there. It’s a rarity, and the Undergrad department admits it. They say they want me to improve their math program, and I would rather be one of many, then the ring leader.</p>
<p>…bump…</p>
<p>Daman, I think your options have been discussed at great length. You have two main options currently on the table. UNC for $0.00 and Michigan for $135,000. Those are you top two choices as we speak. </p>
<p>Should you be accepted from the waitlist at Chicago or Columbia, you will be able to attend one of those schools for $220,000. Those are all significant gaps in cost of attendance. </p>
<p>So, you currently have one simple question to answer:</p>
<p>Is Michigan’s Mathematics department (#8) $135,000 better than UNCs (#30)? </p>
<p>Should you be accepted into Chicago or Columbia, the question becomes more complicated:</p>
<p>Are Chicaco’s (#6) and Columbia’s (#10) Mathematics departments $85,000 better than Michigan’s (#8) and $220,000 better than UNC’s (#30)?</p>
<p>The answer to those questions rests in how well off your parents are. If your folks are well off and can easily afford the difference in price, the clear choice is Michigan. Should you be admitted off of the waitlist at either Chicago or Columbia, the decision becomes much harder. But should the difference in cost of attendance be too great for your family to bear, the decision, as far as I see it, is again clear; UNC.</p>
<p>Columbia/Chicago/UNC for free</p>
<p>^^Speaking of elitist and incorrect at the same time. HYPSM are the only schools in the country you could even attempt to say are much more prestigious than Michigan or UNC. That you chose to link Northeastern with the prior two mentioned, just proves you do not understand what you’re talking about.</p>
<p>I feel like GA tech is really getting shafted here, especially for math…</p>
<p>I would go for UNC for free. No brainer.</p>
<p>"I think Columbia is the best and you do want to be close to home.
Then UNC because it is a free ride and great oppurtunity.
Chicago and Northeastern because of location. Urban is a plus (at least to me) and they are closer to home than Georgia Tech and Michigan
Michigan after those becaus it’s a good school, but it’s a huge public school and I feel it trails behind your other options.
Lastly Georgia Tech. Really far from home and I don’t really know that much about it or you.</p>
<p>Well that’s just my 2 cents. Congrats and good luck! "</p>
<p>Really? Northeastern over Michigan? Michigan has been consistently ranked as one of the top 10 graduate programs in math. </p>
<p>Perhaps my opinions are biased, but the top Michigan math undergraduates students have been quite successful with graduate school options. Over the past two years, almost all of the top 10 math schools, including Princeton, Harvard, Stanford, MIT, Berkeley, Chicago, UCLA, Columbia, Yale, and NYU, have admitted at least one Michigan student. Keep in mind that the very top math phD programs like Princeton/Harvard/Stanford/MIT/Chicago/Columbia/Yale only admit 10-20 students out of 300-500 applicants. Every year one Michigan math student wins a Goldwater scholarship. In the past 2 years, there are two Michigan students who have won Marshall or Churchill scholarships to study abroad in England. Last year, Michigan’s Putnam team was ranked 8th in the nation.
So if you can prove that you are one of the best from Michigan, then you will do quite well.</p>
<p>Math is one of the few departments where the students enrolled at the top public schools will be just as bright as the students enrolled at the top private schools. Go to Michigan or UNC-Chapel Hill.</p>
<p>
More irrelevant than biased. While it’s great that you had a good time at Michigan, the OP is finishing up his sophomore year of college. Bumping an old thread like this is rather unnecessary.</p>