<p>Hello I'm a prospective mathematics student who lives in the UK. By the end of the year, I'll be going to either the University of Edinburgh, or the University of Glasgow. I would like to do postgraduate study in the USA in a field of pure mathematics such as Number Theory, and because of this I would like to go on exchange to a university in the US during my third year to build connections and see what it's like.</p>
<p>These are the two university's exchange partners at the moment.</p>
<p>Edinburgh:</p>
<p>University of Texas-Austin
Emory University
University of New Mexico
Ohio State University
Babson College
Dartmouth College
Binghamton University
Caltech
George Washington University
Georgetown University
Haverford College
Iowa State University
University of California
University of Chicago
University of Miami
University of Mississippi
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
University of Pennsylvania
University of Richmond
University of Virginia
University of Washington</p>
<p>Glasgow:</p>
<p>Boston College
Miami University, Ohio
Pennsylvania State University
Radford University, Virginia
State University of New York at Albany
University of Alabama
University of Alaska Fairbanks
University of California
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champagne
University of Massachusetts at Amherst
University of Miami
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
University of Oklahoma
University of South Florida
University of St. Thomas
University of Virginia
University of Wisconsin, Eau Clare, La Crosse and Stout.</p>
<p>I'm sorry about all the information and I know it's a lot to take in, but I'd really like the advice of people who live in the USA. </p>
<p>1) If I go to Edinburgh, which exchange would you recommend to me most, bearing in mind that I'll be studying mathematics?</p>
<p>2) If I go to Glasgow, which exchange would you recommend to me most, bearing in mind that I'll be studying mathematics?</p>
<p>3) Have you got any further advice or information which could help me?</p>
<p>You shouldn’t base where you would attend college on what exchange programs they have because chances of attending top American schools on exchange are low unless you are among the very best of students at Edinburgh. I have met a few Edinburgh exchange students, and they said admissions into exchange program with UPenn is very competitive (admission rate of about 15%) and with Caltech and Dartmouth to be extremely competitive (admission rate of less than 5%).</p>
<p>^^^
If the above is true, then should the OP find out what the acceptance rates are for the listed universities for the exchange programs? I doubt that they are all as low as the ones you stated.</p>
<p>If he’s allowed to apply to more than one, he could apply to some low acceptance rate ones and to a few higher acceptance rates ones (as safeties).</p>
<p>I’m not basing which university I will go to based on their exchange programs, I know that I want to go to Edinburgh if I get the grades or as an insurance I will go to Glasgow. So I will go to one or the other.</p>
<p>I know which universities I’ll pick if I go to Edinburgh: Chicago, Caltech, etc.</p>
<p>But with Glasgow, the choice is much harder.</p>
<p>Not knowing anything specific about their math programs, the best schools overall on the Glasgow list are probably:</p>
<p>University of California (Big if: depending which one)
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champagne
University of Virginia</p>
<p>With these running next:</p>
<p>University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Boston College
Pennsylvania State University</p>
<p>U of I Champagne/Urbana probably has the strongest rep in engineering and science. Again, California is the wild card, depending on which campus is available. </p>
<p>But the schools on the Edinburgh list include many of the big guns in math.</p>
<p>If you want to do an exchange at a US university to build contacts for possible postgraduate study in math, then you’ll want to remove programs that are not known for strong graduate programs in this area, or which primarily are undergraduate schools. These include:
Edinburgh: Babson College; Haverford College; University of Richmond
Glasgow:Radford University, Virginia; University of Alaska Fairbanks; University of South Florida; University of St. Thomas; University of Wisconsin, Eau Clare, La Crosse and Stout UW-Madison–very good, though).</p>
<p>I don’t know about the others. </p>
<p>Your lists include a fairly diverse range of universities. You also should consider what geographic locations region, urban/rural, climate, etc.) and other features of the university might appeal/not appeal to you.</p>
<p>I would swap UNC-Chapel Hill and University of Illinois. UNC is a better school overall than UIUC. Not sure about how the math programs stack up though.</p>
<p>If you can apply to several, can you apply to a couple of “top” schools and perhaps one or two “lower” schools in case you don’t get accepted into your top choices?</p>
<p>I don’t know how this all works with exchanges and such.</p>