Chance/match aspiring math major in CA [1570 SAT, 4.0 UW]

Chance Me / Match Me
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Since I’m a rising senior, I wanted to hear some opinions on my current college list, (roughly) what my chances are, and what I should do for EA. Caltech and MIT are my dream schools, so I wanted to apply to at least one of them early, but I know any reach on my list is a long shot. If there’s a better strategy, I’m open to it!

Demographics

  • Asian female, U.S. citizen, no hooks unless you count queer girl in STEM
  • State/Location of residency: California
  • Type of high school: Private, somewhat competitive (a few Stanford and Ivy admits every yr)
  • Cost Constraints/Budget: not a concern

Intended Major(s)

Math or Math+CS (leaning pure math over applied, but not set on anything yet)

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

  • Unweighted HS GPA: 4.00
  • Weighted HS GPA: 4.62 as of junior year
  • Class Rank: School doesn’t rank
  • ACT/SAT Scores: 1570 (800M, 770RW) first try, not planning on retaking

List your HS coursework

Italicized is junior year

  • English: English 1, English 2, Honors English 3 (our school only offers regular English in 9th and 10th)
  • Math: AP Calc BC (5), MVC, AP Compsci A, Advanced Math Seminar (basically a selection of undergrad math topics), AP Stats (self-studied + took AP exam).
    • Took Abstract Algebra and Real Analysis outside of school
  • Science: Honors Chem, Honors Bio, AP Physics 1 (5), AP Chem, AP Physics C: E&M
  • History: Freshman World History, AP World History (5), APUSH
  • Language other than English: Latin 1, 2, and 3
  • Visual or performing arts: Honors Dance since sophomore year
  • Senior year: Honors Dance, AP Lit, Linear Algebra, AP Physics 2, AP Econ, Honors Latin 4 (all 5.0 classes)
    • Self-studying for AP Physics C: Mech, might take ODE outside of school

Awards

  • USAJMO Honorable Mention, 3x AIME qualifier + 1x Certificate of Distinction
  • Several individual and team awards, i.e. top 10/top 30/medals/(Distinguished) Honorable Mention, at national math competitions. Think BMT, HMMT, SMT, CMM, USAMTS, etc., not saying which ones to avoid doxxing
  • 3x gold medal on National Latin Exam
  • PVSA Bronze
  • Expected National Merit Semifinalist (PSAT score of 1520)

Extracurriculars (in no particular order)

  • Two summers at one of {Canada/USA Mathcamp, PROMYS, Ross, SUMAC}
  • Attended G2 Math Program, a free olympiad training camp for female and non-binary students
  • Tournament director and chapter co-president of 501(c)(3) STEM non-profit, 120+ volunteer hours
    • Promote and organize annual elementary/middle school math tournaments (140+ participants per tournament), lead team of 30-40 volunteer graders and proctors at each tournament
    • Host free science/engineering expos and workshops for grades 3-6 (50-80 attendees per event).
    • Teach contest math to elementary and middle schoolers
  • Co-president/co-founder of school’s math club, led teams to top placements at math tournaments. Host monthly speaker series and lectures. Spearheaded initiative to start MATHCOUNTS chapter and coaching for middle schoolers.
  • Problem writer and grader for the annual math field day/competition my school hosts (~120 participants in 2026). Appointed tournament lead for 2026-2027
  • Treasurer of my school’s JCL chapter, member for 3 yrs. Won 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place ribbons for academic testing at state convention. Member of school’s certamen team since 10th grade, team placed top 3 in CA in my soph and jr yr.
  • Dancer and choreographer (12 yrs ballet, 6 yrs contemp), won some regional awards at competitions
    • Member of my school’s honors dance company since 10th grade
  • Doing a paid research internship through AEOP this summer. Hoping to submit research to competitions like STS and my regional science fair

Essays/LORs/Other

Planning to write personal statement and essays over the summer. My junior year math and English teachers are writing my LORs. I’m fairly confident my English teacher will write a strong rec since she’s taught me for two years and knows me pretty well. My math teacher is writing very few LORs next year (I was one of two juniors in his class this year, the rest were seniors), and I’m on great terms with him, so he’ll probably write a decent rec as well.

Schools

(R)EA: Caltech or MIT, would apply for the other RD

RD: Harvard, Princeton, Stanford, Harvey Mudd, all the UCs, Amherst, Rutgers, Cal Poly SLO. Maybe NYU or Cornell?

List is pretty reach-heavy, so suggestions for safeties, targets, reaches, or anything to cut out would be appreciated. Looking for colleges with a strong math department, preferably in a non-rural, LGBTQ+ friendly area (any distance or size school is fine). Any feedback or advice welcome!

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You left off a critical piece of information. What is your budget? What can your family afford for college?

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Can you clarify? This strong school had no math club prior to your founding it?

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Why Rutgers for your OOS public university? There are other flagship universities with stronger math programs, IMHO. Rutgers is a great school, but I don’t understand why you made this choice.

And yes, budget matters. What can your family afford to pay (without loans) for your college education each year.

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You have a very strong profile! Are you are happy with your UC safeties since you are auto admit?

Another target worth looking at is RPI. Similar vibes as some of the schools on your list, strong math, you’d get merit $ and in NY, near the capitol.

Cornell is very rural. I’m not sure it’s worth adding another reach that doesn’t meet your non academic criteria. You have enough reaches.

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Agree with Momofboiler- Cornell is rural, as is Amherst. Both are in lively college towns– with lots to do- but are not in big cities.

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I’ll add…some of your UCs are stronger than Rutgers…

What about UMass?

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Given your preferences I’d suggest UMD (should be a target for you), and UWisconsin (easier admit than UMD).

I agree with others here that Rutgers can be dropped.

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You may want to check the upper level and graduate level math offerings at each school, how much math research is done at each, and how much of it is accessible to advanced undergraduates.

Amherst in particular may be rather limited in higher level math courses. You might be commuting to UMass for many of them if you go there.

CPSLO is likely less research intensive than UCs, since it is a CSU which offers study to master’s degree but not PhD.

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For additional out of state (in LGBTQ friendly states) non-rural possibilities, perhaps Maryland (must apply EA), Minnesota, and Washington?

Would schools in Canada like Toronto, Waterloo, UBC, McGill be of interest?

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Note that the state of Wisconsin is decent for LGB but less so for T, according to

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There was technically a math club, but it was run by one faculty member, had no student leadership, and basically only existed to let kids take the AMC and occasionally take them to small, regional math contests. Pretty much nothing else. We founded a club focused more on prepping our classmates for competition math, running our own student-written contests, and forming teams to compete in national tournaments.

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I mostly picked Rutgers as a safety because I knew a decent number of math majors who either did their undergrad or PhD there, and it’s pretty good for math research, but I guess it’s more known for its graduate program than undergrad :sweat_smile:

I come from an upper-middle class family, and they have invested a lot into my college savings, so I will almost definitely be able to pay full tuition for any college, although merit scholarships would be nice.

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Given how advanced you are in math, the graduate level offerings in math should be a consideration for you when choosing a college.

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Thank you for the suggestions; I’m definitely going to look into UMD after reading some of the responses in this thread. I’ll also talk to one of my camp counselors since I know they did their bachelor’s in math there.

As for colleges in Canada, I was actually considering Waterloo! I’ve heard great things about their math program, but I’m a little anxious about moving out of the United States…it’s definitely on my mind, though.

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Don’t know if you are looking for more reach schools, but Penn is worth considering. are college towns ok? are you considering the Claremont colleges or Michigan?

As for your math club, I asked b/c you had also mentioned several competitions which suggested that your school had a team or club. Since it sounds like you revitalized/reignited a quiescent/inactive club, maybe one of those would be a better descriptor than “co-founder”. JMO

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Generally speaking you have a lot of good potential in-state options, so that’s a great foundation to your list.

I agree RPI is often a good Likely possibility for kids who like the sort of academic mix/vibe at places ike MIT.

The University of Minnesota has an excellent Math department and is in a very fun city for students. They also offer OOS merit.

Since you are considering LACs, you might want to check out Pomona as well as Harvey Mudd, although that is another Reach. Haverford is a quick train ride from Philly. Bryn Mawr would also be potentially viable choice.

Carleton, also in Minnesota is another idea–it is in a college town but only about 45 minutes from the Twin Cities. Forum-favorite St Olaf is in the same town and would likely offer you merit.

Finally, have you considered the University of Rochester? They have a cool undergrad curriculum structure, a strong Math department, and they might offer you merit.

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Honestly, if a college town has a lot to do, I’m down to attend! I picked Amherst because there are a lot of math majors there, the open curriculum and small class sizes are nice, and I could cross-register at UMass if I want to enroll in graduate-level math courses. Harvey Mudd was one of the Claremont Colleges I was thinking about, but maybe Pomona as well?

On the math club situation, we tried to merge with the faculty-led club, but the faculty member wasn’t willing to merge, and our school considers them two separate clubs, so at least at our school they’re viewed as different things. All the math competitions I mentioned, we had to find team members on our own and registered with one of our parents as the coach (most of the staff at school were too busy to attend), so we did those all through our club, not the school’s. But I could drop “founder” and use one of the descriptors you said on my college app for sure.

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“…we tried to merge with the faculty-led club, but the faculty member wasn’t willing to merge”

:exploding_head: :exploding_head:

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Amherst does sort of feel less isolated than some other “rural” LACs. Lots of colleges in that area (including UMass and the other LACs in the same consortium), it isn’t too far from major cities, if you visit they will probably tell you repeatedly that major musicians regularly schedule concerts in the area . . . .

Ultimately I strongly believe the whole point of LACs is they are fit colleges. So as long as they have strong Math and CS departments, you can just pick for your list whatever ones feel like the places you most want to be, for whatever reasons you personally prioritize.

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