Match a trans maths major in Italy applying to USA [domestic, full pay, 1520 SAT, 40 IB]

Chance Me / Match Me
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So my initial instinct is to recommend you make sure to check out some LACs in urban areas with strong Math Departments and that are in suitable states for trans kids. I’m not really qualified to suggest if that only means the deep blue states, or also if you could also consider light blue. The reason that matters is I would be suggesting LACs like Swarthmore outside of Philadelphia, but PA is only light blue. LACs in general, though, can be very interested in kids with strong combinations of academics and interesting life experiences.

But before I get to any of that, the question is if top academicky LACs would count as sufficiently meritorious with your parents. Since one of them is apparently from the US, you might have a shot at it. But you can let us know.

Just as a preview, if you google “College Transitions top PhD feeders”, and go down to Math, the list on the right is per capita (I would link it but the software here sometimes doesn’t like that).

The top 10 in that list includes several LACs: Harvey Mudd at #2, Pomona at #4, Swarthmore at #5, Reed at #7, Carleton at #9, and St Olaf at #10.

The good news is California (Mudd and Pomona), Oregon (Reed), and Minnesota (Carleton and St Olaf) are all deep blue on that map. Mudd and Pomona are both Claremont Colleges so in the LA area, Reed is in Portland, and Carleton and St Olaf share Northfield, MN, which is a (very nice) college town about 45 minutes from Minneapolis-St Paul (which is a very nice large city).

There are more like that we could discuss, and in fact I would have some suggestions of LACs or very nice research universities that sometimes offer merit, which can help reduce the cost difference with, say, European options. St Olaf in fact has a robust merit program. Rochester, a very nice and well-regarded research university, is in New York (deep blue), on that Math PhD per capita feeder list, and has robust merit.

But your parents would need to be willing to think in these directions, so let us know.

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Just read up on Introduction to Philosophy edited by J. Perry & M. Bratman, the 1st edition (©1986).

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See when I say arbitrary… apparently it’s a no to St Olaf, Reed, and Carleton, but a yes to Harvey Mudd, Pomona, and Swarthmore. Which is a start, but also I don’t see a discernible pattern…

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It’s not unusual for people to know or not know of various LACs according to where they grew up, etc, so I would assume it’s something like that. A lot of them have strong regional recognition but not so much outside those regions. (This site is probably not typical in that sense.) The “ok” ones you mentioned do have a longer history of prestige, as it were (and would still be considered more prestigious than the others by many). Especially if your parent has been out of the US for a while, they may also not be aware of quite how competitive some schools that were not “names” before have become.

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If you consider LACs, take a look at their math offerings, and pay attention to courses that are offered every other year. Many LACs are not going to have the math depth that you might be looking for.

This makes sense to me.

I will leave off the Ivies, Ivy +, and UCs you mentioned…you can sort through and prioritize those. Here’s a start, based on urban/suburban desire, strong math, research: Tufts, U Washington, Boston U, U Minnesota, U Wisconsin, Lehigh, Syracuse, Northwestern, U Chicago, Rutgers, UVA, U Maryland. I second Rochester. I would put Reed on your list too (do you know why your parents don’t like it?), but that is a fit school, so you would have to visit. Will you be able to visit any US schools?

Do you need help identifying UK/EU schools that would be targets/highly likely? Thoughts @MYOS1634?

Not an option.

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I’ll go back to - you have kids in restrictive states having great experiences and kids in less/non restrictive states not.

That’s why it’s important to not just find a name - but to talk directly with kids at any school - whether it’s a Rice in Texas or a Tufts in a blue state.

So if the OP is interested in a school, no matter the state, they need to talk to other kids.

And we all know, blue states can go red and vice versa - so things can happen when one is there.

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St. Olaf is an easy admit. Reed and Carleton are easier than the others but not easy. Harvey Mudd, Pomona, and Swat are great to say - I want that - but they are single digit acceptances.

But if they don’t want to pay for a name they don’t know, well they’ll save probably $250K at a St. Olaf vs. a Swat - so there’s that.

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This seems like the biggest (and arbitrary and capricious) bottleneck in your situation. Can you sit down with them and go over a list, like the very popular US News & World Report college rankings, and check off the ones acceptable to them? Or any other ranking system. Maybe doing so would expand *their* horizons a bit and give you a few more options.

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I discern a pattern.

Mudd, Pomona, Swarthmore and Carleton could be considered the most academically rigorous of this list. And a parent who did not grow up in the Midwest may never have known anyone who went to Carleton. I had never known anyone who went to Carleton until graduate school (grew up in the Northeast, both undergrad and grad in the Northeast). The smartest/most brilliant person in my grad program was a Carleton grad. Mudd has had a national reputation in math for years btw.

Reed is a fantastic place but it is for sure a “fit” school– perhaps they are concerned that figuring out that “fit” from overseas is just too challenging. I wouldn’t advise anyone to put down a deposit there without spending a weekend.

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A law like that in Ohio means that the OP would likely have to do one of the following several times per day:

  • Not obey the law.
  • Protest by malicious compliance with the law.
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Pattern seems to be perceived prestige and admission selectivity, both with those LACs, and with the UCs where only UCSD, UCLA, and UCB are acceptable to the parents.

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Maybe those of us who are neither trans, nor have had college kids who are trans, can “stand down” on that part of the discussion. It’s enough to note “TU is in Tulsa Oklahoma, a blue dot in a very red state” and then let OP do the homework on whether that’s a viable option (likely not for a whole host of reasons).

Honestly- it’s ok to just name a college, the city or region where it’s located, and the state, and trust the OP to figure out whether a bathroom ban, appropriate medical treatment, possibility of having passport and other ID challenged, etc. is going to work or not. It’s really OK. We don’t need to communicate third party stories about Trans kids in Oklahoma who have found open-minded physicians in Texas, or our gay nephew who went to bluest of blue Massachusetts and had trouble. We can trust the OP to look at a map.

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Similar to others, I think the most obvious explanation is your US parent at least is most familiar with Northeast and California colleges, which is not an unusual pattern. They may also be thinking lower admissions rate = more selective = better college. The problem with this logic is colleges that are simply in more populated and/or popular locations will typically get more applications per enrollment slot than their academic peers in less populated/popular locations, but that doesn’t necessarily make them actually better schools.

That said, I agree Reed could possibly be out for other reasons too–I agree it has what I would describe as a rather specific fit requirement. Carleton and St Olaf, though–maybe with some time your parents could come around on schools like this. At a minimum, they are going to offer very different experiences, academically and non-academically, from almost every European university’s undergrad courses. If you can get offers from similar US programs you prefer, obviously that is fine, but it would strike me as unfortunate if they would not consider these as viable options at all.

That said, there are more very selective Northeast options they might approve of without any persuasive work.

People familiar with Pomona and Swarthmore likely know about Williams and Amherst, both in Deep Blue Massachusetts. Neither is super near a large city, but Amherst is a lot closer to first Springfield, and then also not that far from Hartford or Boston, and in a sort of reasonably dense area with a lot of other colleges, including UMass Amherst which is basically right next to it.

Williams in contrast is very much an isolated college in a small college town, but also a great LAC for academicky kids. They also do tutorials you might find interesting.

People who know Swarthmore may also know Haverford, a VERY academicky college. It is also interesting in that it has a very active relationship with Bryn Mawr, and then a fairly active relationship with Swarthmore, and also a potentially useful relationship with Penn (like you could potentially take some advanced Math courses at Penn if you felt the need). Incidentally, Amherst has a similar relationship with UMass.

Although not on that PhD feeders list, Wesleyan near Hartford CT and Vassar in the Hudson River Valley about 2 hours by train from NYC are also both very academicky LACs with student mixes you might find appealing. I think Vassar has more Math majors than Wesleyan, at least usually.

Speak of which–so doing advanced Math at LACs is often not going to be about courses formally listed in the course catalog, but instead about things listed under headings like Advanced Topics seminars, Directed Research, or Independent Study. Basically, these are all ways to get credit for graduation/your major where you are working in small groups or one on one with Math faculty in advanced areas of mutual interest.

To explore that sort of option, you can look at the faculty bios and see what they say about their research interests. Since there are no grad students competing for their attention, if things go well you can usually work closely with anyone with overlapping interests.

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Exactly…..that’s why it’s so important to talk to current like students - and there likely are in states/schools deemed both progressive and non progressive.

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Folks, OP needs regular access to HRT (prescription and administration). This isn’t just about finding a school in a blue area in a red state. If one doesn’t know what states allow unrestricted access to HRT for trans adults, then why post? Especially since SJ2727 posted specific trans friendly states.

Of course OP can figure things out but they are overseas so that makes things more difficult.

Not necessarily. Oberlin does have single occupancy all-gender bathrooms in many of the dorms. All Gender Restroom Map | Oberlin College and Conservatory

Things would be easier for OP if they choose a school with a health center that provides HRT, which should be straightforward to verify. OP wants the health center to not only provide care, but to prescribe it as well, especially as their HCPs are presumably in the EU.

Like I mentioned with Reed, Oberlin would require a visit before committing to attend. Although it’s only 30 minutes outside of Cleveland, it feels pretty rural, and the area is definitely not blue, so I wouldn’t recommend Oberlin for this student.

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But Wesleyan has a doctoral program in pure Math.

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A reminder that this is a chance me/match me post. Please focus your responses on giving the OP school suggestions that fit their criteria and not debating other posters. TIA!

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As pointed out, regardless of how blue or trans-friendly a particular school might be, the student will still be residing in the state and subject to state laws for 4 years. Apart from potential outlier issues (say, an accident requiring a stay in a hospital off campus), most students don’t want to stay confined within their college boundaries for 4 years. Going into town without wondering if there will be repercussions for using a bathroom shouldn’t be something you’d want to have to think about.

Would this require OP contacting each campus, or is there some kind of central info database on this? If it needs to happen off campus, clearly this is another argument for a blue state.

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I mean, Williams has a really good Math Dept, too. :smile:

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Need to check. This is a very fluid situation right now.

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