Match me! Math major + Arabic minor. Very confused and terrified rising senior, 3.995 UW, 1510 SAT, 34 ACT, <$25k, no need-based FA

Chance Me / Match Me
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Hello!! I’m a rising senior with literally no idea where to apply to college. Here’s some info about me and what I want, let me know where you think I should apply.

Desired Location:

  • Either New England or the Southeastern US. I am willing to go far from home, but not so far that I’m out West and it’s a long ordeal of a flight to go visit my family.
  • I’m fine with snow but don’t want it to be super cold. I am probably applying to places in Massachusetts, RI, and Indiana, but unless it’s a really good fit for me I’d rather avoid cold places. It’s a con I can work around but still a con.
  • I want to be in nature but also near a city!! I’d love a school where there’s plenty to do in the surrounding area and/or it’s easy to drive to a city, but also with plenty of opportunities to get out in nature.

School Size:

  • I don’t care about the school size much, but I want it to be large enough that there are plenty of opportunities and it doesn’t feel suffocating. I’m all good with a close-knit community though! If I am at a small school I definitely need it to be a place where there are opportunities to get off-campus and out of the bubble.

Demographics

US Citizen from SC, Female

Cost Constraints / Budget
I’m hoping to graduate without much debt and so would prefer to apply to schools that will give me merit scholarships, because there’s literally no way I’m getting need-based aid. I’m also applying to outside scholarships to hopefully offset the cost of college as well. My family can pay like $50k a year for college but I have a twin brother who will be in college at the same time as me so that makes it more difficult as well.

Intended Major(s)

  • My highest interests for majors are math, kinesiology, psychology (very wide variety I know). I definitely want to minor in Arabic or Middle-Eastern studies to learn the language, and possibly do something with Astronomy if I have time. I’m definitely majoring in math and then probably adding one of the other two majors onto it.

GPA + Test Scores

  • Unweighted HS GPA: 3.955
  • Weighted HS GPA: 5.108 (SC scale)
  • ACT/SAT Scores: 34 ACT, 1510 SAT (770 english 740 math)

** HS coursework**
I’ve taken DE English, AP Calculus and a lot of advanced DE math classes, both AP Physics C classes, and Latin 1-4 Honors. The rest is pretty basic and not that significant to mention here.

Awards
Excellence Awards in Latin 2-4, AP Calc, Chem, and APUSH
Smith College Book Award

HS Extracurriculars
All-star and Varsity cheerleading, Boy Scouts (should have my Eagle before college apps), Astronomy club VP, Garden club VP, Math Team, Robotics, President of a club teaching robotics to kids, there might be other stuff I’m forgetting to write. I’m also doing math research and astronomy research. I’d like to continue cheering in college as well.

I really like the vibes of Warren Wilson College and UVM, but Warren Wilson doesn’t have my major and UVM would just be too cold for me to actually enjoy myself there. My favorite school I’ve toured is probably UNC Chapel Hill because of all the art around campus, the arboretum, the planetarium, etc, they just had a lot of cool stuff. Another thing is that I definitely don’t want to go anywhere with a pretentious environment, if the people at a school think of themselves as superior to those at other schools or are cutthroat towards other students then I do NOT want to be in that place.

Thanks for reading all this and let me know what you think!!

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Forgot to mention this but here are my APs if that matters:
AP Human Geo - 5
AP CompSci Principles - 3
APUSH - 5
AP Calc AB - 5
AP Physics C Mechanics: Took this year, guessing 4-5
AP Physics C E+M: Took this year, guessing 2

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All reaches:
Davidson
Tufts
Emory

More accessible, U Arizona, Ole Miss, and Indiana, which through the Critical Language Flagship program would let you major in Math while becoming fluent in Arabic (with excellent post graduation outcomes).

And 2 solid honors colleges which would also increase your odds of a merit scholarship.

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Does this mean $25k each per year?

This suggests that you need a research university with graduate level math courses and math research available to undergraduates.

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We’re not totally positive because we haven’t run the numbers but that’s what I’m guessing. He’s probably going in state though.

I know I need a lot of advanced math (I will have taken Calc 1, 2, 3, Discrete Structures, Differential Equations, and Number Theory by graduating), but would applying to LACs not be a good idea? I know a lot of them have math majors and I like quite a few of them.

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You can check their course offerings, but sometimes at LACs you may eventually be taking some “Directed Study,” “Advanced Topics,” and so on sort of classes where the professor will figure out what makes sense for you.

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Normally, I would suggest Southern flagships which offer substantial merit based scholarships, but I think that you may be seeking a different type of campus culture based on your attraction to U Vermont & to Warren Wilson College.

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LACs that may work for you are St Olaf’s, Wheaton College (MA), Connecticut College. All are good for math, especially St Olaf’s.

However, LACs won’t have a kinesiology program.

You may want to look at universities participating in the Academic Common Market which will allow you to pay in-state tuition at some out of state colleges. So it may be worthwhile to see whether William and Mary has good merit available (since you qualify for in-state tuition), and maybe UDel. If you like UVM, then U Maine may also be worth your while (they have good deals for OOS).

You’re also competitive for many outside merit scholarships, so look through those.

You should also look at colleges with lower acceptance rates and see whether you qualify for enough financial aid to make them affordable.

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If you would like ideas for colleges that might be suitable for you based on your ACT score (which comports well with your GPA and level of rigor), this site may be of interest:

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Congratulations on building a strong profile in high school. Most colleges would love to have you on their campus!

Since you will have such a high level of math upon graduation from high school, I looked for schools that offer graduate degrees in math and/or are part of a consortium where students can cross-register at a school with high levels of math. I also used Arabic as a restricting factor for most of the categories (accept for the first category), seeking colleges with a major in Arabic or in Middle Eastern Studies as an easier way to find schools that offer at least a minor in Arabic.

Schools where I think you have a very high likelihood of acceptance, a good likelihood of getting to a $30k budget, and where you could find a group of people with your desired vibe. The first four schools would need to take advantage of their cross-registration opportunities for more advanced math and/or Arabic.

  • Agnes Scott (GA): About 900 undergrads at this women’s college which is part of the ARCHE consortium which allows students to take classes at other Atlanta colleges like Emory and Georgia Tech.

  • Goucher (MD): About 1k undergrads and participates in the Baltimore Collegetown Consortium which allows students to cross-register at other local colleges like Johns Hopkins and Loyola Maryland.

  • Ithaca (NY): About 4400 undergrads and students can cross-register for a class/semester at neighboring Cornell.

  • Loyola New Orleans (LA): About 3200 undergrads and part of a consortium with other New Orleans schools like Tulane (adjacent) and Xavier (HBCU).

  • U. of Arkansas: About 27k undergrads and tons of outdoor opportunities. You would automatically receive enough merit aid to bring the price down to about $28k and could be competitive to get even more (source). This is the only college in this section which offers a major in Arabic (source).

Schools where I think your odds are a toss-up or better, but where it will be harder to get to a $30k price point:

  • Binghamton (NY): About 14k undergrads

  • Brandeis (MA): About 3700 undergrads

  • DePaul (IL): About 14k undergrads

  • George Mason (VA): About 28k undergrads

  • Michigan State: About 40k undergrads

  • Ohio State: About 46k undergrads

  • Syracuse (NY): About 16k undergrads

  • U. of Wisconsin – Milwaukee: About 18k undergrads

Schools to consider that might meet the budget, but are pretty unlikely to do so, at least via merit aid:

  • American (D.C.): About 7800 undergrads

  • George Washington (D.C.): About 11k undergrads

  • U. of Georgia: About 32k undergrads

  • U. of Maryland – College Park: About 31k undergrads

Schools where I think you may be able to get significant merit aid, but am unsure of whether or not the culture would be a fit

  • Baylor (TX): About 15k undergrads

  • U. of Mississippi: About 19k undergrads

  • U. of Oklahoma: About 22k undergrads

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It seems you will have yet to have taken much of the math curriculum that may be available at an LAC, such as linear algebra, real analysis, modern algebra, complex analysis, topology and functional analysis. Additionally, LAC physics departments may offer courses in the math-oriented topics of mathematical physics and general relativity. CS department offerings also may reinforce those of mathematics departments. If suitable, a semester in Budapest could enhance your variety and depth. At some point, you also may benefit from considering an REU.

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Take a look at their math course offerings to see if you would run out of courses. Many LACs do not have graduate level offerings, since they do not have graduate students.

Be aware that some math departments include statistics, which you may or may not be interested in. At other schools, statistics may be a separate department.

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With a likely price limit of $25k per year and no need-based financial aid, you need to focus on colleges where sufficiently large merit scholarships are available (even in-state SC publics are higher than that). This typically means that you need to include less selective colleges where you would be among the top applicants.

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Are you a NMSF?

FSU would be affordable with the OOS tuition waiver. The have some excellent outdoor clubs. If you have a car there are some nice parks within an hour or less.

Maybe look at Ohio University. I suspect you would get significant merit.

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UVM does have merit aid for out of state students. I would expect you to get some merit aid given your excellent stats. I would be surprised if you get the price down to $25k/year. For us the NPC was spot on in terms of predicting merit aid (we are out of state, but from a nearby state). The NPC does ask about academic stats which of course is related to why it can predict merit based aid.

UVM does have exercise science, which to me seems similar to kinesiology but I do not know much about the subject (other than the fact that physical therapy has helped me a LOT). Math I know a lot more about (I was a math major in university).

Burlington Vermont can be cold. It is probably closer to Montreal both in distance and in weather than it is to Boston.

Math can be combined with quite a few other subjects. I do not know how I would combine it with kinesiology or psychology, but I might be missing something.

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Beyond simply as a second major through which the OP could explore her range of interests, psychology can be combined with mathematics as the applied domain of a data science major. Such an approach would combine statistics, computing and psychology.

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My index is high enough that I should be a semi-finalist but rising seniors don’t actually find out until this fall.

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If you’re a NMSF, and most likely a NMF, that changes things. There are schools that have big scholarships for NMSF. Look through the threads for schools.

FSU has a nice offer for NMF students.

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The vast majority of NMSF end up as NMF. This thread is a great resource:

U. of Oklahoma that I mentioned earlier has a pretty generous NMF offer. Even more generous is U. of Tulsa which has more of a liberal arts school size, and gives NMF students a full ride.

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To better understand your level of math and the math curriculum of your school, will you take differential equations and number theory without having taken linear algebra and modern algebra as prerequisites?