I think many here would disagree with your assertion that state flagship schools are substitutional. So there’s that. There’s also several other differences-climate, red state vs. blue state, curriculums, access to particular research, etc. I think OP will have several acceptances and will have time to figure out the why in the spring.
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I didn’t say substitutional although I have before. I said UF is a top public, strong in math. If tuition is free, is UM worth $300k more ? Not on any planet I live on. Nor if I can do math 
Sure there are other factors that you’ve mentioned. OP can weigh in.
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The decision to fund a more expensive college is a family decision. Neither of our kids chose the least expensive acceptance option…by thousands of dollars a month.
And if you are asking…
I think University of Michigan is worth the price. And if either of our kids had applied and gotten accepted there, we would have paid the cost, even though it was way more expensive than some of our public universities here, and on par with the privates they attended.
@Bot1 assuming your parents are on board with the costs…apply wherever you would like and see. I think you have a chance at Princeton just like the less than 5% of the accepted students they accept each year. You could be in that 5%…or not.
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I guess we live on different planets.
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There are a lot of schools that are very good for a bachelor’s degree in math. There are not a lot of mathematical secrets that Princeton or MIT or Harvard or Stanford are going to teach undergraduate students that you could not have learned at 100 other universities. Also, master’s degree students at these “top 4” schools in math come from a huge range of other universities (including but not limited to pretty much anything on your list).
Do you want to major in math, or in computer science, or in a combination? With AI taking over some lower level coding jobs, to me it does look like a good idea to understand quite a bit of math (and probably some AI and ML) for a student majoring in CS. I think that you should major in whatever you want to major in.
If you are from Florida, then yes UF is indeed an excellent university. If this is in-state for you, I am wondering whether a bachelor’s degree from UF and a masters from one of the “top 4” math programs might cost less than just a bachelor’s degree out of state, and it would give you more opportunity to pick up even more in math, CS, and possibly something in AI and ML.
By the way, I only know one UF graduate. He might be able to give you a good game in chess (he is impressive) but you would both probably crush me.
MIT also has a combined degree (course 18C “Mathematics with Computer Science”). It might be interesting to compare the requirements for these two schools. I would expect other schools to also offer a similar combination, whether officially or just “let you take the classes”. This is a good combination, particularly if you can also take a bit of AI, ML, or possibly Operations Research (OR).
I agree 100%.
And definitely make sure that you apply to safeties, and make sure that you are happy with your safeties.
And you are a competitive applicant for every school on your list. That does not mean that you will get into your reaches however.
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A bunch of the top schools don’t offer an MS in Math. Eg. Princeton, MIT. It is either PhD or nothing for grad school. Except as a concurrent masters to existing undergrads
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Oops. I just checked and the master’s that I have is not offered anymore. Rats. On the one hand this is the danger of being too long out of school, our advice may be outdated. On the other hand, I thought that short intensive master’s degrees were both valuable for the student and a money maker for the school.
A PhD is a huge commitment in terms of time and effort (even if fully funded).
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I suspect all the UF or Ga Tech or UM discussion will be moot. I think OP has a great chance at at least one if not more lower probability schools. Then it becomes a when the family sees the bill, can they or will they fund it? We don’t know if it will be $100k a year, $50k or $10k.
We still have no idea what OP plans to do with the degree. OP is likely 17 years old. It could be that they don’t know either.
I do think, in general, many put the - if you go to this school, it’s better. Maybe on the averages but my group has two data scientists, both from local to Atlanta schools. One is GTech. The other Kennesaw. Both are the similar in age so I’m guessing similar in experience. The Ga Tech works for the Kennesaw. On average will Ga Tech do better than Kennesaw? No doubt. But none of these - School A is better than School B are even close to assured.
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This student is looking for undergrad programs right now. Unless I missed it, I don’t see any mention of PhD or masters programs.
Have to disagree with you that all these schools are equal in math. They are very far apart in curriculum, rigor, peer group, and opportunities.
As an example, some 3 years ago, the graduating math major class at Princeton may have been at 35 in size. Roughly half went into phd and half into quant. Of the half that went into a phd, half of them (about 7) went to Harvard, 1 to mit, 1 to Stanford, 1 to Berkeley, 1 to ucla, the Val went to ETH Zurich. This outcome is unthinkable from UFlorida.
We aren’t comparing UF to Princeton. I was putting out UF as a substitute to the large publics.
I noted UF isn’t Mudd and I do think that the student will get into a low probability - so then it’s a question of is the family able (whether full or discounted price) or willing to pay for those - the HYPSM, Duke, Cornell, Brown, etc.
In this case and assuming the family is going to be able and wanting to fund it, UF wouldn’t be in a discussion. And I personally think it’s possible based on the profile.
One thing occurs to me given that I just noticed that some of the very good master’s programs are no longer offered, and given that a PhD is such a long and difficult path:
The schools might vary in terms of how many classes you need to take outside of your major. Graduate degrees are usually heavily focused on your major and closely related fields. A bachelor’s degree in contrast can frequently have quite a few general education requirements that are widely outside of the major.
Also, MIT (to pick one school on OP’s list) has two semesters per year with students often taking 4 classes at a time. Stanford has three quarters per year with students often taking 5 classes at a time (the difficulty of the classes is adjusted accordingly – either school would be a lot of work). This means that you get to take more classes at some universities compared to some other universities.
I would be inclined to look at the general education requirements and the major specific requirements at each university you are considering. Think about what classes you want to take and which subjects you want to know something about. Then think about which of these schools will allow you to take the classes that you are likely to want to take. Be aware that some additional interests might come up, and thus having some extra class slots available might be a good idea.
I am wondering if this might allow you to trim what is currently a rather long list (I am assuming that two safeties will be added to the list, in addition to the 15 schools already on the list – implying a lot of applications and a lot of essays that would be required).
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Looks like most upper level math courses at Stanford are 4 quarter credits, so 4 courses for 16 credits is likely the norm there. Of course, 4 quarter-credit course is theoretically 2/3 as much content as a 4 semester-credit course, but a student take 1.5 times as many courses on a quarter system compared to a semester system.
Q: Does your high school provide a school profile with a history of college acceptances & matriculations - have students gotten admitted to “PHYSM” schools in previous years & which ones they selected?
Q: Is your private school a relatively new school, founded after 2000?
Setting aside your parents’ ambition for a moment, what kind of a college environment do you think you would enjoy? What would foster your personal growth and fulfillment as a human being? Your stellar academic record gives you a LOT of options, and name recognition is a very shallow reason to choose a college. There are all kinds of colleges/universities out there.
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Even without bringing in rankings, I’d be surprised if people thought UF is on the same level for Math, as UM or Illinois. The NYU suggestion is a really good one, apply there and maybe drop one of Duke or Brown.
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UMich’s math 295/296 has no equivalent at UF or even UIUC, though I can’t say if it would be worth the money. That would be up to OP and his parents.
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Here is a link to an old cc thread asking about the honors math sequence offered at UMich:
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It was founded after 2000(I don’t want to say to say the exact year because that may be revealing), and, every year it has been open there has been at least one top college admit.
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