School where I can maximize my time: Applied Math Major

College Search & Lists
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I have heard, for example in this post: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-california-berkeley/1484651-how-my-berkeley-experience-landed-me-in-the-loony-bin-real-student-experience-p1.html

About colleges having required humanities or General Ed classes like: Racism in America, Drama, Politics, etc. That I either find boring(same stuff over and over) or subjective.

My objectives in college are:
-To become marketable and job-ready
-To learn about what interests me(Math, CS, Machine Learning/AI, Economics, etc)

Rather than learn about:
-Things I already know or are boring
-Things that are subjective in nature(part of the reason I love Math)

Especially when college costs so much money, I find it worrying that time is wasted forcing students into courses that offer next to nothing for them. Part of the reason I’m looking forward to college is that I’ve heard there aren’t useless assignments like projects involving poster boards or construction; and that classes are rigorous and actually have substance as opposed to memorizing things about history after reading 30 pages about Mesopotamia or conforming to subjective English writing techniques.

Can anyone point me towards the top colleges with flexible course selections rather than required useless courses, where Applied Math/Computational Mathematics is emphasized?

I’ve already gotten a 5 on Calc BC AP, now taking AP Physics C, AP Stats, and Multivariable Calc/Linear Algebra. I am ranked 32/764 with something like 4.3 Weighted GPA and 4.0 UW. I got a 29 on the ACT first time but I’m retaking soon.

Ideally, I see myself getting my MBA or another graduate degree after Math. Maybe going into Data Analytics, something in CS, or something in the Business world. Hell, I might just decide to go to law school or be an actuary(hopefully I end up doing something more exciting).

Right now I’m thinking of Applying(or have started to apply to): Brown, MIT, UT Austin(I live in texas and have auto-admit), Rice(<), Berkeley, UCLA, Cal Tech, Carnegie-Mellon, and Duke.

My family does not qualify for any financial aid and I’m a white male. My parents can pay, but they really suck at money management and don’t really have much saved for me, so places with merit-based scholarships, or just aren’t that overpriced would be great too. I realize besides UT and Rice all the other schools are hella expensive. UT isn’t giving out any Merit-based scholarships unless I win the lottery, and I doubt Ivy’s are either.

Honestly, for me, the number 1 factor for the school is the actual coursework and job/grad prospects. I care far less about where the school is or even the environment.

Any schools I’m missing that have great math programs? Any schools I listed that actually don’t have good programs for what I’m looking for? Especially welcoming responses from Math majors or people who attended the schools above about their experiences. Any schools I listed that you are like: Yes! definitely apply there!

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Sorry for the godawful title

edit: fixed it, didn’t know you could do that on this forum.

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Summarizing, you want:

A. Good applied math and related offerings.
B. Minimal to no breadth or general education requirements.
C. Low cost based on merit scholarships since parents are high income but probably cannot afford to contribute as much as they may say now (based on their poor money management).

These all (except possibly UT Austin) fail criterion C, or are super-reaches for big merit scholarships needed to fulfill criterion C. All except Brown fail criterion B (and MIT’s general education requirements are quite heavy).

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Thank you! I guess I just have to be less lazy and look at the Gen. Ed. requirements and amount of merit scholarships for schools I’m interested in. I had no idea MIT required so much Gen. Ed. So far my #1 choice seems to be brown if I get in and my parents can deal with the cost. Even though they are horrible at managing money, I think they could take loans themselves and eventually cover it.

UT is definitely affordable enough, so I want any schools I apply to besides UT to have better job prospects and applied math programs.

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If they are horrible at managing money:

A. They may not be able to qualify for a loan (or cosign a loan for you).
B. They may not be able to pay off the loan, and may end up requiring financial support from you in their retirement. Your parents being a financial burden on you is not good for either them or you.