If he has already taken 400 level courses, has he shown any interest in independent problems to work on? His professors would be the ones to gauge his abilities in that area. Rutgers is a top tier , world class math department, and his math profs at both universities should be able to spot high level talent. Math at the top level is fiercely competitive and essentially performance based (as I found out as a grad student in a top tier math program, and squeaked out a doctorate somehow).
Math profs love to identify young talent with promise, so start with the profs he has already taken courses with. He seems like a talented student, and should be doing high level problem solving and proofs at the AIME level and beyond, if he is not already.
@collegedad13 Yes, I stuck with math. I am a tenured math prof at a teaching focused university. It’s not a path I would recommend for a young person, as tenure track positions are now like unicorns. Furthermore , outside the R1 universities, there are limited opportunities for math research at smaller places. Requires a big adjustment in expectations.
I advise most of my good math students to get into industry, and then get a Master’s in an area of value in their employment.
“I advise most of my good math students to get into industry, and then get a Master’s in an area of value in their employment.”
I agree math is pretty marketable in e.g. data science, consulting and finance. Though I’ve found a PhD from a good college can make you more marketable in those areas even if it’s a abstruse topic with no real world applications. No need to just do a masters if you find the math enjoyable. That’s the key for me, do you still find it fun after doing an undergrad degree? So my advice would be to find a place where you can enjoy the undergrad experience (both academic and non-academic), especially as math can be an easy subject in terms of workload if you “get” it.
Am I the only one who was struck by this? As a math genius, he should have a world of opportunity open to him. He will be severely limiting himself, not just for college but also for the rest of his life, if he does not address this phobia quickly. If he wants to be, say, a math theoretician he will need to travel to conferences around the world. Indeed, in any field nowadays, for people who work at a high level, travel to meetings and conferences is a given. Banking, computer science, economics, engineering … any of the potential fields he can go into.
Have you/he just accepted that he will never go on an airplane ever and that’s that? Or are you trying to address it? A person of his caliber has very specific needs. Why limit himself to the east coast?
There are excellent programs that cure phobias. It is not a life-long sentence.
@HazeGrey, I have a pointy kid who would love to do math(s)+compsci at Oxford. I’m working on getting enough posts to PM so perhaps I can touch base with you that way. I’m a BA and DPhil from Oxford, husband also DPhil so if anyone has questions on Oxford lmk.