<p>Midmo – S has also found that the CS department has been very flexible about placement whereas math departments are a little more sequence-oriented. (At UChicago, they are both in the same school.) S is a theoretical CS guy, so where his interests lie straddle both CS and math. He’s majoring in math to support the CS, too, though he is also very fond of pure math (geometry, not so much).</p>
<p>Will agree with mathmom that there are some schools (for S, Mudd and MIT in particular) where S felt he would be able to settle into a life of happy social geekdom and live in his comfort zone. With Chicago, he felt like he’d be challenged to break out of that zone, and it was a pivotal point in his decision. OTOH, he is working at MIT this summer and has absolutely loved it.</p>