Information for High School Students
If you already know, or suspect, that your primary interest is in mathematics, then you may find the information on this page useful in your college search.
Look Past College Rankings. General college rankings, such as those of US News and World Report, are largely based on factors like SAT/ACT scores. They tell you something about the students who apply and attend, but
not much about the education you will receive. As you know by now, a high score
and the math SAT/ACT is achieved by doing a standard set of
simple
(for you, anyway!) exercises quickly and flawlessly. Some students are naturally good at this, while others get good at it by paying for an expensive prep course. Some highly talented math students find the whole business annoying, don't put much effort into it, and don't make that 99th percentile. (This approach isn't recommended, but it happens!) What, then,
does the score actually tell you about the real math ability of the student who made it?
In fact,
"highly selective" colleges
may have mediocre math programs. As you conduct your college search, you should make an effort to look beyond general rankings and prestigious names, and investigate the math program itself. Have a look at Why UT Math Honors? and compare it with similar information (if you can even find it) for other math programs you are considering. Math Honors students
have turned down undergraduate admission to Davidson, Harvard, and Vanderbilt, among other colleges and universities to come to UT to study mathematics, and gone on to prestigions graduate programs.
Cost. While your college search should be primarily concerned with quality, cost is important, especially since you don't always get what you pay for. Or rather, you may pay for things that have nothing to do with the quality of your math education, including fancy dorms, a prestigious name, and wealthy fellow students. UT Math Honors not only offers one of the best mathematics educations that you can get, it does so at an extraordinarily low cost. Despite recent increases, UT in-state tuition and fees are still less than $7500. For students with excellent records, tuition is largely covered by the Tennessee Hope (Lottery) Scholarship. Add to that the automatic Volunteer Scholarship and there is very little left to pay beyond room and board! Moreover, for the duration of the National Science Foundation grant, UT Math Honors students receive an additional $5000 scholarship per year, which may be applied to room and board, and other expenses. In contrast, for a middle class student, an education at a private or out-of-state college, even after scholarships and financial aid, can cost over $120,000, not including an average of over $20,000 in student loans. A wise strategy is to not make up your mind until you see the actual sticker price, including the loans you will have to repay, and then decide if that more expensive college is really worth it.
Scholarships. The UT math department offers many scholarships, the largest of which are the current $5000 Math Honors scholarship and UT Pro2Serve FERMAT II math contest scholarship. However, note that the National Science Grant that funds the Math Honors scholarships is currently up for 5 year renewal. If the grant is not renewed this year then smaller scholarships will be offered next year. Except for the FERMAT II scholarship, these scholarships are only offered to incoming freshmen under exceptional circumstances. Given the comments above about standardized test scores, you may already understand why. Mathematics is really about logic and proofs, while high school mathematics--with a few exceptions--is about mathematical recipes to solve certain problems. Some students love and do well at algebra and calculus but are bewildered by a course that asks them to actually prove that the product of two negative numbers is positive, or deeper theorems like the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus. Math majors must be good at proofs and logic, and there is often no way to tell this from a high school record. The Math Honors scholarships, in particular, are generally offered only to students who are near the top of their class in Math 300, Introduction to Abstract Math (or Honors 307). Incoming freshman may be awarded a Math Honors scholarship if they study the material independently and are recommended for a scholarship via a "math audition" before the UT Math Honors committee. Note that the Math 300 material is quite difficult and, unless you do logic puzzles or have read about logic or set theory on your own, very unfamiliar. A lot of time and dedication are required to prepare for a math audition, and even high-ability students may have neither the time nor inclination to pursue this path. In fact, among all the excellent current and past math honors students, only four passed a math audition as incoming freshmen. Those who are interested in trying should e-mail Dr. Nicoara with subject "math honors". For most mathematically talented incoming freshmen, the strategy should be to take Math 307 or 300 as soon as possible, preferably in the fall of the freshman year.