Apparently the word "matriculate" means to enroll at a college/university o.O

University of Florida. My backup college if I don't get accepted into MIT.

I see...

IMHO U R MIT material :)

Blah.

That is a strange pairing of choices....
-
MIT is like probably #2 on average for top end mathematics - top 5 for analysis
-
And Florida is like probably #58 for math
and in other rankings like #75-#100 for Math
It's stronger in physics #36 [where MIT gets tied for #1 in Physics]
-
It depends if you're wanting to go local, or if you're fixated on a certain school, or what their textbooks are like....
-
But there's lots of schools which can be on similar footing, assuming you accept some of the ratings or rankings which can have considerable hype and tweaking. Some places like Reed College refuse to join into it, and they are like at the top of liberal arts colleges that focus on undergrad teaching, but that type of school won't get into the ratings because of the grad school funding making them impossible to compare with big unis.
-
UCLA #12 Math - #4 Analysis - #16 Physics - #21 Physics Worldwide
-
Univ of Washington, Seattle #24 Math - #20 Physics - #14 Math Worldwide
-
Univ of Minnesota, Minneapolis - #23 Physics #17 Math - #12 Math Worldwide [yeah different rankings]
-
Univ of Texas, Austin - #16 Physics #14 Math - #8 Relativity/Gravitation/Cosmology
#5 Plasma Physics
#7 Topology
#10 Analysis

places that were blechy years ago, if they snag a few famous people can get like that after a decade or two...

and math it's easy to get things to pop up with paper theorists...

Yes, but if I don't get into MIT, I'm not gonna get into anything better. I'm still gonna try for Carnegie-Mellon, UPenn, and a few other Ivys and such.

Here's an example
Relativity-Gravitation-Cosmology
the school rankings might surprise you
-
#7 Harvard, Mass
#5 Stanford, Calif
#4 Berkeley, Calif
#6 MIT, Mass
#1 Cal Tech, Calif
#2 Princeton, NJ
#3 Chicago, Ill
#10 Cornell, NY
#7 Univ of Texas at Austin
#9 Pennsylvania State, University Park
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And the list was by overall rank Harvard at the top and dinky places lower on the list....

Rankings are odd
Best English - University of Cambridge - #4
[MIT] #5
Best Japanese - The University of Tokyo - #20
Best Swiss - ETH Zurich - #23
[University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign] #25
Best Canadian - Toronto #27
Best French - University of Paris 6 - #40
Best Danish - University of Copenhagen, Denmark - #43
Best Swedish - Karolinska Institutet - #50
Best Dutch - University of Utrecht - #52
Best German - University of Munich - #56
Best Australian - Australian National University - #60
Best Russian - Moscow State University - #77 [#23 in the world for math]
Best Italian - Milan #139

Isn't Oxford like... #1?

some of that stuff varies HIGHLY on what you're wanting to take or if it's grad school or undergrad.....

something like Univ of Los Angeles, for Philosophy Grad School like only 95% of people get rejected

But are you picking these places at random and are you thinking of anything local in your own city or state?

Some stuff is grades, some is money, some is a certain personality type, and things can always change in a decade too....
--
My rule is still do i like their textbooks and the courses offered?
-
If a place had a strange textbook or odd prerequisites for advanced mechanics in physics, i look at it funny
-
Do they have one calculus stream or like 6 different types, like some that have a crappy textbook and only accept people with 95% in Math 12?
-
Are they fixated with applied math or stats and twist your arm?
-
Are they a place that have something like Phy 324 General Topics in Physics Physics, so they get enough students to join a course......
-
because they are chicken to offer a course in Fluid Dynamics, a course in Graph Theory, a course in Chaos..... because i hate some places that drop all their courses and just lump 3 courses under one banner and just rotate the topics yearly....
[makes the homepage hell to search too, and you wonder if they are lite on teaching the subjects seriously with a deep thick textbook anymore]
----
i run from places that like have customized textbooks or textbooks created by our own teacher as a selfpublished oddity...

The local "gimme" one is UF.
I really don't know where else to apply though, as far as ivys.

I'm biased as an underachiever, but really, you will get where you need to be eventually no matter where you get accepted for undergrad.
You can always:
-transfer
-delay college a year
-go to your dream grad school
...etc.
What would you want to do *after* school, no matter where you go?

Keep on doing grad-research at MIT... and eventually be a professor there...

How many current MIT profs were MIT undergrads?

Here is the Top Ten in the World
followed by the British Universities in the top 200
[out of about 500 Universities in the World]
---
---
1 Harvard University
2 Stanford University
3 University of California, Berkeley

4 University of Cambridge, England
[#8 World Ranking Physics]
[#5 World Ranking Mathematics]
[#3 World Ranking Chemistry]
[#16 World Ranking Engineering Technology]

5 Massachusetts Institute of Technology
6 California Institute of Technology
7 Columbia University
8 Princeton University
9 University of Chicago

10 University of Oxford, England
[#29 World Ranking Physics]
[#8 World Ranking Mathematics]
[#9 World Ranking Chemistry]
[#46 World Ranking Engineering Technology]

------
------
English Universitiies
4 University of Cambridge, England [#5 Math - #8 Physics in the world]
10 University of Oxford, England [#8 Math - #29 Math]
21 University College London, England [Tied #50 Phy - #75 Math - #75 Chem]
26 Imperial College London [The Imperial College of Science, Technoloy and Medicine], England [#14 Physics - #30 Engineering - #31 Chem - #36 Math]
41 University of Manchester, England [#32 Engineering #37 Physics - Tied #50 Chem - #75 Math]
53 University of Edinburgh, England [Tied #50 Physics]
61 University of Bristol, England [#48 Math - Tied #50 Chem - #75 Engineering]
65 King's College London, England
81 University of Sheffield, England [Tied #50 Engineering]
83 University of Nottingham, England
95 University of Birmingham, England [Tied #75 Physics]
117 The University of Glasgow, England
133 University of Leeds, England [Tied #75 Engineering]
134 University of Liverpool, England [Tied #75 Physics]
146 University of Sussex, England [Tied #50 Chemistry]
151 Cardiff University, England
164 Queen Mary, University of London, England [Tied #75 Physics]
179 University of Durham, England [#45 Physics]
180 University of East Anglia, England
185 University of Leicester, England
191 University of Southampton, England [Tied #50 Chem - #75 Engineering]
192 University of St Andrews, England
196 University of Warwick, England [#40 Mathematics in the world]
[should toss you what the top 500 in the world are like]

extra poop
-

You would think Germany hasnt recovered since 1935....
cept for Chemistry and Engineering, to some degree
but France and Germany are still the best of Europe
yet one should see just how Cal Tech and MIT have caught up since the 1920s
--
--
--
56 University of Munich, Germany
[#25 World Ranking Physics]

57 Technical University of Munich, Germany
[Tied #75-100 World Ranking Physics]
[#12 World Ranking Chemistry]
[Tied #75-100 World Engineering Technology]

63 University of Heidelberg, Germany
[#43 World Ranking Physics]
[#45 World Ranking Chemistry]

90 University of Gottingen, Germany
[#50 World Ranking Chemistry]

98 University of Bonn, Germany
[Tied #50-75 World Ranking Physics]
[#34 World Ranking Mathematics]

127 University of Frankfurt, Germany
[#43 World Ranking Physics]

128 University of Freiburg, Germany

135 University of Mainz, Germany
[Tied #50-75 World Ranking Physics]
[Tied #75-100 World Ranking Chemistry]

141 University of Muenster, Germany
[Tied #75-100 World Ranking Mathematics]
[Tied #50-75 World Ranking Chemistry]

147 University of Tuebingen, Germany
[Tied #75-100 World Ranking Mathematics]

149 University of Wuerzburg, Germany
[#37 World Ranking Chemistry]

181 University of Hamburg. Germany

83 University of Kiel, Germany

184 University of Koln, Cologne, Germany

[down the list - a few stand out]

288 University of Stuttgart, Germany
[Tied #50-75 World Ranking Chemistry]

363 University of Bielefeld, Germany
[Tied #50-75 World Ranking Mathematics]

462 University of Dortmund, Germany
[Tied #75-100 World Ranking Physics]

Humboldt University of Berlin, Berlin, Germany
[Not in the top 500 World Universities]
[Tied #50-75 World Ranking Mathematics]

for Contrast - China - see how they are catching up
and bits of Asia
--
--
--

218 Nanjing University [Imperial Nanking University], Nanking, China

224 Peking University, Peking, China
[Tied #50-75 World Ranking Mathematics]

230 Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China
[Tied #50-75 World Engineering Technology]

236 The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
[Tied #50-75 World Ranking Mathematics]
[Tied #75-100 World Ranking Chemistry]
[Tied #50-75 World Engineering Technology]

238 The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong
[#36 World Ranking Engineering Technology]

243 The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
[Tied #75-100 World Ranking Chemistry]

249 Tsinghua University, China
[#44 World Ranking Engineering Technology]

285 University of Science and Technology of China, China
[Tied #50-75 World Engineering Technology]

300 Zhejiang University, China
[Tied #50-75 World Engineering Technology]

307 City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
[Tied #50-75 World Engineering Technology]

317 Fudan University, China
341 Shandong University, China

349 The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong
[Tied #75-100 World Ranking Mathematics]

409 China Agricultural University, China
411 Dalian University of Technology, China
420 Harbin Institute of Technology, China
421 Huazhong University of Science and Technology, China
425 Jilin University, China
431 Lanzhou University, China
439 Nankai University, China
451 Sichuan University, China
454 Sun Yat-sen University, China
457 Tianjin University, China


---------
contrast to

109 National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
[Tied #75-100 World Ranking Physics]
[Tied #75-100 World Ranking Chemistry]
[Tied #50-75 World Engineering Technology]

220 National Cheng Kung University, Tainan City, Taiwan
[#37 World Ranking Engineering Technology]

221 National Tsing Hua University [National Ching Hua University], Hsinchu City, Taiwan
[Tied #75-100 World Ranking Chemistry]
[Tied #75-100 World Engineering Technology]

331 National Chiao Tung University, Taiwan
[#45 World Ranking Engineering Technology]

-------------
or
Japan

20 The University of Tokyo, Japan
[#7 World Ranking Physics]
[Tied #50-75 World Ranking Mathematics]
[#11 World Ranking Chemistry]
[Tied #75-100 World Engineering Technology]

24 Kyoto University, Japan
[#32 World Ranking Physics]
[#33 World Ranking Mathematics]
[#7 World Ranking Chemistry]
[#26 World Ranking Engineering Technology]

71 Osaka University, Japan
[#47 World Ranking Physics]
[Tied #50-75 World Ranking Chemistry]
[Tied #50-75 World Engineering Technology]

82 Nagoya University, Japan
[Tied #75-100 World Ranking Physics]
[#32 World Ranking Chemistry]

84 Tohoku University, Japan
[#35 World Ranking Physics]
[#28 World Ranking Chemistry]
[#20 World Ranking Engineering Technology]

120 Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan
[Tied #50-75 World Ranking Physics]
[Tied #75-100 World Ranking Mathematics]
[#34 World Ranking Chemistry]
[#33 World Ranking Engineering Technology]

---------
157 Hokkaido University, Japan

160 Kyushu University, Japan
[#48 World Ranking Chemistry]

194 University of Tsukuba, Japan
[Tied #75-100 World Ranking Physics]

208 Keio University, Japan
209 Kobe University, Japan
321 Hiroshima University, Japan
325 Kanazawa University, Japan
329 Nagasaki University, Japan
332 Niigata University, Japan
333 Okayama University, Japan
354 The University of Tokushima, Japan
356 Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Japan
399 Waseda University, Japan
408 Chiba University, Japan
414 Ehime University, Japan
417 Gifu University, Japan
418 Gunma University, Japan
426 Kagoshima University, Japan
428 Kumamoto University, Japan
440 Nara Institute of Science and Technology, Japan
443 Nihon University, Japan
445 Osaka City University, Japan
446 Osaka Prefecture University, Japan
458 Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, Japan
499 Yamaguchi University, Japan

I think there's a lot of truth there.... we go where we can do it right away, if you're all into saying 'right now'
---
---
I'd personally prefer to lock myself away for 2 years and have $7000 in textbooks and do my own thing, and then go for 'grades' or when i've said enough self-study.
---
---
the easier path, assuming you know how to study and want super marks is to just do a little university college for a year of transfer stuff, but i think it's *all* about how good the textbook is.
---
---
And reality is 10% of textbooks and curriculum at even the Ivy Leagues can suck.
---
sometimes a textbook or a teacher can make a class miserable for 15 years and you just have to deal with those issues. And travel for an education is a big thing, with say California or Washington State or British Columbia most people don't wanna travel far away for university. Others dont mind being 18 and tossed in another city half away across North America...

---
And yes!
Do you want to have a PhD at an Ivy or are you going for an Hons B.Sc. at a fancy school?
---
Most Students only look one semester or one year ahead and can't predict ANY plans other than gee i got a B in Calculus III, I'll keep going for a math degree for one more semester...

What is the world like educationally?
here's the best of what every country has to offer
---
---
1 Harvard University - USA
4 University of Cambridge, England
20 The University of Tokyo, Japan
23 ETH Zurich [Swiss Federal Institute of Technology], Switzerland
27 University of Toronto, Canada
---
---
40 University of Paris 6 [Pierre and Marie Curie University], France
43 University of Copenhagen, Denmark
50 Karolinska Institutet, Sweden
52 University of Utrecht, Holland
56 University of Munich, Germany
---
---
60 Australian National University, Australia
64 Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel
68 University of Oslo, Norway
73 University of Helsinki, Finland
77 Moscow State University, Russia
---
---
102 Catholic University of Leuven [l'Universite catholique de Louvain a Louvain-La-Neuve], Belgium
110 National University of Singapore, Kent Ridge, Singapore
139 University of Milan, Italy
145 University of Sao Paulo, Brazil
162 National Autonomous University of Mexico, Mexico
---
---
166 Seoul National University, Korea
173 University of Barcelona, Spain
175 University of Buenos Aires, Argentina
195 University of Vienna, Austria
202 Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic
---
---
218 Nanjing University [Imperial Nanking University], Nanking, China
219 National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece
220 National Cheng Kung University, Tainan City, Taiwan
236 The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
248 Trinity College Dublin, Ireland
---
---
258 University of Cape Town, South Africa
313 Eotvos Lorand University, Hungary
322 Indian Institute of Science, India
324 Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland
405 Catholic University of Chile, Chile
---
---
427 King Saud University, Saudi Arabia
475 University of Lisbon, Portugal
476 University of Ljubljana, Slovenia
491 University of Tehran, Iran
---
---
[495 Utah State University]

This subthread is getting too damned long

You should see the messages he's sent me.
I do intend to read them, but I need to get my applications done first.

You don't want to go to the 78th rated college for Foliation studies if you could go to the 77th rated college for Foliation studies