<p>Which of the following schools have the best undergraduate programs of study in mathematics and physics?</p>
<p>Harvard College
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Princeton University
Leland Stanford Junior University
University of Chicago
Yale University</p>
<p>They are all really good and are in the same level but for the sake of an answer, i would say University of Chicago and M.I.T.</p>
<p>(probably except for UC) they’re all excellent schools for math and physics. choose the school where you want to spend the rest of your 4 year college life. </p>
<p>Personally, I would go to MIT. But Stanford’s weather is quite tempting. You can also expand your list and include Berkeley and Caltech. They’re excellent schools for Mathematics and Physics. Maybe even better than UC for those fields.</p>
<p>Depends really on what you want… if you want theory, then Chicago’s the way to go. Engineering programs are like black holes to the displeasure of some departments (in particular, mathematics), and the effect is definitely seen in a few of the mentioned schools. For example, as a freshman mathematics major at Chicago, I’m doing the equivalent of graduate-level work at MIT, and we’re using the book used to teach graduate analysis at Stanford (and even so, our professor has to give supplementary problems because the book isn’t advanced enough for his liking). Admittedly, this isn’t going to be the case with all mathematics majors, as I’m taking Honors Analysis and only about 30% of math majors (and 10% of freshman at that) get to take this course, but most 1st-years here are doing the equivalent of what most MIT 2nd- or 3rd- years do, as we don’t waste our time dabbling around in silly topics like multivariable calculus and differential equations*, instead heading straight into analysis.</p>
<p>Harvard and Princeton also have outstanding programs in theoretical mathematics.</p>
<p>–</p>
<ul>
<li>You do learn this, but only as a 3rd year or higher student. Why? Because we don’t have trivial courses - when we teach something, we teach it well, and if it’s not backed by theory, it’s not worth teaching (at least in our eyes). If you want a calculation-based differential equations course, go to MIT or Caltech. In that case, though, you probably want more of an engineering-based program, and there are many schools out there better than the schools you listed if you want to head down that path.</li>
</ul>
<p><a href=“probably%20except%20for%20UC”>quote</a> they’re all excellent schools for math and physics.
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<p>This is really a ridiculous statement. Either you’re judging this from an engineering standpoint or you’re just ignorant (in which case you shouldn’t make any comment at all).</p>
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<p>This is what message board is all about – trying to get the 1. facts and 2. opinion to the table to create a discussion. </p>
<p>I understand you go to UC (which is a good school but not as good as some of the given schools, in my opinion) and your UC comment can be taken with seriousness by some. But take note that your experience at UC won’t always jibe with the experience of your fellow UC students thus they would share a different view (opinion) that may contradict with yours. In such case, they’re fun to be shared through a message board such this. And should you comment other schools in the future, you’re free to that.</p>
<p>When I said that Chicago fails in comparison to those other schools mentioned, at least I have a basis for saying that – several ranking league tables. I have yet to see a league table where UC was ranked higher than MIT, Harvard, Stanford and Princeton in Mathematics and Physics.</p>
<p>Take note also that I wasn’t degrading UC as it is truly an excellent school too with global recognition. But things like this (that’s probably awkward for you to talk about) would naturally prop up when you try really hard to distinguish the best amongst the excellent choices you have at hand.</p>
<p>UC is good but it is not really well known to offer science courses just like those schools that were also mentioned. Thus I said, when it comes to Mathematics and Physics, even Berkeley and Caltech are better on those fields and I would bet that they are. Of course, as a UC student, you are bias to UC. But that’s not being objective anymore.</p>
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<p>Astoundingly, not everyone who wants to major in math and physics is a theoretical math snot.</p>
<p>Okay, in a less mean and more informative comment from me…</p>
<p>I’m not sure about all of the schools listed, but if you’re a theoretical math person, I know that MIT offers theory-based versions of calculus and differential equations. So saying “but most 1st-years here are doing the equivalent of what most MIT 2nd- or 3rd- years do” is a bit misleading, because you’re talking about different ordering.</p>
<p>Also, as the OP asked about physics and not just math, you kinda <em>need</em> those supposedly silly math subjects for a lot of physics topics that are taught fairly early on in the curriculum - stat mech, quantum, and waves, to name a few.</p>
<p>I agree that all of these schools have generally reputable math and physics programs. I also agree that which one is best for you will depend somewhat on your interests within those subjects (though really, that is probably a more crucial question when you’re deciding on grad programs).</p>
<p>If you’re going to study math and physics at the University of Chicago, you’ll have a lot of company and a lot of research opportunities, and you’ll be able to join the Paul Sally/Dianne Herrmann cult following. However, you are also committing yourself to a core curriculum and an intensive liberal arts backbone. Make sure that fits into your vision of how you want to study before you compare Chicago’s programs to the other schools on your list.</p>
<p>I’m really not an expert here, but I’ll put a good word in for Yale-- according to my mom (Yale alumna in math), Yale’s perceived “weakness” is math/physics/engineering, and for this reason they are motivated to dump extra money and resources into their programs so that they can stand out even more. I don’t know if that’s still true and I don’t know if current students in the program feel that way.</p>
<p>What you are saying is completely baseless. I can link you many, many things that place Chicago ahead of many of these schools in both Math and Physics. By nearly all criteria, it ranks right in the midst of all the best. Take a look… </p>
<p>Science Magazine</p>
<p>Math Rankings - Science Magazine</p>
<p>Mathematics: top ten</p>
<p>Science Magazine</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Massachusetts Institute of Technology</p></li>
<li><p>Princeton University</p></li>
<li><p>University of Chicago</p></li>
<li><p>Harvard University</p></li>
<li><p>Stanford University</p></li>
<li><p>New York University</p></li>
<li><p>University of California Berkeley</p></li>
<li><p>California Institute of Technology</p></li>
<li><p>Cornell University</p></li>
<li><p>Yale University </p></li>
</ol>
<p>Gourman Report undergraduate rankings for Physics, which places Chicago as a peer of the schools in question and slightly ahead of Yale: </p>
<p>Caltech
Harvard
Cornell
Princeton
MIT
UC Berkeley
Stanford
U Chicago
U Illinois Urbana Champaign
Columbia
Yale
Georgia Tech
UC San Diego
UCLA
U Penn
U Wisconsin Madison
U Washington
U Michigan Ann Arbor
U Maryland College Park
UC Santa Barbara
U Texas Austin
Carnegie Mellon
U Minnesota
RPI
Brown
Johns Hopkins
Michigan State
Notre Dame
SUNY Stony Brook
Case Western
Northwestern
U Rochester
U Pittsburgh
Penn State University Park</p>
<p>Gourman Report ranking for undergrad math, which places Chicago as a peer among the schools in question and slightly ahead of Yale:</p>
<p>Princeton
UC Berkeley
Harvard
MIT
U Chicago
Stanford
NYU
Yale
Wisconsin Madison
Columbia
Michigan Ann Arbor
Brown
Cornell
UCLA
Illinois Urbana Champaign
Caltech
Minnesota
U Penn
Notre Dame
Georgia Tech
U washington
Purdue WL
Rutgers NB
Indiana U Bloomington
U Maryland College Park
Rice
UC San Diego
Northwestern
Texas Austin
carnegie Mellon
Johns Hopkins
Washington U St Louis
Ohio State
SUNY Stony Brook
Penn State
UVA
RPI
Illinois Chicago
U Colorado Boulder
U Kentucky
UNC Chapel Hill
Dartmouth
U Rochester
U Utah
SUNY Buffalo
Tulane
USC
UC Santa Barbara
U Massachusetts AMherst
U Oregon
Duke
Louisiana State Baton Rouge
U Arizona
case Western
Michigan State
U Pittsburgh
Brandeis
US Air Force Academy</p>
<p>Questions on which program is best and being given a list of 5 of the best colleges in the nation is kind of like us arguing whether Jessica Alba, Keira Knightley, or LiLo is the hottest female actress in the world.</p>
<p>What kind of program are you looking for, and how would you qualify “good?”</p>
<p>I agree with unalove. Once you find a group of schools with the strongest programs, arguing which is the best is unnecessary. At that point, you should find out which of those schools you’ll have the best college experience at. Math at Chicago and Math at Stanford won’t vary much; however, from what I’ve heard, social life at Chicago is vastly different than social life at Stanford.</p>
<p>It looks like there’s some confusion about the math/physics curriculum at Chicago. It’s true that if you major in math you won’t study multivariable calculus or differential equations, except in a very theoretical setting. However, if you choose to study physics, you will learn those topics in your physics courses. They’ll teach you all the math you need to understand advanced physics.</p>