<p>What are the top 20 undergrad programs for a future Math PhD? Anyone know of a list for that?</p>
<p>These are 10 schools which have the highest % of graduates attaining a Phd in math/statistics. ( averaged over 10 years I believe- note that % is calculated , not numbers)</p>
<p>Cal Tech
Harvey Mudd
Reed College
UChicago
MIT
Harvard
Pomona
Rice
Princeton
Swarthmore</p>
<p>US News I believe also has a ranking.</p>
<p>The following was posted on the Swarthmore sub-forum by a math major there:</p>
<p>"The percentage of people going to graduate school does not indicate the strength of the colleges’ departments. For example, Swarthmore’s percentage is higher than Princeton’s and the University of Chicago’s, but if you ask most Swarthmore professors which is better for math grad school, I think most would say the latter schools. I’m not saying that Swarthmore is a bad choice for those considering math grad school, but it’s very hard to get research experience in math at Swarthmore, and very few Swarthmore math majors who go to graduate school end up going to the top ones. For graduate school placement, the economics, political science, physics, and biology departments are all very strong, and stronger than the math department. Though the level of instruction in math here is overall good. "</p>
<p>If you have a student who is considering a math PhD, my guess is he/she is beyond Calc BC already. I would focus on schools that are flexible about math placement/credit and allow UGs to take graduate courses. If this student has not yet gotten to proofs, I would not tie UG choice too closely to a specific major. Plenty of math majors hit the wall at Analysis and switch to something else.</p>
<p>Not true about above HS math level as an indicator of success as a math major- not everyone has those opportunities in HS. </p>
<p>You can’t go by percentages getting into grad schools, either. Some of the top 20 math grad schools are public flagship U’s with more than 100 math majors graduating each year. Therefore, they may have a much lower percentage of math majors going on to grad schoools but still have many more numbers going each year than some small colleges. Students at these schools can often take grad level classes while an undergrad. It can be useful to check rankings for math grad schools and consider those for the undergrad education. It is important to consider math REUs (Research Experience for Undergrads) for summer research while an undergrad. Math students will find out about this on their college math dept website, or by checking that of a major college math dept.</p>
<p>Math research during the school year is not as common as in sciences. Math majors are more likely to take grad level courses instead of trying to come up with a research topic like someone in chemistry, biology or physics.</p>
<p>Consider the calculus available to the college student. UW-Madison (grad math ranked around 15th) has the usual calculus plus the more theoretical honors sequence math majors can choose. Some schools such as MIT will be strong in the entry math whereas some schools may only offer one calculus sequence taken by evereyone from premed hopefuls to engineers…</p>
<p>My son is a math major- you can PM me for more info. PS- math and statistics not the same at all and are totally separate departments in major schools.</p>
<p>True, wis75; HS math placement may not be an indicator of one’s potential, but if one comes in with a very solid background, make sure there is four years’ worth of coursework to challenge the student, esp. at smaller schools. </p>
<p>S was advised at one school frequently mentioned on CC (and is known for sending lots of math majors to PHD programs) NOT to apply; they did not have the upper div depth they felt he would need. Another top LAC told him he’d be fine through the first two years, but would then do mostly independent study the last two years. For some students, that’s fine, but was not what S wanted.</p>
<p>Agree that there are some outstanding flagships for math majors – some that have crossed our radar are:
UMich
Berkeley
UW-Madison
UMD-CP
UCSB – College of Creative Studies
Georgia Tech</p>
<p>I’m currently a Swarthmore student. I agree with what the sub-forum poster wrote, for the most part. I think a better metric for measuring strength of a math program is to see, out of the number of people who apply to math grad schools, what percentage of them get into the top ones or the ones they wanted to get into. I don’t know where we can get that information, though. Some of the schools that have a very good reputation for undergrad math are Princeton, MIT, Harvard, Stanford, and Chicago (which are top-ranked for math grad school too). But those schools attract the best math students, so I guess what I’m saying is that it’s very hard to get a definite idea of what the best schools for math are.</p>
<p>I think what I would have done differently when I was trying to figure out where to go to college is this: If I had to do it over, I would e-mail one or two of the faculty at the school and ask them what aspects of their math programs, if any, distinguish that college from others. Swarthmore has the honors program, which is great if you’re doing honors. But since it’s a small school, the number of courses the math department offers is limited in comparison to bigger colleges. So Swarthmore has its ups and downs with respect to math.</p>
<p>Also, does anyone know of any ranking for undergrad colleges/universities for math?</p>
<p>I’ll add a few umdergrad schools to the list which have strong reps in their math departments:</p>
<p>Cal Tech
Johns Hopkins Univ.
Cornell
Northwestern
Rice
UCLA</p>