<p>My son is just beginning his search for an undergraduate program in Applied Math. He is a straight A student with excellent test scores. I would like a challenging program but I am not sure he would excel in a highly comptitive environment with IMO winners. I want him to have a nuturing environment with close faculty advisors.</p>
<p>What are the best programs in Applied Math? Are any Liberal Arts Colleges recommended for Math? We are currently looking at Chicago, UC Berkley, Michigan, Brown, Cornell, Duke, Virginia, Dartmouth and Williams.</p>
<p>If future goals include PhD study, you may want to ask b@r!um for recommendations.</p>
<p>Note that math majors are often advanced in math, so they may skip some or all of the large lower division courses (or take small honors sections of them), even at a big university where large lower division courses are common.</p>
<p>My DD2 is a math major at a LAC. She was not extremely advanced coming from HS (took Calc as a senior) but is very good at it. I think looking at the math courses offered is a good idea, as well as how often they are offered.</p>
<p>Bigger Us have the advantage of being able to offer classes regularly and that is a problem most often encountered for upper-division classes.</p>
<p>If your S is aiming for a PhD, pay attention to the financial aid package. Also, your S should know about the policies pertaining to the taking of graduate classes by undergrads. At my college, for example, graduate math classes can only be taken if you have a B+ average or better with 60+ credits (90+ in the case of out-of-province students) completed, and then you can ask for the instructor’s approval. UIUC is, to my knowledge, more lenient about letting undergrads take graduate classes.</p>
<p>If he is considering getting a Ph.D., read this about the problems of getting into grad school in math, in particular if you come from a top LAC:</p>
<p>I wonder why many people assume students majoring in math want to go on to a PhD? Posters don’t generally assume that for other majors. Is it because math is one of the more basic humanities and students would major in a different math related area if they were more interested in some application?</p>
<p>Why would the OP’s son necessarily need one of the “best” math programs?
Virtually every liberal arts college and research university has an undergraduate math major. Most of them also have courses in statistics, computer science, actuarial science, mathematical economics, etc. So why not a very good math program (one not necessarily attached to a world-class graduate department) at a school that in other respects is a good fit? </p>
<p>If the goal isn’t a PhD in pure math, but a terminal bachelor’s degree with marketable skills (or else a professional degree in law, medicine, or business) then a math degree at any such school ought to work at least as well as any other liberal arts major.</p>
<p>If the goal is to get a PhD in math/stat, note that from 2006-2010, Carleton and Reed alumni earned more PhDs in math/stat in absolute (not per capita) numbers than alumni from Duke, Penn, Georgia Tech, Northwestern, WUSTL, NYU, or JHU. Swarthmore, Pomona, Williams, and St. Olaf alumni each earned more math/stat PhDs than alumi from WUSTL, NYU, or JHU (again, in absolute numbers). I have a hard time believing that all these LAC math majors are winding up in applied math or in “weak” PhD programs.</p>
<p>The issue with math majors is that those who are considering the highly selective schools are more likely to be extremely advanced in math (e.g. ready for upper division courses as frosh). Such students are likely to want to go to graduate study, and are more likely to exhaust the offerings of a small math department without graduate level courses.</p>
<p>For whatever reason, that does not seem to be as common in other subjects.</p>
<p>Harvey Mudd. They take good care of their students, and they are highly respected. Unlike many LACs, there’s not likely a problem with running out of classes.</p>