<p>I'm a senior in high school looking to go into a school with a strong math major (applying to Berkeley, Stanford, Chicago, Harvard, Princeton, NYU) and I was wondering if anyone knows which has the best joint master's/bachelor's degree program in mathematics. I'm fairly advanced in mathematics (finished multivariable differential calc and linear algebra at stanford epgy, game theory at UCLA, finishing proof-based real analysis next semester at epgy, and halfway through baby rudin on self-studying) and I am hoping to finish my master's degree while an undergraduate. I'm from California and leaning towards Berkeley if I'm accepted but I'm not sure about whether it is the best place to go based on this type of program. I am also curious how the research opportunities at these schools compare.</p>
<p>For reference, I am planning on doing pure mathematics for undergraduate (and master's degree if finished during undergrad) and then mathematical finance + m.b.a. for graduate school.</p>
<p>Is money an issue? If not, maybe attending university in the UK would be an option for you. Several universities there offer joint undergrad-grad programs. And, even if you’re not in a joint honors program, you can still finish undergrad and grad (master’s) within 4 years. If you have the stats to get into HYPSM, you probably have a good chance of getting into Cambridge, which has an amazing mathematics department. Other options there include Oxford, Warwick and Imperial (the four of them are commonly called, COWI), which all have amazing maths programs from undergrad to postgrad maths.</p>
<p>Unfortunately Cambridge/Oxford are not viable options (I think that the application process has already closed). With my stats, I think that HYPSM are reach schools but not by too much, and of those I’m really only looking at Harvard, Princeton, and Stanford (because of the name), in addition to NYU (because of it’s phenomenal applied math department), Chicago (because of it’s business school, finance programs, and top-tier pure math department; hopefully be able to take 20700 as freshman but not entirely sure about calc-placement exam), and Berkeley (one of strongest graduate departments in nation, just unsure whether they even offer joint degrees). Didn’t apply to MIT, I didn’t really like the way that they structure their undergraduate study and felt that if I were accepted to both there and Berkeley, I would pick the latter in a heartbeat. I’m just wondering which of these schools has a joint degree program, and how they would rank (would it be solely by graduate school ranking?).</p>
<p>Given how advanced you are, the graduate math characteristics will be important for you in terms of course offerings and research opportunities. You may want to check which subareas of math each math department is strongest in to see which matches your interests the best. Also, if you are interested in finance and economics, check the strength of the finance and economics departments.</p>
<p>If you do want to go to business school later, an MFE program may be a more math and finance oriented option than a regular MBA program.</p>
<p>Note that math departments’ graduate programs are PhD-oriented, not master’s degree oriented, though advanced undergraduates can certainly take graduate level courses and do research.</p>
<p>Oh, sorry. I was all along thinking you’re still in junior year. My bad. </p>
<p>I believe Berkeley doesn’t have a joint undergrad-grad math program. The closest you can get to such program at Berkeley is the Mathematics Honors Program where you can enroll in a few graduate level courses and do thesis or research or whichever is applicable provided you’ve managed to maintain a certain GPA. Students who fulfill all Mathematics Honors criteria receive a notation on their transcript and diploma.</p>
<p>Thank you for all of the help, I was unaware that these programs were generally PhD oriented! I’ve looked through Berkeley’s course offerings and been leaning towards them as I’m considering studying manifold theory/differential geometry/topology or analysis for the majority of my masters, but it seems like several other schools (Harvard in particular) offer similarly strong topology/geometry/analysis studies.</p>
<p>I noticed Berkeley has this page [Masters</a> Program | Department of Mathematics at University of California Berkeley](<a href=“http://math.berkeley.edu/programs/graduate/masters-program]Masters”>http://math.berkeley.edu/programs/graduate/masters-program) on their master’s program and I’m curious if anyone has been through the master’s program and known whether undergraduates can enroll in it. Harvard and Chicago appear to have programs where M.A.s can be achieved as undergraduates but it seems that you have to take 55 or 20700 respectively as freshmen. Does anyone know whether Stanford has a joint program?</p>
<p>^^ Students enrolled in the Honors program are (always) allowed to enroll in master’s level maths courses provided their adviser has approved them. The whole idea of the Honors class is for undergrad students to enroll in advanced courses (advance maths in this case) such as those curricula designed for grad students (master’s level). Students enrolled in the Honors program are also welcome (and are in fact highly encouraged) to participate in grad level research. This is precisely one of the reasons why I do not think LACs are better places to get more exposure in your subject field than schools known to be research powerhouses like Cal, HYPSM, Michigan, Duke, Chicago, Northwestern, JHU, Cornell, UCLA and such schools.</p>