<p>Williams has the best math program among general LACs and one of the best in the country, period. Grad school placement, job placement from their program is awesome. Mudd’s program is of comparable quality, I wouldn’t call it stronger. </p>
<p>Mudd, of course, is a place where your son can bond with 1000 other “mathy, science students” but Williams has an unusually large group of math majors and a fair number of science majors and he will not be alone. Weather is night and day. Williams will be buccolic hills, long winters, small college town rural. Mudd will be sunny, warm, small town suburban (Claremont’s not my fav but still large compared with Williamstown) with LA, the beach, skiing, hiking available for occassional day tripping. Mudd will feel much larger, IMHO, than Williams, with the 4 other Claremonts joined at the hip. But kids at Williams generally love their experiences there, bond to each other and continue to do so after grad as alums.</p>
<p>Two very different vibes. I’d focus on where he feels he’d fit in best and less on the relative strength of these two great math spots.</p>