<p>My son accepted the offer of admission to Bucknell and as good fortune would have it was accepted to Brandeis from their waitlist.</p>
<p>Intended major: mathematics. Pure mathematics. He is a thinker.</p>
<p>Cost: not a consideration.</p>
<p>Temperament: Quiet. A loner and a clown who people like to have around. Friends make me, he says. Competitive. Judgmental. Athletic. A smart kid (many AP’s) who didn’t need to study in HS to get A’s.</p>
<p>Objection to Bucknell: he thought students were superficial and talked too much of partying. </p>
<p>Driving the decision: I think that social comfort and fit will be a prime consideration.</p>
<p>Questions: Can anyone compare the universities for pure mathematics? Can anyone assess his fit with both social scenes?</p>
<p>If your son wants to eventually go on to Grad School, go to Bucknell. If your son wants to just get a job after undergrad, go to Brandeis. Simple.</p>
<p>Hands down, Brandeis has a better math department than Bucknell. Brandeis also happens to be located in a hotbed of math. There are tons of math colloquia sponsored by MIT and Harvard that your son can attend. Closest similar resource to Bucknell is Penn, which isn't nearly as convenient or has anywhere near the weight.</p>
<p>Colber.... I disagree! Brandeis provides excellent preparation for future graduate study. From their website:</p>
<p>Graduate School:
If graduate school is in your future, a Brandeis undergraduate degree is like money in the bank. </p>
<p>Our alumni well exceed national averages in placement to postgraduate programs of study and earn acceptances to the foremost graduate and professional schools. </p>
<p>Here are a few facts pertaining to our students postgraduate placement:</p>
<p>Graduate Program - Brandeis acceptance rate - National acceptance rate </p>
<p>Medical School - 75% - 48%<br>
Dental School - 88% - 45%
Law School - 86% - 63%
Veterinary School - 75% - 30%
Liberal Arts - 100%</p>
<p>My son will be a physics & math major this fall at Brandeis. We compared many fine schools (including RPI, Carnegie Mellon, etc) but were most impressed with Brandeis. As part of our comparison we visited the depts and spoke with faculty. Brandeis will provide a personalized level of instruction you will not find at Bucknell. My son liked the fact that it isn't a party school. Everyone was very friendly during his visit. You should go to both campuses and talk to the professors, then make your decision.</p>
<p>I second what RoselawMom said, even though no one can argue facts: Brandeis clearly has the academics that drive students to pursue Grad school. Perhaps the Brandeis education is good enough that one can be successful straight after undergrad. Bucknell's education cannot compare to Brandeis's, let alone to many other schools. The decision should be fairly easy. Not much for your son to "think" about.</p>
<p>littlemimie, I have to disagree with your statement about the lack of personalized instruction at Bucknell. I just finished my first year at Bucknell and the majority of my classes comprised of about 20 students or less. The only large class I had was physics lecture. However, the associated recitation session had a small class size. Bucknell's student/faculty ratio is 11:1, and while it is greater than Brandeis's, Bucknell certainly offers an intimate setting for its students. Bucknell is currently in the process of hiring many more faculty due the University's recent switch to a 5-course teaching load in order to promote more student/faculty scholarship.</p>
<p>Additionally, all of my classes were taught by full-time faculty who were extremely knowledgeable and passionate about their respective areas of expertise. The professors I've had thus far were very approachable and willing to answer questions both in and out of the classroom. The University's primary focus is the education of its undergraduate students, and that is one of the main reasons I chose to attend Bucknell.</p>
<p>Bucknell, like MOST good LAC's, has a much higher percentage of students that go on to grad school than universities such as Brandeis. And Bucknell in particular is noted for its extremely high percentage. Furthermore, Roselawnmom, those statistics you've provided are not new to me, and they are MEANINGLESS, because the National Acceptance Rate does not account for the quality of the undergrad schools of the students and both acceptance rates do not account for the quality of the graduate school to which students eventually go on to. I cannot imagine Bucknell's rate being lower. </p>
<p>If it's med school we're talking about, okay go to Brandeis. BUT since Bucknell has one of the world's most famed engineering schools, it brings in a lot of focus on mathematics!</p>
<p>Littlemimie,
Brandeis does not provide nearly--not by a long shot--the personalized attention that is provided by almost all LAC's like Bucknell. For instance, to major in economics, the students actually have to apply during their sophomore year and the college won't accept more than about 100 students each year to make certain that the class sizes are EXTREMELY small and that the students have adequate opportunities for research.</p>
<p>THIS BRINGS ME TO ANOTHER POINT: LAC's like Bucknell provide a lot more research opportunities than schools like Brandeis. It's a fact.</p>
<p>And all this is coming from a student who is going to neither Bucknell nor Brandeis, so it is nonbiased. And I feel it is accurate since I researched a lot on the two schools since I was accepted to both schools this year, and had a decision to make (I ultimately decided to put the deposit in another school, though I'm still waiting on the waitlist for an even better school).</p>
<p>I was surprised at the size of the classes at Brandeis. Check out this registration site which indicates how small the classes are. Office</a> of the University Registrar | Enrollment Statistics - Brandeis University
Additional students are encouraged to do research from the first semester. My s already has an opportunity lined up in astrophysics.</p>
<p>I think it's great that those with personal knowledge of Brandeis are able to give some very positive feedback but if you do not have first-hand knowledge of Bucknell, do not make blanket statements that compare it negatively to Brandeis. As a Bucknell alum and parent of a class of 2012 student, I feel comfortable weighing in on Bucknell (as I did on the Bucknell forum) but I would never pan Brandeis based on broad statements I have heard second-hand.</p>
<p>Bucknell, as a liberal arts college, has a higher student/faculty ratio than Brandeis, which is a national research university. That alone speaks volumes.</p>
<p>Hmm, from what I've heard from other people (am definitely not math person myself), Brandeis doesn't have many permanent faculty in their math department. Also, I THINK, more lower-level math courses are often taught by grad students. Mine was.</p>