<p>D2 is a current junior interested in majoring in math or physics. Can anyone give suggestions on how to evaluate the quality of undergraduate math programs? Do they vary between schools of similar overall caliber? Any suggestions for resources in this area? Thanks </p>
<p>How advanced is she in math? If she is more than a year advanced (e.g. calculus BC as a high school junior, with college sophomore level math as a high school senior), then she will likely start taking college junior level math in her first year. Such students would likely be better served by a math department with a strong graduate program in math, so that it has sufficient offerings for such an advanced student.</p>
<p>Other than that, math majors do have some common junior/senior level courses like real analysis, complex analysis, and abstract algebra, but there is a broad selection of junior/senior level topics available from logic, set theory, number theory, geometry, and topology in pure math, and such topics as numerical analysis, cryptography, optimization, computer science theory, mathematical economics, etc. in applied math. Checking catalogs and schedules for a good selection of offerings at reasonable frequency may be worth doing.</p>
<p>For physics, there is a very common set of junior/senior level physics courses that are typically expected to compose a physics major:
quantum mechanics (often two semesters)
electromagnetism (often two semesters)
advanced mechanics
statistical and thermal physics
advanced physics lab
Beyond that, there may be advanced electives in physics and astrophysics. Check the school’s course catalog to make sure that these courses exist, and check the schedules to make sure that they are offered frequently enough (once every two years is the bare minimum, but one per year or every semester is more desirable).</p>
<p>Thanks so much, this is really helpful! </p>