Out of the following, which have a strong maths major and worth applying to?
Bard College
Bates College
Carleton College
Colby College
Colgate College
Franklin and Marshall College
Grinnell College
Hamilton College
Kenyon College
Lafayette College
Macalester College
Oberlin College
Pomona College
Reed College
Skidmore College
Trinity College
Vassar College
University
New York University(Shanghai Campus)
No Harvey Mudd? (Although if you attend Pomona, there are cross registration opportunities at Harvey Mudd.)
What level of math will you have completed by the time you finish high school?
You can go to each school’s on-line catalog and schedules to see what advanced level math courses are offered, and how frequently they are offered. If you have any specific interests in math, you can check to see which school’s math departments have offerings in those interests. If you are very advanced in math (if you will have completed math beyond single variable calculus while in high school), you may want to see if access to graduate level math courses (possibly through cross registration with a nearby research university) is available.
Carleton, Grinnell, and Hamilton have very good programs.
Bowdoin should be on your list.
Carleton, Hamilton and Pomona are notable for their high percentages of math majors.
(Information on Reed and NYU-Shanghai not readily available.)
FWIW, below is a list of LACs and small technical institutes whose alumni earned the most doctorates in math & statistics from 2008-2012.
Number of Earned PhDs … College
42 Harvey Mudd College
21 St Olaf College
20 Williams College
19 Swarthmore College
17 Reed College
16 Carleton College
13 Oberlin College
13 Wheaton College (Wheaton, IL)
12 Whitman College
11 Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology
10 Pomona College
9 Bryn Mawr College
9 Lawrence University
9 Spelman College
8 Grinnell College
8 Haverford College
8 Kenyon College
8 Lafayette College
8 Wesleyan University
7 Bucknell University
7 New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology
6 College of the Holy Cross
6 Davidson College
6 Franklin and Marshall College
6 Kalamazoo College
6 University of Minnesota - Morris
5 Allegheny College
5 Amherst College
5 Bowdoin College
5 Colgate University
5 Concordia College-Moorhead
5 Macalester College
5 Smith College
5 St John’s University (Collegeville, MN)
5 University of Dallas
5 Wellesley College
I have heard that Vassar doesn’t have a good mathematics majors. Should I remove it from my list?
@Qwerty568 Doesn’t Bowdoin offer a degree in Mathematical Education only?
If you are adding colleges, consider St. Olaf.
Bowdoin graduates 20+ students in Math (and maybe one in Math Ed) every year. Not sure where you’re getting your information. Best idea is to actually look at the college’s website…look at how many faculty, what courses are offered, etc.
@WhataProcess I checked again. The mathematics webpage doesn’t have much expect the Mathematics-Education Major. Upon searching the academic handbook has the information I require. Thanks. Bowdoin is now on my list.
Re #3: After checking their CDS, Reed as well has a high percentage of math majors (6%).
If # of graduating students with that major (relative to size of school) is important, then this site: College Navigator - National Center for Education Statistics will be useful as on each school info page there is a tab called programs/majors that gives you a count. At least it gives you one data point beyond future phds- are many students majoring in math here?
Ratemyprofessor might be useful too, for department ratings of professors but take all those reviews with a grain of salt.
I would definitely add Harvey Mudd to your list.
might look at Holy Cross.
Harvey Mudd is a great school but doesn’t offer much aid for International students. I am adding schools which give good aid and also have a good maths school.
What kind of price limit are you looking at, and have you checked each school’s net price calculator?
From who?
Online blogs. I have heard that the physics and mathematics department do not have a developed structure to offer many courses or opportunities. Is it true, as I intend to apply here?
I don’t see that any of the schools on your original list give much need based aid to internationals.
I don't see that any of the schools on your original list give much need based aid to internationals.
[/QUOTE]
Number of Internationals Awarded Aid … Average Amount … College
50 $50,705 Reed College
73 $36,185 Carleton College
143 $34,325 Oberlin College
42 $45,738 Pomona College
158 $38,267 Grinnell College
48 $46,391 Kenyon College
106 $43,119 Lafayette College
166 $42,483 Franklin and Marshall College
141 $50,281 Colgate University
215 $42,377 Macalester College
Source: Common Data Sets (section H) for 2014-15 or 2015-16 (whichever is the most recent I could find).
The numbers in column 1 appear to represent all undergraduate international students (not just freshmen);
the numbers in col. 2 do not distinguish need-based from merit aid.
I’ve followed the sort-order of post #4.
So it appears that Reed not only generates the greatest number of math/stat PhDs, it also offers aid to internationals in the greatest average amounts compared to these other LACs. Plus, in my opinion, Portland is a more attractive location than what most of the others offer (depending on what you want in a location, of course). However, Reed scares many people away with its reputation for academic intensity.
There are many other factors you may want to consider.
Look at the math course offerings and faculty bios.
Have a look at math research project (such as thesis) descriptions, if you can find them.
http://www.reed.edu/math/theses.html