<p>I'm deciding between Harvard, UChicago and Princeton for math. UChicago's been recruiting me somewhat, they have the awesome Paul Sally, and their math department seems really friendly even towards a prefrosh. I'm thinking I would get to interact more with professors at Chicago, and good teaching often makes a big difference for me.</p>
<p>But if I go to Harvard I'll know a ton of people between H and MIT, I like Cambridge, and obviously the math department is excellent. I just have the typical worry, I guess, that teaching quality in the dept will be not so great and I won't get much advising, interaction with profs, etc. The Harvard math dept has been described to me as "unfriendly," while everyone I know at Chicago loves their dept. </p>
<p>I'm leaning towards Harvard, but I'd like to dispel some of these worries (or not, if they're true), so if anyone has personal experience with the math department it'd be awesome to hear some thoughts.</p>
<p>I'd say that Princeton maths is the best for you if you plan to be a major. It's faculty is a lot stronger than UChi's and not as unfriendly as Harvard's. Also, they actually know how to speak English (unlike most of Harvard's math dept. TAs)!</p>
<p>All of the schools have their selling points: Sally's analysis course at UofC, Math 55 at Harvard, and Princeton's four semester analysis sequence. I'm a freshman at Princeton planning to major in math, and I can tell you that the quality of the teaching here is amazing. The faculty is also incredibly open, friendly, and accessible. John Conway spends a lot of his time in the math dept. common room, so you can walk in there and hang out with him. The point I'm trying to make is that Princeton has a lot of the same selling points as Chicago, and it has a better faculty. The Harvard/Princeton decision is harder, and I don't think you can go wrong at either place.</p>
<p>Is this even a question? All the greatest mathematicians in the world have gone to Princeton. Princeton mathematicians are perhaps the brightest human beings on this planet, and is also the institution with the greatest number of Field Medalists.</p>
<p>Also, the Clay Mathematics Institute has more Princeton mathematicians than any other institution. For undergraduate, Princeton and Harvard are about the same, but if you look at the institution as a whole considering the strength of the faculty and tracing Princeton's history with its production of the world's greatest mathematical minds, Princeton is definitely the place to go to for math. Hands down.</p>
<p>I know a freshman who took a <em>lot</em> of math at UChicago in high school, and is now at Harvard. I think she enjoys the classes here quite a bit more.</p>
<p>Putnam is a great competition, but the rankings are flawed. They don't choose the top 3 scorers from each school, but rather the team is selected before the exam and however well that team of three people performs yields the score for that school. Most often, many other students in that particular university score higher than members on that actual team. MIT by far performs better than any other school, they just have a hard time choosing the right team. Usually they have at least 10 students in the top 20 alone.</p>
<p>Moreover, the size of the school should be taken into considerations. Harvard undergraduate has 1400 more students than Princeton, so obviously they have a lot more potential for talent.</p>
<p>Fermat - Good point about the Putnam team. However, I don't think size is relevant when looking at Putnam as a measure for where the top math students end up attending. It's not like mathematical talent is randomly distributed throughout the students at Harvard or Princeton... instead, there are a small number (~50?) of IMO-level math students who have their choice of top schools. Putnam helps us see where they end up.</p>
<p>upon the success of faculty researches, graduate programs, not so much based on the undergraduate education.
Harvard, MIT success at Putnam is no accident. Prof. Taubes and Prof Rogers are very devoted to their respective teams. There is no similar effort at Princeton.
The undergraduate researches are also taken seriously at Harvard, MIT, not so at Princeton.
If you take a look at the main prize for undergraduate research, Morgan Prize (Frank Morgan was a Princeton PhD), it was given multiple times to MIT, Harvard students, not a single time yet to Princeton's students.</p>
<p>Lest this get out of hand, as the OP let me just say that undergrad math is excellent at all of Harvard, MIT, UChicago, and Princeton, quibbling over Putnam results and methodology and other prizes aside. Let's not turn this into a silly splitting-hairs contest. I was simply asking for information that might help me decide where I will matriculate, recognizing that any mathematical differences are slight and other factors will be much more important to undergrad life.</p>
<p>To that end, I'd like to thank the posters who've provided useful commentary on the original question.</p>
<p>Not quite sure if this will help you, but my friend John -- who's a math concentrator at Harvard -- wrote in a community blog on learning math at Harvard: </p>
The undergraduate researches are also taken seriously at Harvard, MIT, not so at Princeton.
If you take a look at the main prize for undergraduate research, Morgan Prize (Frank Morgan was a Princeton PhD), it was given multiple times to MIT, Harvard students, not a single time yet to Princeton’s students.
<p>Furthermore, every (non-engineering) student at Princeton is required to do both a junior independent work and a senior thesis. So there is ample opportunity to do research and to work closely with a faculty member of your choice. As an institution and a faculty, Princeton regards undergrad research just as seriously, if not more so, as Harvard or MIT.</p>
<p>It is true, however, that the Putnam is given pretty minimal interest by the faculty at Princeton (at least it was when I was there). Students who want to participate prepare mostly on their own.</p>
<p>My S has been pretty happy with his interactions with the Harvard math department faculty. His advisor has been awesome. He could not have asked for a more supportive prof. His departmental advisor has also been great.
S did some independent reading (not for credit) with another prof who went out of her way to look for things for him to read. By and large, he found his profs excellent. He had one he was not entirely happy with, but not on account of the prof’s accent. I believe the prof mostly talked to the blackboard–supposedly a not uncommon trait among math profs everywhere.</p>
<p>Hmm, I’m sorry to post another somewhat unrelated question here, but if you apply to Harvard Math, do you have to be someone that will definitely study math to become a mathematician?</p>
<p>I like the atmosphere of Harvard and I am not sure between applying to Harvard Economics/ Harvard Math. I like Math, but not sure if I can manage Mathematics major or if I will simply like to…</p>
<p>I know Harvard is a very liberal school and it lets you choose - but since Mathematics is always one of the subjects that are loved by only those who really love it, Can you still apply even if Mathematics might turn out NOT to be your major?</p>
<p>On that note, does Harvard look for inclined students if they apply for Math? because for other subjects, they also concentrate on the person as much as they do on academic rigor… Thank you very much!</p>
<p>No one applies to Harvard math. Students declare a concentration (major) some time in their sophomore year. Plenty of students change their minds before being admitted, after being admitted and even after declaring a concentration.</p>
<p>But Common Application and Supplementary still have a space for students to express their interests, desired major, and the certainty for each one.</p>
<p>Then if I am not sure about majoring in Math, but also dont want to look less thoughtful of my future, what do I do?</p>
<p>If you don’t mind, can I ask what your son put in when he applied to Harvard?</p>
<p>Most applicants to colleges–and that includes Harvard–are undecided about their majors. And that’s okay. As for my S, he was passionate about math since he was a toddler and it showed in his application, even though his essays were about something else.</p>
<p>I believe that the expression of interest is just that. Not a binding commitment.</p>