USNews ranks Yale’s math department (grad school) as 9th and Princeton’s as 1st. What does this say about their respective undergrad departments? Apart from research opportunities, culture/fit, and student-to-faculty ratio, how does the undergrad math education offered at one top college differ from that at another?
I’d appreciate specific advice about Yale vs Princeton. I was invited to YES-W, and if I’m accepted to Princeton, I’ll have to make this choice. I am also considering a joint math and econ major, if that’s relevant.
I assume the overall quality of an undergrad math education can be accurately evaluated by the following criteria:
Quality of teaching
Curriculum
Research and internship opportunities
Amount of attention per student
Math community and culture (how much are students interested in math?)
I get the sense that 2 is pretty much the same among top colleges, though maybe some colleges allow you to take grad classes while others don’t? Please correct me if I’m wrong. Also, how do 1, 3, 4, and 5 compare among top colleges, particularly Yale and Princeton?
I am a freshman at Yale and my best friend is at Princeton. She got into Harvard, MIT, Princeton, and unfortunately rejected at Yale. We are both STEM majors, and she wants to major in either mathematics or physics. Based on our discussions, our universities seem very comparable on 1 - 4 but no idea about 5.
Yale is a great university, hope you enjoy YES-W this weekend. And good luck with the other places on your list.
There are lots of really really great reasons to go to Yale. The Math department is not one of them. If your goal is to get enough math so you can be a wall street trader it is not going to make a difference. Lots of stem kids who get into Harvard and Princeton get rejected by Yale. It is to protect their yield and is called the Tufts syndrome
I don’t know if Yale does or does not protect its yield. But if it does, it would usually not do so with a flat out reject since there is no compelling reason for Yale to assume a student strong enough for Princeton would not choose Yale. If Yale were protecting their yield they would use the wait list and see if the students asks to get off the wait list.
Lostaccount is correct. Most of the time universities will use the wait list to protect their yield. The universities never really know why the student applied in the first place. They can only make assumptions
If you are one of the tippy-top math students and will start taking core graduate courses in your junior year, then Princeton is by far the better place for you (and such students are not at all unusual at Princeton and Harvard). If you are just doing a run-of-the-mill math major and intend to pursue other interests while in college, then Yale is more than adequate.
The math major of a couple years back - graduating class in Yale was a little more than 10. The same year in Princeton was a little more than 30.
After few years, almost all of them in that class from Yale are in math or math related(applied) Ph.D. Programs(in Top 10 NRC ranking - and other one too in their specific chosen area) with fellowship for some. Some of them mentioned that they saw the same faces from HPSM during the Ph.D. (Accepted student) invitation events of multiple top 5 programs.
As one of the current students has said, there would be no difference among HYPSM for their undergraduate math programs. All schools including Yale gives you top level preparation for your adventure.
Does Princeton offer a wider range of grad classes/better quality grad classes to undergrads?
Does Princeton prepare math majors better for grad school? Does a Princeton undergrad math degree improve your chances of getting into a good grad school?
Is it feasible to get a bachelor or even PhD in math, then work in finance? Obviously you need math skills to work in finance. How much economics do you need to know? Do you need a degree, some economics classes on your resume, or nothing at all?
I doubt it makes any difference if you are going to be an IB where you study math so I agree with 4thfloor and goldenbear. PHds in math don’t usually work on wall street.
This article caught my eye earlier this week and I had shared it with my HS Jr who is considering math & CS. It would be great if he could support his mother in her advancing age!
While traders at large investment banks watched their screens in horror, at Jane Street, a bunch of Harvard Ph.D.s wearing flip-flops, shorts and hoodies, swung into action with a wave of buy orders.
“PHds in math don’t usually work on wall street.” ?
Even 30 years ago, there were lots Ph Ds in Math (or STEM) in Wall street firms, leading transactions like derivatives, CDO, MA etc. Now you are able to find Ph D holders in their back and middle offices. The government requires Wall street firms have one of these guys in their board members.
“Financial Engineer” is the one of specialized area, usually under Math, Statistics, OR, or Industrial Engineering departments.
The career path for newer generation coming in to Wall Street without this background would be very limited.
I’m not sure that a PhD improves the odds of success (see Long-Term Capital Management), but Wall Street and Hedge Funds are looking for people with strong math skills. To say that coming to Wall Street without this background would be very limited is, IMO, an overstatement. There are still many well-paying jobs that don’t require great math chops, although it helps.
Another voice here, saying the same thing. There are many, many math PhDs, from good programs, working in finance. The number of math PhDs produced every year far exceeds the number of positions available in academia, and a great many of those positions essentially consist of teaching pre-calculus and calculus to students with no interest in mathematics besides meeting requirements. Also, the pay at financial firms is a good deal better than the pay in academic or government positions, or, indeed, pretty much anywhere…