<p>I'm going to major in math in college. As a team, my school did alright at math league, HMMT and other local competitions. I qualified USAMO but could only solve #1 and #4 on it. So these are the schools on my current college list:</p>
<p>Ivies (excluding Cornell), Stanford, MIT, Caltech, UChicago, Williams, Wash U, Rice and Duke.</p>
<p>I'm looking for a top math program with an ok IR program. Location doesn't matter to me and I'm only looking at private schools with <10,000 students. Please help me narrow down my list or add a couple of schools.</p>
<p>St Olaf in Northfield MN may be more of a match/safety for you but they have a very strong math department. From their website:</p>
<p>"St. Olaf routinely awards about 60 mathematics degrees to every graduating class many more than most comparable schools yield. And no baccalaureate institution in the country produces a greater number of graduates who go on to earn Ph.D.s in the field…</p>
<p>FACT: We are 1st among baccalaureate liberal arts colleges nationwide in the number of graduates who go on to earn Ph.D.s in mathematics and statistics."</p>
<p>[St</a>. Olaf College | Mathematics at St. Olaf](<a href=“http://www.stolaf.edu/depts/fnsm/programs/departments/math.htm]St”>http://www.stolaf.edu/depts/fnsm/programs/departments/math.htm)</p>
<p>[St</a>. Olaf College | Private Liberal Arts College | Northfield, Minnesota](<a href=“http://www.stolaf.edu/admissions/]St”>Admissions – St. Olaf College)</p>
<p>As you think math is fun, have you heard of the Pomona College talent search? They release 5 problem sets over a school year and have a recognition program for the best students.</p>
<p><a href=“Mathematics and Statistics Department | Pomona College in Claremont, California - Pomona College”>http://www.math.pomona.edu/talentsearch.html</a></p>
<p>[NRC</a> Rankings in Mathematics](<a href=“http://www.stat.tamu.edu/~jnewton/nrc_rankings/area31.html]NRC”>NRC Rankings in Mathematics)</p>
<p>These rankings are old and certainly don’t have perfect accuracy, but they might help you see some unexpected choices.</p>
<p>Johns Hopkins and Northwestern (a little big) might be of interest. Brandeis and RPI could also be possibilities.</p>
<p>Is money an issue?</p>
<p>I can tell you that the top 3 Putnam scorers at Duke are graduating this month and another kid, who tied for 3rd, only has a year remaining. So if you’re interested in competition math, Duke is looking for people to fill in that void.</p>
<p>^PPham27
Thank you for the information. I’m definitely going to train hard for Putnam, but I feel like Duke is looking for some people who score like gold medals on the IMO to fill the spots:(</p>
<p>^noimagination
Thank you for the link to the ranking. Money is not an issue for me. Brandeis and RPI are great schools but I wouldn’t be very happy to attend. Northwestern is a little big for me and I don’t think JHU has a great math program.</p>
<p>Is there any schools on list that isn’t worth to apply?</p>
<p>
It isn’t on the very top level, but the department is still good. If you have enough other options, you can forget it.</p>
<p>On your list, the only odd choice is WUSTL. The school is certainly very good, but they aren’t really a math powerhouse (at least not compared to your other choices).</p>
<p>Consider Harvey Mudd College, a small technical college in Southern California. I go there and the math program is very good. I’ll leave you to look into it and I’ll be happy to answer questions.</p>
<p>^fiona_</p>
<p>I had HMC on my list initially but I heard if I want to do IR I have to go to the nearby colleges, which isn’t very convenient.</p>
<p>^noimagination
I think WUSTL used to have a great math department in the 90s.</p>
<p>Is my lists of schools way to risky? Should I add some safeties or matches?</p>
<p>why wouldn’t it be convenient? the claremont colleges are literally separated by streets. they’re very close to each other. the math program at HMC is absolutely fantastic, and I’m sure you could take IR at CMC, etc.</p>
<p>As a math person myself, I will tell you a bit of my experiences. I haven’t been too good at competition type math, but really enjoy more theoretical type math (which, unfortunately, doesn’t give out awards to list for an app). So, instead, I focused on my love of math in essays and the like and did pretty well college wise.</p>
<p>Having qualified for the USAMO, you have a big “in”, assuming you have really good other stats you most certainly have a decent shot at Harvard/Princeton/MIT (I got rejected from 2 and wait listed at P’ton). UChicago is an AWESOME school too, particularly for math (I would’ve gone there except for some familial type things), and you should def. apply early (I got in early and it was a HUGE stress reliever!). </p>
<p>As far as other colleges to consider, JHU is a pretty good at math, although it doesn’t necessarily have a huge department, it has very good course offerings and a very good student body. Tufts, despite it’s rep in international relations, has a decently strong math program. Boston College has a respectable, although not “top notch”, math and physics departments.</p>
<p>
The NRC list is from 1995 and does not place WUSTL terribly highly. You may have information that I do not.</p>
<p>Several excellent liberal arts colleges have been recommended (St. Olaf and HMC). The advantages of such places include more professor/student interaction, a strong intellectual environment, small classes, etc. The disadvantages are smaller departments (so you have fewer profs to choose from) and fewer courses available. Do you prefer a very small, tight-knit atmosphere? If so, an LAC might be the right choice. Are you accelerated or focused enough that you will want to take a number of graduate-level mathematics courses before graduating? That is an opportunity that will be more available at a research university.</p>
<p>You definitely do need safeties, although I think you are a very competitive applicant. What state do you live in?</p>
<p>EDIT: Post 2000!</p>
<p>^noimagination
I don’t particularly prefer a small, tight-knit atmosphere. I’ve heard a lot of good things about HMC, and with 15 schools on my current list I don’t think I will add any more LACs to it. I live in TX.</p>
<p>^#1 Person
I was thinking about EA Chicago, MIT and Caltech, if I get one acceptance I will only apply to HYPS for regular admission. If not, I will apply to the list of 15 colleges which I mentioned in my first post.</p>
<p>^retrospectively
Sorry I failed at researching colleges. But with 15 schools on my list, I don’t think I want to add any more LACs.</p>
<p>You haven’t given your stats, but yes, your list would be very risky for 99.9% of applicants.</p>
<p>add harvey mudd to your list; they have a great math faculty</p>
<p>^Redroses
what do you mean by stats? I know this is a very risky list, but there is also a small chance that I will get rejected or waitlisted at all of the schools which I’ve mentioned.</p>
<p>^ Test scores, GPA, class rigor, extracurriculars, etc.</p>
<p>Depending on your accomplishments, there is indeed a chance with this list you will be left without a college next spring, but with almost 400 posts you must know that.</p>
<p>Anyone can narrow down my list a bit before we add some safeties?</p>
<p>We aren’t going to be able to add safeties or narrow down that list until you give us, at a bare minimum, SAT/ACT scores and your unweighted GPA.</p>