<p>are a lot of the accepted students really good at math & sciences. like MIT?</p>
<p>Princeton emphasizes a bit more in the liberal arts, but the sciences and engineering programs are top-notch, and a great deal of the students are very fluent in the natural sciences and mathematics.</p>
<p>Any HYP/MIT/Caltech caliber school has students who are at the top of their game at pretty much any subject you can name.</p>
<p>Princeton is up there with Harvard, Caltech, MIT, Stanford for math. YCDBP are all below Princeton in math.</p>
<p>So is the other C: either Cornell or Columbia, I don't know which one Alumother left out. It's worth noting though that Columbia has a pretty good math program especially for Rabi Scholars.</p>
<p>The 2005 Faculty Scholarly Index at COHE has Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Michigan, Carnegie Mellon and Berkeley all ranking far above Princeton or any of the other Ivies for statistics.</p>
<p>statistics: the benchmark of mathematics departments everywhere!</p>
<p>posterx, that's largely irrelevant. princeton has arguably the best math department in the country, if not the world.</p>
<p>Not so sure about that. It doesn't show up among the top 10 departments in the most recent ISI ranking ( <a href="http://www.sciencewatch.com/nov-dec2002/sw_nov-dec2002_page2.htm#Mathematics%5B/url%5D">http://www.sciencewatch.com/nov-dec2002/sw_nov-dec2002_page2.htm#Mathematics</a> ). Of course, it's clearly very good in the field, though.</p>
<p>i'm not sure how they calculate the "relative influence" points, but judging from the fact that MIT isn't in the top 10 for engineering makes me feel like it's not very accurate. besides, number of papers isn't a very good way to rate a department to begin with; quality has more to do with the professors, the students, awards, etc.</p>
<p>princeton's math team contains several IMO kids, and its faculty consistently has some of the best mathematicians anywhere, e.g. andrew wiles, department chair. people like terence tao (google him if you haven't heard of him before) also had their roots at princeton.</p>
<p>princeton also won the putnam last year, something yale's never done.</p>
<p>Do you know how many science Nobel prizes have the Princeton alumni won? I think that would say if the science school is a good one.</p>
<p>Virtually everyone who comes to Princeton is a nerd or a closet nerd. </p>
<p>In terms of math and science skills, however, it's about 50-50 for how "techie" Princeton is. Liberal arts students simply don't take enough advanced math and science courses to get anywhere and often end up losing their skills.</p>
<p>Read how PtonGrad2000 lays waste to posterX's COHE Faculty Scholarly Index statistic.</p>
<p>In reference to the ISI math department rankings: posterX, do you really believe that the University of Washington has a better math department than Princeton? Publication volume is not an appropriate benchmark for quality.</p>
<p>I know Harvard is good for business, and Yale is good for law, but what is Princeton best at? Specifics, I mean, not just science, or math. And could someone please explain 'Liberal Arts' to me? I never really got what that was...</p>
<p>I don't think it's the same environment as MIT, just because there's a wider scope of interest in the students. I was deciding between the two, and MIT is decidedly "techier" in the sense I think you're implying than Princeton. Of course, this isn't a bad thing. It's just different.</p>
<p>Silvia, in response to your question, Harvard and Yale have top professional schools in business and law. Princeton isn't known in those fields because it does not have professional schools. Princeton has a fantastic politics Ph.D. program (I think their IR was ranked number 2), GREAT math and physics departments, and a well-known classics department (I think it is up there with Yale, I don't know stats). Their economics Ph.D. program isn't as good as MIT's, but it is absolutely comparable to Harvard's. Um, I think that is the subjects I know off the top of my head, but remember, Princeton is devoted to undergrads and offers a fantastic undergraduate education (I'm going there right now :) )</p>
<p>Sorry to disagree but I would not put Princeton in the same category as MIT and Cal Tech regardless of the few who have achieved there. Princeton is a liberal arts school overall whereas MIT and CalTech are TOP engineering schools. I am sure you will all sit on me but Princeton is great in other areas MIT and CalTech could not compete with- but math not as great as MIT and CalTech.</p>
<p>princeton has got the best math department in the country.</p>
<p>coffeenchicory1: Princeton is definitely not as good as Caltech or MIT at engineering, nor arguably at science. But math, it is. Princeton has for a long time been one of the best math departments in the world. The fact that it is also excellent at a broad range of humanities etc. doesnt change this.</p>