One advantage Wesleyan has is that you don’t have to take a bus or train to enroll in graduate courses: I counted 38 mid to upper level math courses in the 2015-2016 Wesleyan catalogue, including 11 at the 500 (PhD) level:
https://iasext.wesleyan.edu/regprod/!wesmaps_page.html?crse_list=MATH&offered=Y
As much as I like Wesleyan, it appears that some of those courses are duplicate sections. For the year, it looks like 23 distinct mid to upper-level courses are being offered at Wesleyan, with 7 of those on the graduate level.
I do not trust the Princeton Review’s methodology. For example, in Fall 2015 Agnes Scott College only offered three classes beyond Calc II (aka AP Calc BC). Frankly a junior who only took precalc in high school would likely exhaust the offerings. Of course a student could drive Georgia Tech or Emory, but that’s annoying and when you’re taking 3/4 of your classes at another school, you might as well transfer.
@whenwhen: It was simply a listing and a source, partly to confirm that Macalester, discussed in post 16, has been recognized for its math offerings. The schools identified by PR as being strong in mathematics do clearly vary substantially in the breadth and depth of their programs, particularly with regard to how suitable their offerings would be for an advanced student.
Macalester’s math courses are listed at http://www.macalester.edu/academics/mscs/courses/
It looks like Macalester has regularly offered 18 math courses at the 300/400 level. However, that includes 2 in statistics and 1 that is typically listed as a CS (theory) course. Of the remaining 15, 11 are in what are typically called pure math (most commonly taken by pre-PhD students), and 4 are in what are typically called applied math. Only 4 of them are offered every year or semester, with the remaining ones offered every two years. Looks like 3 of them may cover graduate level topics, but that depends on the instructors’ choices.
Macalester has cross-registration agreements with some other schools, but apparently not with University of Minnesota, which would be the most likely place for a student to go to for additional or graduate level math offerings. See https://www.macalester.edu/registrar/schedules/actc/ .
@ucbalumnus: By similar criteria, would you be willing to quantify Carleton, St. Olaf, Harvey Mudd, Swarthmore, Hamilton, Bowdoin, Reed?
@merc81 - I think you missed six graduate courses in the second semester (not counting courses on pedagogy) which would bring the total number of distinct, mid to upper level, math courses at Wesleyan to 29 about a third of which would be considered super-advanced for most undergraduates: https://iasext.wesleyan.edu/regprod/!wesmaps_page.html?crse_list=MATH&offered=Y
@circuitrider: Yes, I did. It appears, for example, that “Analysis I” and other identically titled courses can represent more than one distinct course.
Students don’t need more than 4 advanced classes in their subject per year (keep in mind that LAC students take 8 courses per year and will have electives as well as ditribution requirements).
@merc81 - Are you trying to read this on your Apple watch? 
@circuitrider: “Analysis I” looks like “Analysis I,” small screen or large.
Based on a quick run through the catalog and schedule listings…
Bowdoin: it seems amazingly hard to find the math course titles and descriptions on its web site.
Carleton: about 20 junior/senior level math courses. 3 of these are statistics. 6-7 offered per quarter.
Hamiton: about 14 junior/senior level math courses. 2 of these are statistics, 1 is CS theory (cryptography). 3-7 are offered per semester.
Harvey Mudd: about 32 junior/senior level math courses; in addition, the frosh/soph level math courses are proof-based. 6 of these are statistics, 8 are applied topics, and 2 are CS theory. 12-15 are offered per semester. Also has 3 courses explicitly labeled as graduate level, but some graduate level topics appear to be covered in other courses as well.
Reed: about 30 junior/senior level math courses. 5 of these are statistics, 7 are CS. 12 are offered per semester. Note: Reed’s math department begins proof-based math earlier in the curriculum than most other math departments, so these courses are counted here.
St. Olaf: about 13 junior/senior level math courses. 1 of these is statistics, 2 are applied topics. 5-8 are offered per semester.
Swarthmore: about 18 junior/senior level math courses, not including statistics (which is a separate course subject). 5-9 are offered per semester.
Wesleyan: about 12 junior/senior level math courses. 1 of these is statistics. 4-8 are offered per semester. Also has 12 graduate level math courses, of which 6 are offered per semester. (Yes, “Analysis I”, “Analysis II”, “Topology I”, “Topology II”, “Algebra I”, and “Algebra II” all refer to both the fall and spring courses of year long sequences, so these 6 titles are for 12 courses.)
@ucbalumnus - Although we’re not specifically looking at math programs, this is useful and telling. Would it be obnoxious for me to ask the same thing of you about Physics for a different set of schools on a separate thread? (Less obnoxious if I gave you links?) Feel free to say no (obviously) but your input is really helpful.
Sounds like a good research topic for YOU @porcupine98 .
Re: #32
You can search for “[school name] physics courses” and “[school name] class schedule” to get an idea of what is available and how often it is offered.
Physics undergraduate is fairly standardized; the core junior/senior physics courses are:
- junior/senior level mechanics
- electromagnetism*
- quantum mechanics*
- statistical and thermal physics
- junior/senior level lab*
Some of them, particularly those marked with *, are often two terms worth.
Of course, there may be additional elective junior/senior physics courses like astrophysics, plasma physics, etc. beyond those.
@ucbalumnus I’ll see what I can do with that.
@“Erin’s Dad” - I can (and will) research, but my interpretation may be limited due to the fact that the last time I took Physics was a single HS class sometime in the early 80s. Hence the inquiry. I’m marginally better able to interpret math course offerings since I actually took some college level courses in math. Waaaaaaaaaay back in the day.
I think most of us here are working with those obstacles (graduated HS in the 70s myself).