<p>I've heard of big public schools that have good math departments but I can't go to them. I'm limited to LAC's and I want to study math.</p>
<p>Why can't you go to them?</p>
<p>But Williams has a top math department, I believe three of their profs won a top award for teaching math(compared to 2 at Harvard, or something like that).</p>
<p>You could also look at consortium based schools, as that can allow you to take more specialized classes then a small school can offer for itself. Some consortium schools: the Claremont's - Pomona, Claremont McKenna, Pitzer, Harvey Mudd, and Scripps; the 5 College Consortium - Amherst, Mt. Holyoke, Hampshire, Smith, (and UMass-Amherst, but that's a uni); Swarthmore, Haverford, Bryn Mawr are together, also with Penn.</p>
<p>I'm in the college tuition exchange which is awesome, so going to an expensive privete school is actually cheaper then going to a large state school.</p>
<p>I believe I've heard that Swarthmore has a good one. Wesleyan is an LAC known for good sciences, so they might have a strong math department but I'm not sure.</p>
<p>I've heard Oberlin is strong in math, anyone want to 2nd that?</p>
<p>yesnomaybeso, if your stats are good (4.0 unweighed with 2250+ SAT or 34+ ACT), you could get a good scholarship from top publics like Cal, Michigan, UCLA or Wisconsin, all three of which have excellent Math programs.</p>
<p>Also look at Carleton and St. Olaf's.</p>
<p>I have to disagree with Alexandre on Michigan's math scholarships. My older son had top scores and many math EC's; his scholarship offer from their math department was only $500 or $1000 a year.</p>
<p>Oberlin is quite strong in the sciences and math.</p>
<p>williams, amherst, carleton, claremnonts...</p>
<p>Harvey Mudd just placed 8th in the Putnum examination.</p>
<p>Use the search bar:
<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/398288-help-math-major.html?highlight=strong+math%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/398288-help-math-major.html?highlight=strong+math</a></p>
<p>Harvey Mudd blows all the rest out of the water. ;)</p>
<p>Seriously, I'd do one of the Claremonts...</p>
<p>Amongst top LAC's, the Claremonts are probably the way to go.</p>
<p>Another level down, and you'll find a surprisingly good math program at St. Olaf (where the Great Gatsby went).</p>
<p>midwesterner, I never said scholarships are guaranteed. But I have known many students who got 50% to 100% of their college expenses paid for and given the quality of Cal and Michigan's Math programs, it is worth applying.</p>
<p>Pomona and Mudd.</p>
<p>Then all the LACs that are great overall too (AWS etc).</p>
<p>Alexandre, that was our understanding, too, but not our experience. However, I'm sure a good deal depends on in-state status, male v. female, and the year's crop of mathematicians.</p>
<p>I've mentioned this in a previous post before, but a prominent mathematician I asked regarding the best LACs for math mentioned Reed, Williams, and Santa Clara though the latter is technically not a LAC.</p>
<p>Harvey Mudd won an award for outstanding/best math department from the MAA or some professional math organization. I remember UCLA was the other receipient. </p>
<p>Another LAC to look into would be St. Olaf. If you're an IMO or AMC caliber math student looking at LACs, your best bet is Harvey Mudd followed by Santa Clara, which runs the Putnam Exam.</p>
<p>Pomona is also another LAC worth considering.</p>
<p>the dozen (okay, i think i finished with 13) lacs i would strongly recommend:</p>
<p>bryn mawr
bucknell (has placed in putnam)
carleton
grinnell
harvey mudd (has placed in putnam)
haverford
oberlin
pomona
reed
st olaf
swarthmore (has placed in putnam)
wesleyan
williams</p>
<p>some smaller universities i would also put on my list:</p>
<p>brandeis
caltech
case western
dartmouth
princeton
rice</p>
<p>while santa clara is a fine school for mathematics, im not sure what reason other than its putnam connection would justify its placement on a 'top math schools' list. the same goes for vassar, which is home to the assocation for symbolic logic, but is otherwise not exceptional in any identifiable way.</p>
<p>I would also add U of Rochester as another small university with an excellent math department.</p>
<p>on the strength of their faculty. Gerald Alexanderson teaches there (former president of the MAA and associate director of the Putnam exam) as well as Leonard Klosinski (director of the Putnam and a winner of the MAA's Haimo award. 3 SCU faculty have won). Frank Farris, the former editor of Mathematics Magazine, also teaches there.</p>
<p>Although he recently passed away and retired over 10 years ago, Paul Halmos taught at SCU. </p>
<p>This year Don Albers joined SCU. </p>
<p>Btw, Oberlin and Swarthmore placed back in 1972. When did Bucknell place?</p>