<p>I'm interested in pursuing math, and I'm choosing between MIT and Harvard. I'm curious to see what Harvard people would say about math at Harvard vs. MIT. The MIT people have basically told me academics in this realm are pretty much equivalent, and that at this point the choice should be more about campus culture. Also, how many people do research at Harvard? It seems many undergrads participate in UROP (research) at MIT, but is research such a big part of the undergraduate education at Harvard? I really want to do math research (probably applied for a year or two, then more theoretical when I have more experience) during all of my undergraduate experience, basically, and I'm just wondering how possible this would be at Harvard?</p>
<p>Choosing between MIT and Harvard indeed is really a matter of choosing between different campus cultures.</p>
<p>My S decided not to apply to MIT after all because he did not want to be surrounded by people just like himself or engineering types. At Harvard, he has a more diverse group of friends than would be the case at MIT. Study groups are easily set up. For research, there is PRISE. I think slots in PRISE are more limited than for UROP. My S has done independent research with a prof for the last couple of years, though not through PRISE.</p>
<p>There is much, much more than just PRISE in terms of research opportunities. OCS has an enormous database of Harvard-run fellowships and funding sources.</p>
<p>I've seen some extremely talented Harvard math students.</p>
<p>laloo - I have the impression that if you're an IMO gold medal, insanely ridiculous math type, Harvard is the place to go. For example, I hear stories frequently about kids who enroll in Math 55, but don't go to class, because they can figure it out on their own, and there's an incredible grad school class that they sit in on at the same time.</p>
<p>If you're not one of those kids, it seems like it could be really cool to have them as your peers.</p>
<p>If you want to become a mathematician, that's depends which area you are interested in. Go to the home page of each professor from both schools to see if the their area of interests matches your and are still publishing papers. Harvard may have more IMO gold medal winners, but very few, if any, IMO gold medal winers have become great mathematicians. If you are just interested in showing off your math talent by winning math competitions, Harvard has done better than MIT in the recent years
Putnam</a> Directory</p>
<p>MIT has had more individual success than Harvard in the past 5-7 years or so, even though they haven't picked their 3-person team well. Harvard is a close #2 (although before 2000 Harvard clearly had the best performance.) So this wouldn't be a reason to choose Harvard over MIT.</p>
<p>Here is the real winner
Fields</a> Medal -- from Wolfram MathWorld</p>
<p>just<em>forget</em>me you are wrong about kids in Math 55 who don't go to class. One of my brother's friends is in Math 55, and he isn't and IMO gold medalist. Also, Math 55 is very challenging for the kids in it, so to suceed they HAVE to go to class, and they DO.</p>
<p>cosmology - Maybe I exaggerated, but there's definitely a kid in my year ('09) who would skip Math 55 to go to grad level math classes. This is definitely the exception.</p>
<p>And you're definitely right - you don't need to be an IMO gold medalist to be in 55. My argument was that the IMO gold medalist types tend to come to Harvard (because of 55), so if you'd like to study with them + learn from them, you could come here and take 55 with them.</p>
<p>just<em>forget</em>me thats what Bill Gates did. He skipped all of his undergrad classes to go to grad classes. Your other point about Math 55 is true. Though an interesting fact is that 3 or 4 IMO qualifiers dropped out of Math 55 after 5 weeks!!!!!</p>
<p>well, I'm kind of auditing math 55 this year, though I'd have to take it again next year. but what about after 55? it seems like after 55, Harvard math is very good, but not that different from other places (like MIT).</p>
<p>What you can do after taking Math 55 is to take the graduate level version of many math courses. It's true that these are not necessarily different from those offered at Princeton or MIT; what's different is your preparation for taking them.</p>
<p>so, there are a lot of good things, it seems, both at MIT and at Harvard, with regards to math and otherwise. I've heard from MIT people why they prefer MIT over Harvard. Now, I'm wondering, Harvard students etc., would you choose Harvard over MIT, and why? (Not just having to do with math... but for any reason)</p>
<p>I'll give you my S's reason for not even applying to MIT.<br>
He'd had MIT at the top of his list for quite a while. Then, he went to an admission session and heard the Dean talk about MIT wanting people who loved to do things with their hands, manes as well as mens. S is not the engineering type. And while many of his friends at MIT talked about the ease with which one could form a study group ("just walk down the hall"), he became concerned that he might not enjoy the dominance of engineering at MIT. He became more and more convinced that he would prefer to be among a more diverse groups of students. he is still able to be part of study groups, though not by walking down the hall.
But it is quite noticeable that Harvard math undergrads like to go to MIT for grad study and vice-versa. In other words, there is not a lot to choose from between the two in terms of quality and range of offerings.</p>
<p>"Then, he went to an admission session and heard the Dean talk about MIT wanting people who loved to do things with their hands, manes as well as mens."</p>
<p>I don't know why she said that. A lot of engineering fields don't really require you to work with your hands anyway, at least not any more than in science. </p>
<p>I think what she meant to say was that they look for some people who like to do things with their hands.</p>
<p>She may have meant it. But that was not what she said. We're not diviners.</p>
<p>You bring up an interesting point about the engineering culture being a huge difference. I think she meant literally doing things with one's hands and figuratively doing the grunt work of accomplishing something tangible in the world. At an admitted students lunch at MIT, an MIT grad who I believe had also spent time at Harvard said that at MIT, the focus is more on "doing something", whereas at Harvard, the focus is more on "being someone." Somebody at Harvard said something similar, though it was more on the lines of MIT giving one the chance to "play around" in different fields and Harvard making one into a very "well-rounded" scholar. What would you guys say on this line? It sounds a little bit stereotypical to me; how accurate would you say this image of Harvard's focus vs. MIT's focus actually is? (Specifically on the Harvard side since I know a lot about MIT already)</p>
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I believe had also spent time at Harvard said that at MIT, the focus is more on "doing something", whereas at Harvard, the focus is more on "being someone." Somebody at Harvard said something similar, though it was more on the lines of MIT giving one the chance to "play around" in different fields and Harvard making one into a very "well-rounded" scholar.
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<p>This difference may have to do with the predominant academic culture. At Harvard, economics and government are two of the most popular departments . I suspect that many, though by no means all, of the students in these departments have ambitions to "be someone." The type of activities they are involved in probably has less to do with "building something" than at MIT. But many are involved in the performing arts, community service (huge at Harvard), sports, etc... This is what makes Harvard different from MIT.
As for playing around in different fields, I believe that MIT is currently trying to be more multidisciplinary, linking engineering and science to various other disciplines and in particular entrepreneurship. At Harvard it is easy to change majors but there is much less focus on entrepreneurship and practical applications. I don't know, however, how these differences affect the culture of the math departments at H and MIT.</p>
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thats what Bill Gates did. He skipped all of his undergrad classes to go to grad classes.
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<p>What's a primary source for this information?</p>