<p>Not sure where to put this. X-posted in "Other College Majors." Anyway, I go to a Catholic high school, so I feel kind of obligated to apply to some Catholic schools...problem is, they all seem to have ridiculous core curricula that have everything to do with, like, Western Civ (AP Euro all over again?!?! nooo!!) and nothing to do with, like, math. Are there any that don't have this? Or that at least have well-respected math programs? Obviously ND's a fantastic school, but specifically how is its math program? How does its math fair against, say, NYU? (The colleges most popular at my school now are ND, BC, Georgetown, and Villanova...but they're not necessarily popular because of their math departments.)</p>
<p>If you don’t want a “ridiculous core curriculum,” then don’t come to Notre Dame. (But if you did, you might learn the difference between “fair” and “fare”). If you want hard-core math, check out MIT or Caltech. Or any large state university, for that matter.</p>
<p>Another problem is that you’d have to take, like, English.</p>
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<p>I know ND has a core curriculum, but my main (albeit subjective) question is: is the math department great enough that it’s worth it for me to struggle through a core filled with courses outside my major?</p>
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<p>Touch</p>
<p><a href=“But%20if%20you%20did,%20you%20might%20learn%20the%20difference%20between” title=“fair” and “fare”>quote</a>.
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<p>Fine, you can attack my word choice. In my defense, you also used the “if…then” phrase, in which the “then” is acceptable only when used in logic in mathematics. :-p</p>
<p>very few colleges have no general requirements. in fact, notre dame is quite generous because if you take enough ap classes and score well you can get out of most of them (i have already gotten out of a science - bio, and probably calc 1,2 and physics). However, at schools like MIT, they accept very few ap credits and so you have to actually take the requirements (and there are EIGHT humanity requirements - less at ND).</p>
<p>If you’re looking for the furthest thing from a core curriculum, check out Brown. Whatever you do, steer clear of the University of Chicago, where the curriculum is extremely demanding…and fabulous. You won’t know what you’re missing, however.</p>
<p>Do you know about the math department itself? Is it good? There are a lot of reasons ND is considered one of the best universities in the world…but is math one of them?</p>
<p>Should I be getting the hint that, by the lack of response, ND’s math department is the pits?</p>
<p>Yes. It’s the pits. And you know Catholics have that 3=1 Holy Trinity thing. Never got that.</p>
<p>And stop bumping this useless thread.</p>
<p>Individual undergraduate departments are fairly difficult to rank, based on how many factors and the lack of individual rankings by such organizations as Newsweek. And that’s not to mention the fact that Math is a fairly esoteric major at a lot of places. It’s likely that there might very well not be a math major on CC. I’m an English major, and I know I wouldn’t want to talk about a department I knew nothing about.</p>
<p>Oh, there are math majors on CC. They’re over at Mudd and MIT. But are there really <em>no</em> math majors at ND on CC?</p>
<p>Now, you’re an English major…yet from what I’ve gathered, you are required to take some math as part of ND’s core. I know taking a required course is not at all like majoring in the subject, but still: how have your particular math classes been?</p>
<p>I took one math class, Calculus 2 for Business (much like you’ll only have to take one English class), and I took it first semester freshman year. I am not a math person. Most of the teachers (as is probably the norm everywhere) are not native speakers of English, and are a bit difficult to understand. But my freshman experience would probably have almost no similarity to major electives taken later in your college career.</p>
<p>if you are concerned about math, then go to places like Caltech and MIT. If you are interested in a great experience at one of the best campuses in the world, go to ND. ND will never reach the status that Caltech and MIT have in math, but i think the overall experience at ND is a lot better than the majority of colleges. There is a certain atmosphere about ND that cannot be found in many places - something that you will feel if you visit.</p>
<p>if you still want more info, email someone in the math department at ND. - you can find an email online.</p>