Math at Swat

<p>Math and/or physics at Swat. Any feedback?</p>

<p>My son is a physics major. Loves it. Any particular questions?</p>

<p>Both are very strong, though the physics department has a better track record of placing graduates at top PhD programs than the math department. (S1 was a math major and physics minor. In the jurrasic period I was a math minor at Swat).</p>

<p>Comments on grad school placement for math? My son really wants grad school.</p>

<p>This publication shows where graduates of different majors go in the first year after graduating from Swarthmore:
<a href=“http://www.swarthmore.edu/Documents/administration/careerservices/Post-Graduation%20Plans%20by%20Major%202004-2012.pdf”>http://www.swarthmore.edu/Documents/administration/careerservices/Post-Graduation%20Plans%20by%20Major%202004-2012.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>The challenge that math departments of all liberal arts colleges have in placing graduates at top PhD programs is that graduate school admission in mathematics now relies to a greater extent on the track record of applicants in graduate level courses taken while undergraduates. While Swarthmore’s honors seminars are great, and Swarthmore graduates who do go to graduate school in math do very well, Swarthmore’s classes and seminars do not look to graduate school admissions committees like graduate level courses. </p>

<p>So in making admissions decisions the math graduate schools are comparing applicant X who went to big state U Y and got good grades in a year’s worth of graduate level math with applicant Z from Swarthmore who took Swarthmore’s honors seminars in math. Given the large number of applicants with stellar qualifications, Swarthmore’s math graduates do relatively more poorly in math graduate school placement than Swarthmore’s physics graduates do in physics graduate school placement.</p>

<p>Feel free to PM me if you want more details. S1 is now in a top 20 math PhD program, but it was not a straight line journey from Swarthmore to grad school.</p>