Math at Yale

Colleges and Universities A-Z Yale University
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<p>I see that compared to other top universities’ programs Yale’s math program moves fairly slowly and starts undergraduates at a lower place. Is it normal for math majors to skip Math 230? What about 300/301, 310-315, or 350a and 370b? I see references on Princeton’s site about student’s with experience with proof-writing skipping their equivalent to Math 300.</p>

<p>Another concern I have is that Yale seems to cover many subjects at half to three-quarters the pace of other top schools. For example, the complex analysis covers Ahlfors over two semesters, and undergraduate abstract algebra (basic group theory to introductory commutative algebra) spans four semesters. </p>

<p>Is there a just different philosophy in Yale’s math department, or do students jump around in the sequences a lot? Or I could be just be generalizing too broadly from a few instances of turning normally single-subject classes in sequences of courses.…</p>

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<p>One other thing…</p>

<p>How much emphasis is there on undergraduate research in mathematics at Yale? I see that there is a program, but is it something difficult to earn a place in, and how popular is it? Is it easy—or even possible—to work on research with professors as an undergraduate under normal circumstances?</p>

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<p>One thing you want to bear in mind is that at Harvard and Princeton, the normal courseload is 4 per semester, while at Yale, it is 5 (well, 4.5, but most serious ones do 5, and a few fanatics do 6). So each course may be “lighter”, but you get to take more courses.</p>

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<p>NotRSpektor1729 My kid started out considering Yale as math major since he was also very interested in other subject areas and the whole Yale atmosphere seemed like a really good fit. He contacted the Dept. Chair and he put him in touch with a sophomore student who was able to give good advice. You may want to do the same.</p>

<p>As you probably know, Yale is usually not the top choice for the elite undergraduate math cohort - Princeton, Harvard, MIT and others are usually higher on the list. I do believe that math majors who are at Yale typically like to explore beyond just (pure) math. My own kid is now on the Yale Econ Math major track which is one of the majors in the applied math realm. <a href=“http://catalog.yale.edu/ycps/subjects-of-instruction/economics-mathematics/[/url]”>http://catalog.yale.edu/ycps/subjects-of-instruction/economics-mathematics/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>ummm are you sure you want to skip 230? it has the reputation of being one of the toughest classes on campus. are you already at a higher level than that?</p>

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<p>lolyeah. do not skip 230.
i’m in it and it’s the most time-consuming thing in my life. </p>

<p>there aren’t many (pure) math majors at yale, but access to faculty is definitely there.</p>

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<p>IMO gold medalists have and do take Math 230. You also have the opportunity to do a masters alongside your regular degree if you want, provided that you have straight As in math courses. In terms of research, I know a guy who submitted a first authored paper as a sophomore.</p>

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<p>I had quite a bit of proof writing experience coming into Yale, and I skipped 230 and went straight for 301. I did fine, but I still regret the choice. Reaching on your freshman year classes is rarely the way to set yourself up for success. 230 is very hard, and the experience is fantastic on a number of levels. It is a worthwhile class for any college freshman.</p>

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<p>yeah… reiterating what everyone else is saying, 230 is a pretty intensive course. The course description (“a careful study of functions of multiple variables”) is actually a bit of an inside joke; the actual material covered includes multivariable calculus, linear algebra, intro analysis, point-set topology, differential forms, manifolds, finite fields, and much more. Regarding the “slow pace”, note that most math majors take a bunch of math courses every year. A typical progression for a math major would probably be something like 230/231 and 350/370 freshman year, 310/315 and 380/381 sophomore year depending on your interests. Note also that if you have the necessary background, getting into graduate classes is pretty easy: you literally just show up.</p>

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<p>I don’t see how that is necessarily a good thing. It seems as though it could be a more a time sink if you feel comfortable with the material (proof writing, linear algebra, calculus on manifolds—correct me if something like Spivak’s, Hubbard and Hubbard’s, or Munkres’ texts on this wouldn’t cover the great majority of the topics). I would think that the instructor would add extra topics, but I am still not sure from what I see from past syllabi. </p>

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<p>Introductory real and functional analysis isn’t really “reaching on your freshman classes” when peer universities offer courses freshman courses that explore these subjects and more. Math 230 seems like a lot of work with little payoff.</p>

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<p>It’s still a comparatively slow freshman year, and being a year behind in content compared to math students at other universities means taking advanced courses in subjects I imagine myself wanting to research seems like a setback even if I can take a wider set of courses after freshman year.</p>

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<p>I’m not sure what you’re comparing Yale to? If it’s somewhere like UChicago then yes, they have Honors Analysis for freshmen, but only 5-10 people get to take that. At Harvard, Math 25 is less work than Math 230 (though you explore subjects in greater depth). So I guess if you’re certain that math is all you want to do, then Yale might not be the best place.</p>

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<p>UChicago, Princeton, Harvard, MIT, CalTech, Stanford… </p>

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<p>I suppose that’s what I am ultimately trying to determine.</p>