math department

Colleges and Universities A-Z Middlebury College
1

<p>How strong is the math department at Middlebury, and Amherst, Washington & Lee and Hamilton?</p>

2

<p>For the most part Math department strength is irrelevant for undergraduate because you learn the same stuff. There are great teachers at all of these schools and you should seek out those individuals while you are there. Linear algebra is a course you will likely have to take and because of my teacher I enjoyed while friends of mine at other schools hated it because the professor had a completely different approach. I am at middlebury and have heard great things about teachers</p>

3

<p>I don’t have current experience with the math department, but I’ll tell you this, Williams is widely regarded as having one of the best undergrad programs in math. Middlebury and Williams hold an annual math competition against each other. It has turned into a serious rivalry with the victory going back and forth between the two schools.</p>

4

<p>Yes, the competition is the “Green Chicken” competition, named after the whacky trophy (casserole dish) awarded to the winning team, first by then-Middlebury math professor Bob Martin. Urban: wish victories did go back and forth; unfortunately, Williams probably wins 5 of every 6 competitions! Still supposed to be a lot of fun for the students.</p>

5

<p>The record is actually Williams 25, Middlebury 9, tie 1.</p>

6

<p>Thanks for getting my facts straight guys.</p>

7

<p>Thanks a lot for the reply.
Wlsc, How many math and computer science majors graduate each year at Middlebury?</p>

8

<p>Degrees awarded:</p>

<p>2011: 7 computer science, 7 mathematics
2010: 6 computer science, 12 mathematics
2009: 5 computer science, 10 mathematics
2008: 3 computer science, 7 mathematics
2007: 4 computer science, 6 mathematics
2006: 8 computer science, 17 mathematics
2005: 5 computer science, 9 mathematics
2004: 2 computer science, 14 mathematics
2003: 9 computer science, 11 mathematics</p>

<p>Note: Students with double or joint majors are only counted once under their FIRST major, since they only receive one degree from the college</p>

9

<p>Thank you so much, Arcadia; where did you get these data? how can I find this kind of data of other colleges like Amherst, wellesley, colby?</p>

10

<p>What you can do is look at the Common Data Set (CDS) - Section J for each college. It will give you the percentage for major subject areas and must add up to 100%. It won’t necessarily give you the total number of degrees, but you can use the freshman class size (CDS Section C2) as a proxy.</p>

<p>For example, Middlebury’s 2011-2012 CDS shows 1.85% in math and 0.92% in computer science.</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.middlebury.edu/media/view/292348/original/middlebury_cds_2011-2012.pdf[/url]”>http://www.middlebury.edu/media/view/292348/original/middlebury_cds_2011-2012.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>By contrast, Williams’ 2011-2012 CDS shows 7.7% in math and 2.8% in computer science. The Williams CDS also shows total number of majors: 55 math and 20 computer science, as well as the total number of degrees 528 and double majors 186.</p>

<p><a href=“http://provost.williams.edu/files/11_12_common_data_set_final.pdf[/url]”>http://provost.williams.edu/files/11_12_common_data_set_final.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Many LAC’s have 5% or more of students majoring in math.</p>

<p>EDIT: See also <a href=“http://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/[/url]”>http://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

11

<p>Amherst: 10 computer science, 7 mathematics
Colby: 0 computer science, 13 mathematics
Hamilton: 11 computer science, 17 mathematics
Washington & Lee: 2 computer science, 11 mathematics
Wellesley: 10 computer science, 10 mathematics
Williams: 18 computer science, 23 mathematics</p>

12

<p>There must be bad data on that site. Williams reports on CDS’s:</p>

<p>Williams 2011: 55 math, 20 CS
Williams 2010: 55 math, 13 CS
Williams 2009: 55 math, 18 CS
Williams 2008: 48 math, 13 CS
Williams 2007: 50 math, 16 CS
Williams 2006: 43 math, 9 CS</p>

<p><a href=“http://provost.williams.edu/institutional-research/[/url]”>http://provost.williams.edu/institutional-research/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

13

<p>^^Maybe it has something to do with the fact that the CDS will double count majors (i.e., a double math and physics major will be counted twice)?</p>