I want to attend a LAC in order to gain a strong foundation in a range of subjects but want to finally major at math? Which LACs offer the best math programs? I like amherst but have heard it doesnt have a great math department whereas it is ranked highly on some lists for math (Niche #22), can someone clarify on this as well?
It depends on how advanced you are. Many advanced kids will find that they run out of desirable courses at most LACs, and also few LACs offer honors tracks in the lower level sequences for the truly gifted students.
That said, Williams and Swarthmore are very strong, probably the strongest of the LACs. Swarthmore does offer honors sequences (at least last I checked), but course selection at both can be limited for the very advanced student. I’d give the edge to Swarthmore for math, but WIlliams does provide some advantages to its own students through its SMALL summer research opportunity.
Amherst is weaker, but proximity to UMass means access to good quality graduate level courses whenever you are ready. UMass is decent in discrete math, as you might expect given its growing strength in computer science.
At lower selectivity, consider St. Olaf, which has had a strong math program for decades now.
If you like Amherst, I wouldn’t be too put off by random comments. No LAC can approach the strength and variety of the top universities for math, but most can get you where you need to go. That is certainly true of Amherst, but don’t expect Putnam level classmates there 
If you provide your long term plans, and some sense of where you are in math now, I could offer some specific ideas, perhaps.
For additional ideas you can consider a Princeton Review sampling, “Great Schools for Mathematics Majors,” in which LACs such as Haverford, Hamilton, Bowdoin, Reed, Carleton, Grinnell and St. Olaf appear. If you do decide on an LAC, you can seek additional variety and challenge through a Budapest semester or an REU.
This is not unique to LACs. You can do this just as easily in a college of arts & sciences at a similarly selective university like Yale, where you are free to take classes in a variety of areas before settling on a major in your sophomore year.
There are universities and LACs with strong core curriculums (e.g. Columbia, St. John’s College), universities and LACs with virtually no curriculum requirements (e.g. Brown, Amherst), and many that fall in between. The size of a college says nothing about its curriculum requirements.
It’s also worth noting that even the largest universities have fairly small math classes - beyond the introductory level, at least - and many universities have relatively few math majors. On average Princeton produces 34 math majors each year, for example, despite having one of the top 5 math programs in the world.
To get back to your question, here are the 20 liberal arts colleges that have produced the most math PhDs over the past 20 years.
95 Harvey Mudd
71 St. Olaf
63 Williams
58 Carleton
52 Swarthmore
51 Pomona
50 Oberlin / Reed
34 Grinnell
29 Haverford
28 Amherst
27 Furman / Whitman
26 Wheaton (IL)
25 Bryn Mawr / Wellesley
23 U Puget Sound / Wesleyan
21 Davidson / Lafayette
thank you @dropbox77177. Currently, I am taking a gap year, I scored a 43 in IB although I had Math SL (7), I’m preparing for Math HL this year and will be giving the exam in May. For my future plans, they’re still under a broad range of areas, I am interested in biomedical research or some tech/math job. I’d be more than grateful if you can help me out by providing me with some possible future paths.
Math is the second most popular major at Williams College, after economics.
Students seem to love the department, which has lots of events for its students and does playful things. (I remember when my kid, not a math major but someone who definitely wanted an intellectual atmosphere, was first looking at Williams, he was charmed by a link he found online to a Williams math department event: a playful staged debate over which is better, differential or integral calculus.)
@TheGreyKing I really like williams’s math department, but I am an applicant from India who will be apply with almost full aid and I know Williams gives good aid to internationals too but I am just not sure. Amherst, on the other hand, is need-blind for internationals.
True. Williams is not need-blind for international students (although it does give aid to international students it admits), but Amherst is need-blind for internationals, and it is a wonderful college, too.
I agree with @warblersrule that you might also want to examine some of the liberal arts centered universities (Ivies, etc.) that are need blind for, and give generous aid to, international students. In addition, you might find some less selective but still excellent colleges and universities that might provide merit aid if you are a strong student.
Good luck in your search!
@Benhead26 - Great for providing some additional information on where you are in the math sequence. Assuming you do as well in Math HL as you have done in your other subjects, you should have no problem coming in at the MVC/Linear Algebra level, and with that you would be fine at any quality LAC in terms of course sequencing and selection for four years.
I’m sure everyone has told you already how difficult it is, not only to gain admission as a foreign student, but especially as one needing financial aid. Amherst may be your best bet due to its need blind policy for internationals. If it works out, you will be able to go anywhere you want to go from there, and between it and UMass you would never run out of courses, especially if you have interests in things like biomedical engineering and computer science (if you do). Ivy universities, as mentioned above, are very attractive, but as a potential math major the international competition will be extreme, with many serious applicants having national and even world-level achievements already in the field. My gut feel says stay with an LAC.
If possible, you might want to add the further maths component to HL. Best of luck, especially with your studies during your gap year!
Thank you so much @dropbox77177 for giving me assurance as to what I am doing is the right way to go
@Benhead26 International admissions and financial aid statistics are hard to come by, and it’s difficult to get a clear picture of your chance of admission and your chance of receiving enough aid to attend.
Amherst demonstrates its commitment to funding internationals by its substantial budget for International financial aid ($8.9Million, one of the highest) and its need-blind status. Having said that, Amherst’s raw numbers are still quite low. According to their 2018-19 CDS they only enrolled 34 first year international students, or 7%, so even though they are need-blind, their percentage of enrolled internationals is on the mid-to-low range for LACS. (We don’t know how many applied or how many were admitted, but its need-blind status may boost the number of applications.)
If you’re interested in an LAC education and need a good deal of aid, I’d suggest that you spend some time reviewing the colleges’ CDSs for figures on how much aid they offer in total and the percentage of internationals they enroll. Among the math friendly LACs listed by @warblersrule, St Olaf & Grinnell score the highest in total dollars budgeted for internationals. Carleton, Reed, Haverford and Harvey Mudd are some of the lowest. The others are in the middle.
Other LACs with substantial international aid budgets are Macalester, Trinity CT, Middlebury, Dickinson & Colgate. I can’t comment on how they stack up in math.
This doesn’t mean that you won’t be one of the lucky few who are admitted with good aid to any LAC. It just means that if you’re targeting LACs, you have to cast a wide net.
Does anyone know how good the Math department at Colgate is? How are the professors? Are there plenty of research opportunities?
No idea about math at Colgate. I suggest you email the admissions rep for your region and look at their course catalog. Colgate is going to have excellent professors and it will be rigorous. You won’t have to worry about not being challenged. It’s an excellent school.
Colgate appears to be one of the few schools that provide detailed information with respect to the number of international applicants admitted (7.9%). This statistic, while obviously not representing great odds, may nonetheless indicate reasonable room for acceptance for a highly qualified applicant – or at least the figure might be reasonably encouraging in the context of peer colleges that do not disclose this information.
https://www.colgate.edu/admission-aid/apply/first-year-class-profile
If you would like an indicator beyond pure opinion, Colgate in recent years has not performed as well as its regional competition in the international Putnam Exam.
https://www.hamilton.edu/news/story/mathletics-team-snow-bowl-victor
https://www.hamilton.edu/news/story/mathletics-team-freezes-out-competition-in-snow-bowl