Hi,
How’s the math department at Penn? Faculty? Students? Is it a popular major among CAS students?
Any comments or suggestions very appreciated, esp. those of current students.
Thanks,
@bbbco1234
My oldest son applied to Penn, and was accepted into Penn, as a math major. Ultimately, he chose MIT, but there was a lot to like about Penn in his mind. Sorry I don’t have more info. You can check out this link, though. Seems most math majors go into finance.
http://www.vpul.upenn.edu/careerservices/files/CASFinalReport14.pdf
@sbjdorlo Thanks so much!!
DD is in SEAS, and will probably end up with a math minor, but I don’t know a lot about the math department. I do know that there are a lot of students with related majors that require a lot of math such as engineering, CS, Physics, Economics, and Finance, and they seem to do a good job preparing those students.
DD took Linear Algebra/diff eq. (math 240) and discrete math(CS 160) this year. She thought there were both quite rigorous courses. DD said that in math 240 the professor gave Ds and Fs to 1/3 of the class on the first mid-term, and told them all to do a better job or change majors. lol You will definitely be challenged. They also offer more proof focused courses if that is interesting for you.
@Much2learn Seems like I would like the math department.
I think that the beauty of a math major is that you have an embedded option to change your mind and do something else longer into college than probably any other major. If at any point you decide you are more interested in physics, econ, finance, engineering, computer science, NETS, or anything else, you will never have wasted your time by having taken math classes. It will always be useful. In all of those subjects, you can only go so far without a rather advanced mathematical understanding.
DD feels that Penn does an excellent job of challenging students to be their best, while stopping short of pushing so hard that they can’t enjoy the experience. She works very hard, but she also enjoys her friends and social life. I think that is great. Having said that, DD thrives on challenges more than most students even for Penn. I think you need to enjoy a challenge to really enjoy the experience.
It also seems to me that what happens outside of the classroom is a key component of the Penn experience. The endless opportunities to participate in clubs, participate in research, and develop relationships with other amazing students. There are also interesting speakers on campus all of the time. Often DD will have to decide among three or four interesting opportunities that all overlap. There are not a lot of schools where this level of opportunity is consistently available. The more you are willing to reach out and work to capture as many of these opportunities as possible in your time at Penn, the more you will get out of it.
My experience with the math department has been really good so far, though I’ve only taken one math class. My professor was probably my favorite professor so far, and the TAs were beyond awesome. A lot of people have had more negative experiences with the intro level classes, but I think this is just because even people who aren’t “math people” have to take these intro classes and aren’t the biggest fans of a challenging math class. I’ve heard that the higher level classes are much better taught and more stimulating, so I would say don’t write a math major off if the first intro class you take isn’t the best experience.
I would also look into the Logic, Information, and Computation major if you are interested in math and computer science. It is an interdisciplinary major that is pretty small, but I’ve heard the people in it absolutely love it. I would also look into the Emerging Scholars Program, it is designed for people interested in computer science and math and I found it really interesting and a nice thing to go to every week.