I am interested in a variety of colleges, but am having a difficult time finding helpful data to gauge the strength of their math departments, mainly because none of them have graduate programs. The colleges I am most interested in are:
Williams
Amherst
Middlebury
Bowdoin
Bates
Colby
Hamilton
Which of these have strong math programs??
I am only looking at schools in the northeast, want to run d3 or d2 cross country, and want a college in a rural area.
1 out of 100 class rank
4.0 unweighted GPA
Student council president
Xc captain
2300 sat as sophomore
etc
I don’t think you will find material differences in that list of schools. It will come down to where you get in based on that list.
I do know Bates has Math Camp which is a very intensive course during the short semester. Math all day for 5 weeks. Most probably have a thesis or capstone component.
Some may have more Math majors than others but all have highly regarded Econ programs which would indicate lots of students take advanced Math.
If you google the Common Data Set for each it will tell you how many people graduate in each major. You can then decide if you want a larger or smaller program and look at the classes offered.
@VryCnfsd how do you dig up those numbers? Very helpful for this poster, and I’m wondering down the line for my own kid who isn’t as far along in the process… might end up looking at math, but maybe physics, etc. And in his case, we’d be looking at not-rural I think (Swarthmore?).
How advanced are you in math courses? If you will complete math courses beyond calculus before high school graduation, you may want to prioritize a large availability of upper level and graduate level math courses.
Of the schools you listed initially, Williams probably has the strongest “native” math department offerings. Amherst has access through cross registration to additional math courses at nearby University of Massachusetts - Amherst. But check course catalogs, schedules, and faculty rosters to see what upper level math courses and undergraduate research opportunities may be available at each school.
@washugrad The data comes from the NSF survey of earned doctorates. I downloaded the data from WebCASPAR after following a link from NSF. I pulled out the data for the last five years in math a while back and have found it very useful. The biggest surprise for me was St Olaf, with 28 in math. Swarthmore had 14.
@ucbalumnus Yes, I am taking calculus BC my junior year and then a math course beyond calculus at a local college my senior year. If the school I go to accepts my AP credit, I will probably start college as a sophomore, but Williams doesn’t accept AP credit. Most others do.
Does this make a degree from Williams more valuable in some way, as I would have to go there for 4 years? I believe Dartmouth is the same way.
However, even if the college does not accept AP credit or college credit taken while in high school as credit toward the number of credits needed for graduation, it may use the AP scores or college credit for placement into more advanced courses.
For example, Williams accepts a 3 or higher on AP calculus BC as substitution for MATH 140 (Calculus II) and eligibility to enroll in MATH 151 (Multivariable Calculus) or 200 (Discrete Math), according to http://web.williams.edu/admin/registrar/faq/ap.html .
For the college course, save the syllabus, graded exams, and other course materials so that you can show them to the math department at the college you attend, in order to determine subject credit equivalency.
If you do need to repeat or partially repeat a course, consider taking the honors version if such is offered.
The PR compilation may be based on statistical factors. For example, Bowdoin and Hamilton are the only two of your choices that have math listed under “most popular majors” in the current USNWR.
Beyond the measurable aspects of these colleges, spend some time perusing the math course descriptions in their catalogs. You may find they vary substantially in their appeal to you.
