<p>I'm a rising undergraduate hoping to major in mathematics, but I'm having some trouble comparing programs between schools. I <em>do</em> plan on going to graduate school.</p>
<p>I've gotten into NYU and BU out of state, and UVa, VT, and University of Richmond in-state; however, I'm really looking to go out of state. I'm still waiting to hear back from University of Michigan, so I'll throw that into the mix seeing as it's still a possibility.</p>
<p>Anyways, between BU, NYU, and UMich, what are some pros and cons for each of their mathematics programs for undergrad?</p>
<p>Since you looking to go to grad school, there are several things that I have found important as an undergrad:</p>
<p>Is there an active math club and are competitions like the Putnam popular? Maybe the school hosts its own competition.</p>
<p>Is there a fairly flexible curriculum? It is a great advantage for applying to grad programs if you have already taken grad courses.</p>
<p>How large are the classes? You will most likely want smaller classes. It creates a more relaxed atmosphere in class and it is a great way for professors to get to know you.</p>
<p>How involved are undergrads in research?</p>
<p>That being said, I cannot speak about any of these schools from experience but looking at their websites, NYU and Michigan seem slightly better.</p>
<p>Do you know if you are more drawn to pure or applied math? Michigan is big on pure math and NYU on applied math. BU is very applied too but not nearly as strong as NYU.</p>
<p>If you want to go to graduate school in math, I would sincerely advise you to attend a university with a strong graduate program in math. There’ll be way more resources and your letters of recommendation will carry that much more weight. 90% (19 out of 22) of the American students admitted to MIT’s PhD programs in pure and applied mathematics this year got their undergraduate degree from a a top 10 graduate department. Either there are no bright undergraduates outside of the elite universities, or - more likely - the top graduate programs have little incentives to admit students from weaker programs. Why take a chance on an undergrad from XYZ university when you know that Stanford and Michigan produce several extremely strong undergraduate math majors each year?</p>
<p>b@rium, where did you get this statistic? And were their undergraduate schools also top 10 universities? NYU has a top 10 graduate program in both pure and applied math, but is not a top 10 university overall. Just because BU’s and NYU’s grad programs focus on applied math doesn’t necessarily mean their undergrad programs do. Do all of these schools even offer an applied math major?</p>
<p>I’ve pretty much eliminated BU at this point, so it’s between NYU and UMich. I’m also currently weighing UVa, but from what I hear their math program isn’t all too strong.</p>
<p>poopybrains, the concentrations at Michigan are nothing special, just a different way of organizing the academic program. NYU has a stand-alone actuarial science major and they have a secondary education track for their math majors as well.</p>
<p>just a girl, I got a list of the student admitted to MIT at their graduate open house. I based the statistics on the US News graduate rankings in pure and applied mathematics, not the general undergraduate rankings. </p>
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<p>It is very rare for undergraduate programs to have distinguished pure math and applied math programs because most of the core classes coincide. What usually happens is that there’s a general math major with a set of core requirements and some number of electives, which may be taken in pure or applied mathematics. If you check NYU’s website, you will see that most of their undergraduate electives are indeed applied math courses. The concentration of the graduate program matters to undergraduates because that’s basically all that they are exposed to. It’s what their professors do, what the graduate students do, what their classes are taught on, what talks they will hear in seminars and colloquia, etc. How would an undergraduate student even decide to go to graduate school to study number theory or topology when they have never been exposed to these topics?</p>
<p>Ah, thanks for clarifying the concentrations. I keep seeing different things on lists, so overall, would it be favorable to go to NYU or Michigan? I’m not quite sure what I want to do yet, but I’m leaning towards an NSA job, trying to land a job with a major tech company, or going for a PhD and working in academia. I’m fascinated by both ‘pure’ and ‘applied’ mathematics.</p>
<p>Undergraduate electives, taken from NYU’s math department website. I put an asterix next to the classes that I would consider “applied” or “essential for applied mathematics.”</p>
<ul>
<li>MATH-UA 228 Earth’s Atmosphere and Ocean: Fluid Dynamics & Climate</li>
<li>MATH-UA 233 Theory of Probability</li>
<li>MATH-UA 234 Mathematical Statistics</li>
<li>MATH-UA 235 Probability and Statistics</li>
<li>MATH-UA 240 Combinatorics</li>
<li>MATH-UA 243 Intro to Cryptography
MATH-UA 248 Theory of Numbers</li>
<li>MATH-UA 250 Mathematics of Finance</li>
<li>MATH-UA 251 Introduction to Mathematical Modeling</li>
<li>MATH-UA 252 Numerical Analysis</li>
<li>MATH-UA 255 Mathematics in Medicine and Biology </li>
<li>MATH-UA 256 Computers in Medicine and Biology</li>
<li>MATH-UA 262 Ordinary Differential Equations</li>
<li>MATH-UA 263 Partial Differential Equations</li>
<li>MATH-UA 264 Chaos and Dynamical Systems
MATH-UA 270 Transformations and Geometries</li>
<li>MATH-UA 282 Functions of a Complex Variable
MATH-UA 375 Topology
MATH-UA 377 Differential Geometry</li>
</ul>
<p>All of these courses are heavily proof-based, if you look at the course descriptions. Why would you consider combinatorics, ODEs, and PDEs applied? I don’t see how they are unique to NYU to make it “more applied”. Are there any math departments that do not offer these three classes? Also, look at 233, 234, and 235–you can take at most two of these three for credit.</p>
<p>Applied mathematics is done just as rigorously as pure mathematics. What’s your logic: it’s got proofs, hence it’s not applied math? </p>
<p>Combinatorics is considered applied mathematics by many. See e.g. [MIT</a> Mathematics | Applied Mathematics Research](<a href=“http://www-math.mit.edu/research/applied/]MIT”>Applied Mathematics Research) If you don’t want to call it applied mathematics per se, you will surely agree that it is very applicable? (Unlike, say, topology?)</p>
<p>If the undergraduate courses don’t look applied enough for you, take a look at the graduate course descriptions. Two thirds of the page are applied mathematics straight on the nose (numerical analysis, applied mathematics and mathematical physics, statistics and probability). Half of the remaining third is very relevant to applied mathematics (linear algebra and most of the analysis courses). It’s really only the hardcore algebra, number theory and topology that’s purely pure, but there aren’t very many of those. [Graduate</a> Course Descriptions](<a href=“http://math.nyu.edu/courses/course_descriptions.html]Graduate”>http://math.nyu.edu/courses/course_descriptions.html)</p>