<p>Does MIT have a strong theoretical mathematics program? I am guessing that there are schools with better theoretical math programs (CalTech maybe), but do any of them also have a very good CS program (particularly in AI)? Thank you.</p>
<p>No, there aren’t really schools with better theoretical mathematics programs. I mean, there are ways you can keep arguing this point, but I don’t think it’s worth it until one definition of “better” is proved supreme. </p>
<p>What I have heard is that MIT has a large mix of mathematics majors - some who are doing the major alongside an applied discipline and some who want to just study theory. I think there are schools which might have smaller mathematics undergraduate programs (Princeton, UChicago maybe?) and of course Caltech. </p>
<p>Caltech is known as an overall theoretical school, but mathematics is theoretical any way you slice it. The thing about Caltech is that even other disciplines may have a theoretical twist on them, and this can either be good or bad, even to someone who definitively likes theory.</p>
<p>You will find very good mathematics students both as graduate and undergraduate students at all of the usual top public research universities, top private universities, Ivy Leagues, etc. There are also strong LACs (Swarthmore, Harvey Mudd are two examples) that have good mathematics students.</p>
<p>But a few schools definitely have a reputation for carrying very strong mathematics undergraduates, and MIT seems to be one of them, Harvard and U of Chicago being two others that come to mind. Some of the above schools I mentioned are ones with uniformly terrific mathematics faculty and resources, but may not do a lot to recruit undergraduates with a strong interest in mathematics, although some invariably end up going to those schools.</p>
<p>CMU has a terrific CS program, but its mathematics program isn’t as rounded in the mainstream world I think. But they’re really amazing at some key things (very much including things involving mathematical foundations, logic, etc … which may be of interest to some among the CS community).</p>
<p>This is very good to hear, mathboy98. My son is planning on majoring in math at MIT. He passed up Princeton’s renowned math department to study at MIT and I think he seems to like theoretical math better than applied but that could change. He loves all the math he’s studied and hopefully, will feel like a kid in a candy store with MIT’s math offerings.</p>
<p>I think there is basically nothing someone at MIT could possibly lack as an undergraduate in mathematics, and even if there were, it would almost certainly be at Harvard. If you want to go theoretical, it’s there. Applied mathematics is greatly augmented by presence of strong departments in neighboring or even some less closely related areas. </p>
<p>And a theoretical mathematics student can get interested in applied topics like physics, which can make heavy use of mathematical machinery. </p>
<p>I highly encourage your son to do what I wish I had done (particularly since he has not quite made up his mind on what he wants to specialize in within applied / pure mathematics): try to learn a little bit more about neighboring fields in his younger days 
and that includes CS, logic, physics, etc.</p>
<p>Well, he’s studied more college physics than college math, so he has an excellent physics foundation. I think that will help him.</p>