<p>How is Princeton's math program for advanced math students?</p>
<p>So strong and fabulous, with so many exceptional students, some of whom published papers and proofs in High School.
Plus, you get to be taught by great Mathematicians like John Conway, freshman year :)</p>
<p>both of this year’s Goldwater recipients are math majors</p>
<p>Among the absolute best!</p>
<p>are there math majors who skipped the 215-217-218 sequence because they have taken equivalent courses at their local public university? Or it wouldn’t be a good idea?</p>
<p>not advisable to skip it. a good rule of thumb for skipping the honors track freshman math and physics courses @ pton is ‘did you win a medal at IMO or IPhO?’
there will be plenty of people in the class who have taken it before. perhaps even a majority…</p>
<p>^No one skips the 215-218 sequence, NOT EVEN IMO medalists.
However, what IMO medalist do is taking 2 OTHER 300-level math courses along with the original sequence ( 3 heavyweight math courses per semester as a freshman)</p>
<p>I wouldn’t say that Ghastn. A lot of people I know (myself included) didn’t take 218, for instance. I know some who didn’t take 215 or 217, though that’s less common (and many IMO medalists did take them). </p>
<p>Bottom line is that they won’t stop you from trying to take anything, but you should at least take 215/217 for a few weeks. If you find you are very well prepared then you can drop.</p>
<p>That’s helpful! Actually, I’m asking for my son because he is not participating on this forum. When he looked at the description of the courses and sample problems, he said 218 seems too easy, 215 he wasn’t sure about, and 217 he should take. It does correlate with what Princeton2014 said.
Also, one doesn’t have to be an IMO medalist to have been exposed to the material in these courses. Btw, I’m curious how many IMO medalists attend Princeton? I thought the majority of them go to H. And there only 6 each year anyway.</p>
<p>Even though Princeton’s Program in math is as good and probably harder than Harvard, it is true that most IMO medalist go to Harvard.
I only know of 3 freshmen at Princeton this year( I would guess there are around 6 freshmen). I am not sure about IPhO or USAMO, though.
As for the numbers: it is 6 per country per year. So, there are more than 6 IMO medalist out there…
@Princeton2014: I guess you are right, but I think some people are in the sequence for an easy A. In fact, the kid who is taking 3 maths got an A+ in 215.</p>
<p>I keep forgetting about the international IMO medalists! Of those who end up in this country, probably, MIT snatches most, then Harvard. I would also like to ask math majors what they think about the choice between Princeton and Stanford for math? I need an honest opinion. So far we are hearing Stanford would be better. As parents, we don’t have strong opinions and would be happy with either choice. Both Princeton and Stanford have some advantages over each other. Financially, they are also very similar. Could you give us reasons why our son should go Princeton? He is very advanced in math, but not an IMO medalist.</p>
<p>Stanford? Really? I hear big debates about Harvard vs. Princeton for math, but rarely Stanford.</p>
<p>Alumother,
please be more specific. I don’t know the context to understand what you mean.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>rofl Stanford houses quite a number of USAMO qualifiers</p>
<p>Princeton has long been at the absolute pinnacle of mathematics and there are few other institutions in the U.S. considered to be its rivals. In pure math and theory, Harvard and the Courant Institute at NYU are also highly regarded while MIT is considered quite strong as well. In the fall of 2010, the National Research Council released its long overdue rankings of graduate programs at major U.S. universities. Those rankings are considered the “gold standard” of academic department evaluations.</p>
<p>In both applied and pure mathematics, the National Research Council (averaging the “S” and “R” scores) ranked Princeton’s programs number one in the nation. </p>
<p>For more details regarding the survey and the above ranking, see:</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/princeton-university/1006939-princeton-2010-national-research-council-nrc-rankings-news-item.html?highlight=national+research+council[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/princeton-university/1006939-princeton-2010-national-research-council-nrc-rankings-news-item.html?highlight=national+research+council</a></p>
<p>There are four major international prizes in mathematics:</p>
<p>Fields Medal</p>
<p>Princeton has had nine alumni and faculty members win the Fields Medal, more than any other U.S. Institution. The Fields Medal is often referred to as the “Nobel Prize of Mathematics”. The next closest U.S. Institution is Berkeley with eight alumni and faculty members, followed by Harvard and the U. of Chicago with six each. Internationally, Princeton is tied with the Ecole Normale Superieure in France.</p>
<p>Wolf Prize</p>
<p>Michael Artin, one of this year’s two Wolf Prize Winners in mathematics graduated from Princeton in 1955. The Wolf Prize is considered second only to the Fields Medal for mathematics. More Princeton graduates and faculty members have won Wolf Prizes than those associated with any other institution.</p>
<p>Fermat Prize</p>
<p>The last three winners of the Fermat Prize in Mathematics have been associated with Princeton and Princeton is more heavily represented than any other institution.</p>
<p>Abel Prize</p>
<p>Two Princeton graduates have won the Abel prize, giving Princeton more winners than any other institution.</p>
<p>I meant that here on CC I rarely hear Stanford mentioned in the same breath as Princeton and Harvard, when it comes to Math.</p>
<p>PtonGrad2000,
Thank you for the list. However, it’s not totally clear how it translates to the current state of education in the math department.
Do undergraduates receive a lot of attention from faculty?
Are faculty approachable? Or students are mostly left to their own devices?
Do faculty involve undergrads in their research?
How common it is for undergrads to do research during the academic year and during summer?
Is it easy to get funding for summer research?
Do any undergrads travel abroad to study math or do research?
Is there work study opportunities for undergrads at the department (e.g., grading problem sets, tutoring).
In general, what is the culture in the department? Is there collaboration among students?
What else can you think of that could help an aspiring mathematician to make an informed choice between Princeton and Stanford?
Please, any math major, if you could answer some of the questions, this would be very appreciated.</p>
<p>Hello, I’m a current math major who can answer some of those -</p>
<p>Do undergraduates receive a lot of attention from faculty?</p>
<p>Very much so. This might be the single greatest thing about the department in my opinion. You have to initiate it though, but they’re more than willing to speak/work with you.</p>
<p>Are faculty approachable? Or students are mostly left to their own devices?</p>
<p>Again, definitely. They always have weekly office hours for any given class and I’ve had plenty of success just emailing someone asking to talk about something. </p>
<p>Do faculty involve undergrads in their research?</p>
<p>I don’t know about in “their” research. I know that I wouldn’t understand most of it at this point 
You could talk to them about it though, of course. I did have a professor who was constantly citing papers he’d written for “further reading”. </p>
<p>How common it is for undergrads to do research during the academic year and during summer?</p>
<p>Very common, especially during Junior and Senior years. After all, you have to write a senior thesis, and Junior Papers are also an option each semester (that or a seminar). What you write is largely up to you, so if you want to do research then you will. </p>
<p>Is it easy to get funding for summer research?</p>
<p>I know they give ~20 grants for students to do research with a professor during the summer on campus. They also have an application for funding to do research outside of Princeton, but I’m not sure how often that is used. </p>
<p>Do any undergrads travel abroad to study math or do research?</p>
<p>I don’t think this is particularly common, but it happens.</p>
<p>Is there work study opportunities for undergrads at the department (e.g., grading problem sets, tutoring).</p>
<p>Yep. Some students grade for classes they’ve completed, and there’s a few tutoring opportunities.</p>
<p>In general, what is the culture in the department? Is there collaboration among students? </p>
<p>Collaboration is definitely the name of the game. Just so long as everyone writes their own answers, they encourage collaboration, and without it problem sets would really be quite unwieldy. </p>
<p>I can’t help directly with Princeton vs. Stanford since I have no experience with Stanford.</p>
<p>Thank you! Telling about Princeton is the best help!</p>