Princeton vs MIT for Pure Mathematics

Colleges and Universities A-Z Princeton University
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<p>I have offers from these two, and need to decide by the deadline, which is rapidly approaching. I attended MIT's CPW, and plan to visit Princeton next weekend.</p>

<p>In terms of academics (math and the general ed requirements), social life and the undergraduate experience, which one would prepare me better for graduate school?</p>

<p>I'm going to ignore costs, as I am more concerned about the things listed above, but Princeton gave me a really nice package. Total family contribution is 20,000. Haven't heard back from MIT yet, but I doubt it'll be close.</p>

2

<p>For pure mathematics, I’d go with Princeton. Princeton is ranked #1 in math!! I went to CPW too. Buttt, I decided that I want a richer, more diverse environment for undergrad. And same here, MIT gave me a horrible financial aid package. They were about 20K off from Princeton’s amount in grants</p>

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<p>How much did Princeton give you?</p>

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<p>30K ish 10char</p>

5

<p>So you pay only 20k then?</p>

6

<p>Both MIT and Princeton will do a great job in preparing you for graduate school. The difference is in the overall atmosphere. </p>

<p>MIT is serious science. Everyone wants to be a scientist or an engineer. MIT offers an outstanding education in math, science and engineering; the best in many fields.</p>

<p>Princeton offers an outstanding education in math, science and engineering, AND the liberal arts, AND the fine arts. If you want to major in math and to take economics, attend campus plays, go to a football game, study a foreign language, become a creative writer, study literature or philosophy then Princeton is the choice. Your roommates at Princeton will be foreign language majors, future attorneys, science majors, economic majors, future politicians, future college professors in the liberal arts, etc.</p>

<p>MIT has a very easy process for enrolling in classes. Many students enroll in more classes than they plan to take and sample classes for a week or two. If the class size is too large professors will emphasize how difficult they plan to make the course to discourage students from taking the course. When I attended MIT would allow students to take a overload of courses. MIT has very few bureaucratic obstacles.</p>

<p>You need to compare MIT’s frat life vs Princeton’s eating clubs by talking to students. One environment may appeal more to you.</p>

<p>If you want to live, eat, and breath science with everyone you meet then MIT is the bastion of science and engineering. MIT is big city; Princeton is small town.</p>

7

<p>Any current Princeton math majors who can elaborate?</p>

8

<p>Hey.</p>

<p>I’ve taken 7 math classes at Princeton so far, including their freshman sequence (215-217-218), three 300-level courses, and one 400-level.</p>

<p>I have many, many friends at MIT, and here is what I find that makes Princeton stand out:</p>

<p>a) The professors. I do not doubt at all that the Professors at MIT are amazing at what they do, and they are some of the best in their field. What I can talk about is that when it comes to the professors, I think Princeton would be by far the best. I probably don’t need to mention that the professors are among the best in their fields - where else do these professors go if not Princeton, MIT, Harvard, etc.? The difference, though, is in the teaching. The teaching at Princeton, by the professors, is the best teaching I have ever had. You will rarely, if ever at all, see students not going to lecture, because the professors explain things in such a way that it makes the ideas seem as well-motivated and natural as possible, giving you the right intuition and way of thinking about abstract concepts that usually comes much later. </p>

<p>I bring this up only because I know that at other universities, this is not true; students are stuck with bad professors, and that’s it. At Princeton, I can only name 2, maybe 3 professors people are generally not happy with; the rest, however, people thoroughly enjoy. Not only in class, but out of class, too - whether that be at the daily tea, or just stopping by the professor’s office, they are always available, always welcoming, and almost always amazing teachers.</p>

<p>The faculty to student ratio at Princeton is, for example, almost 5 times better than it is at MIT (for the math department). You get very individualized instruction, and eventually go on to work with the professors individually on a paper. I really think this is the place to be.</p>

<p>On a side note, notice this; despite the fact that many math people would choose MIT or Harvard over Princeton, and despite the fact that the department is smaller than most, Princeton is still known for it’s amazing department and the amazing students that graduate, as you can see by looking up where famous mathematicians went to college, or just taking a look at how competitive Princeton is at Putnam despite these apparent disadvantages. </p>

<p>If you have any other questions, feel free to ask.</p>

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<p>Haha, I realized that I started with ‘a)’ and never continued. I could write for days about it, but I realized the post was getting long enough as it is. </p>

<p>Just ask if you are curious about something specific.</p>

10

<p>Yah, it seems that taking humanities and the other general education requirements would be much more enjoyable at Princeton than at MIT.</p>

<p>How easy would it be for an undergrad to do some research/ write a paper? I know at MIT, lots of students research with their professors, is it the same for Princeton?</p>

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<p>LOL</p>

<p>The following table lists Teams with First place finishes (as of 2009[update] competition):</p>

<p>First Place Team (s)
27 Harvard<br>
9 Caltech<br>
6 MIT<br>
4 Toronto, Washington U in StL<br>
3 Brooklyn College, Duke, Michigan State<br>
2 Brooklyn Polytech, Cornell, Waterloo<br>
1 UC Berkeley, UC Davis, Case Western Reserve, Chicago, Princeton, Queen’s </p>

<p>Princeton won Putnam math competition only ONCE. … LOL LOL</p>

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<p>Putnam results are the worst way to determine which college has a better math program.</p>

<p>Plus, I am not really interested in those competitions. I want to go to grad school and eventually do research in pure mathematics.</p>

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<p>Of course, US news ranking is also not the best way to determine which college is better.</p>

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<p>Of course not.</p>

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<p>hahahaha Gmanman just got shut down…Did you get rejected from Princeton? lmaoo…</p>

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<p>Princeton math students are required to conduct research/write a paper both their junior and senior years. Juniors write a JP or Junior Paper and seniors are required to write a research thesis. For both research projects you meet frequently with a senior faculty member to discuss your research.</p>

<p>The department has approximately 70 faculty and research staff, 70 graduate students, and 70 undergraduate majors. Calculate the faculty student ratio yourself.</p>

<p>The Fields Medal is a prize awarded to two, three, or four mathematicians not over 40 years of age at every four years by the International Mathematical Union. The Fields Medal is often viewed as the top honor a mathematician can receive. The Fields Medal is often described as the “Nobel Prize of Mathematics” for the prestige it carries. Since 1936 there have been 48 Field Medal awarded. Over three fourths of the world’s greatest mathematicians (37) selected by the International Mathematical Union have lived in Princeton, N.J. having been affiliated with Princeton University, The Institute for Advanced Study, or both institutions.</p>

<p>The Institute for Advanced Study is about a mile from the Princeton campus. Four of the first five faculty members came from the Princeton University math department. Albert Einstein was the fifth. The Institute faculty originally had offices in the Princeton University math department building.</p>

<p>Professor emeritus Harold Kuhn *50 said, “If you sat long enough in the Fine Hall (math building) common room you eventually would have tea with 98 percent of the world’s great mathematicians.</p>

<p>Derivate, avoid listening to the ■■■■■■. Gather information from graduates from Princeton or MIT. I loved MIT as a graduate student and hitting the Boston nightclubs. For an undergraduate experience where you major in one subject but need to obtain a broad education Princeton is hard to beat.</p>

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<p>Thanks a lot. I think this is the selling point for me. I think I will go with Princeton.</p>

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<p>Gman, maybe you should put the top 5 finishers since 1990 in the Putnam Math Competition and exhibit it in a table.</p>

<p>and when reviewing the table below, please keep in mind that MIT has 3x as many Math major undergraduate students as Princeton.</p>

<p>[William</a> Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Lowell_Putnam_Mathematical_Competition]William”>William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition - Wikipedia)</p>

<p>The following table lists teams that finished in the top five since 1990 (as of 2009[update] competition):</p>

<p>Top Five Team (s)
19 Harvard<br>
**14 MIT<br>
13 Princeton **
12 Duke<br>
8 Waterloo<br>
7 Caltech<br>
6 Stanford<br>
4 Toronto<br>
3 Cornell, Washington U in StL<br>
2 Chicago, UC Berkeley, Harvey Mudd, University of Michigan, Yale<br>
1 Miami University</p>

19

<p>Simpson’s Paradox!!!</p>