Professors focused on teaching + good math/physics/CS programs?

College Search & Selection
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<p>The title basically says it. I'd like to go to a college where the faculty are as interested in teaching as they are in research and which also has good programs in math, physics, and/or CS. I will most likely be majoring in at least one of these; math is my primary interest right now, but that may change once I take some physics or CS courses.</p>

<p>My current list (not all fit the above description, though):</p>

<p>MIT
Caltech
Harvey Mudd
Carnegie Mellon
UChicago</p>

<p>Other possibilities are Harvard, Princeton, and Stanford, but I'm not sure about applying to more reaches than it would be profitable to with regard to time spent filling the applications out, and I haven't visited the first two yet.</p>

<p>If this sounds a little too reachy, that is partially why I'm making this post... (Also, Berkeley and/or UCLA are pretty much safeties given my school's past results, but I'm not really inclined towards gigantic universities.)</p>

<p>Brief profile, if it is needed:</p>

<p>Junior, 2360 SAT, 800x3 subject tests, 3.97 GPA, as many AP/honors classes as possible. I have few ECs so far besides self-studying AP Physics B, but I'm trying to fix that this year. Self-studying Calc BC and Physics C, taking linear algebra online and differential equations at a local community college (if registration goes well). With a decent amount of work, making USAMO looks possible.</p>

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<p>Rice and Brown sound like good fits although they would be reachy too. RPI could also work as a safety.</p>

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<p>If you want professors interested in teaching, consider a smaller LAC. Williams, for example, has excellent math and physics.</p>

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<p>Either LACs or top schools that are in the “Masters ranking”.</p>

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<p>Consider University of Rochester. Excellent physics program, one of the best in optics (funded in part by local companies Kodak, Xerox and Bausch & Lomb), no core curriculum, and professors who want to teach students who want to be there. Lots of opportunities for meaningful undergraduate research since there are many fewer grad students than in large universities. You may find undergrad research opportunities to be an issue at schools such as MIT.</p>

<p>ETA: Also good merit aid, for which you would likely qualify.</p>

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<p>I would disagree about University of Rochester, in regards to the teacher focus. They made it very clear at the information session I attended that the primary focus of the faculty is research. If doing undergrad research is your priority, that’s good. Otherwise not so much.</p>

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<p>sylvan8798, while my daughter is not a science major, that hasn’t been her experience at all. She’s found the professors very engaged in teaching, as have her friends who are science majors.</p>

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<p>Reed College.</p>

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<p>Thanks for the replies!</p>

<p>Rice, Williams, Reed, and URochester are all up for consideration. (Rice appears to have especially good programs and a really friendly atmosphere, from what I can gather from CC threads.) Brown’s acceptance rate gives me the feeling that it’s going to be really reachy, and WPI seems too focused on applied math (judging by the student research topics), which may not help if I want to do pure math in grad school. (That’s a pretty uncertain “if”, though.)</p>

<p>St. Olaf is another college I found that has pretty good programs in the fields I listed. (Math is apparently the second most popular major there! Surprising.) It also has a pretty high acceptance rate (50%+). I might look further into it.</p>

<p>Any other suggestions for LACs with good math/physics/CS (any or all) programs? (Universities with undergrad focus would be fine too.)</p>

<p>If relevant, more about me: 3.97 GPA is unweighted, top 10% in class (you almost certainly need a 4.0 to be in the top 5%…). Subject tests in math 2, physics, and chemistry.</p>

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<p>Most top LACs will have good math programs. Harvey Mudd seems like a perfect fit, but you already have it on your list.</p>

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<p>I would probably look at Swarthmore as well. Also by RPI I meant Rensselaer in NY (I saw you mention WPI but WPI wasn’t brought up by anyone else, so you might have gotten RPI and WPI mixed up).</p>

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<p>Add Carleton to your list.</p>

<p>US News ranking #1 for undergraduate teaching :)</p>

<p>One of the largest groups of physics/math/CS majors relative to school population to be found among non-tech uni’s or LACs. Consistent top 5 PhD productivity in the physical sciences/physics among all non-tech schools nationally.</p>

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<p>If you are talking about tops in Math, tops in Physics AND tops in undergraduate teaching then there is clearly one college/university that is way ahead of the pack:</p>

<p>Princeton University</p>

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<p>Add Haverford and Wesleyan (CT).</p>

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<p>Mathematics and Physics will be excellent any top university or LAC, primarily because few undergrads pursue those two majors and partly because they are traditional majors with established departments at virtually every university or college of note. I would focus more on schools that are realistic given your stats and on schools that fit your personality. Given your stats are stellar, I would focus on fit. Columbia and Cornell are definitely schools I would look into.</p>

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<p>^</p>

<p>Sorry Alexandre, but I find your response a bit overly simplistic. </p>

<p>While I’d agree all top universities offer reasonably good math/physics programs, certainly not all offer excellent ones. </p>

<p>Among LACs the variation in quality is even more pronounced, especially in physics given the relatively small program sizes we’re often talking about. Schools with excellent overall academics like Amherst, Vassar, Hamilton and even Bowdoin produce very small numbers of physics majors - all in single digits yearly, often as few as 2 per year. For an applicant with academic strengths at his level, I’d be pretty reluctant to recommend he consider these schools with these specific interests. </p>

<p>Cornell has top academic offerings in both math and physics. But for someone interested in schools where “the faculty are as interested in teaching as they are in research,” I’m not sure Ithaca will be as appealing a destination as MIT or Mudd, for example.</p>

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<p>wbwa, I agree that not all Mathematics and Physics departments are created equal. But the two I suggested (Columbia and Cornell) truly are stellar in both.</p>

<p>Where we disagree is with your suggestion that MIT, Princeton (particularly their Mathematics department) and Stanford have faculties that are more focused on instruction than Cornell. No genuinely top department will ever have a faculty devoted to instruction. That will never happen. The reason why a department is ranked at the top is precisely because its faculty is focused entirely on research. That is not a bad thing mind you. Professors can still be very effective instructors, even when research is their first priority. But I don’t see how any university known for research can be said to have a faculty that is devoted to instruction.</p>

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<h1>5 -

</h1>

<p>I don’t know how you get this info. Undergraduate research at MIT and Caltech is awesome. Students get paid to do research.</p>

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<p>^That’s true at other schools as well. (I hear that there is no shortage of research opportunities at MIT and Caltech, so I’m not worried about that.)</p>

<p>Thanks for the responses, as always. (I did type WPI when I meant RPI, since I was looking at both of them…)</p>

<p>Right now, my expanded list (with additions and deletions made as I learned more about the schools), in rough order of preference:</p>

<p>Almost certainly going to apply to (same as original):
MIT
Harvey Mudd
Caltech
UChicago
Carnegie Mellon</p>

<p>Strongly leaning towards:
Princeton
Rice
Swarthmore
Carleton</p>

<p>Uncertain, but interested (not ordered by preference):
Wesleyan
Northwestern
WUSTL
Cornell
URochester
Macalester</p>

<p>Issue: I can apply to at most 10 of these per school policy, so if I apply to all of the “strongly leaning towards” list, I only have one space left for a safe-ish school. At this point, that’s looking like URochester or Mac, and URochester is looking better for merit aid; I will almost certainly be a National Merit Finalist.</p>

<p>I’m actually not completely sure if I need a safe-ish school, since <one or=“” more=“” of=“” cal=“” and=“” ucla=“”> is pretty much a safety considering past applicants from my school, and those schools have excellent academics. I’ve visited them and sat in on two classes at Berkeley. My biggest concerns about going to <elite uc=“”> are registration frustrations (not being able to get classes you want), less attention from professors, subpar advising, and 5+ year graduation. Besides those, I probably wouldn’t mind going to <elite uc=“”> too much.</elite></elite></one></p>

<p>Any comments, suggestions, etc.?</p>

<p>(If it helps others, one of the reasons I didn’t include schools like RPI, WPI, and Rose-Hulman is the bad male-female ratio at those schools - those ratios are worse than at MIT, Harvey Mudd, and even Caltech.)</p>

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<p>Given your stats, you should apply to Michigan. A full ride is not out of the question.</p>