<p>What are some schools (besides CalTech and MIT) with a good mathematics program? I'm aspiring to be a mathematics/number theory major.</p>
<p>You can find the top 25 math department rankings from USNWR here. </p>
<p>[Rankings</a> - Math - Graduate Schools - Education - US News and World Report](<a href=“http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-mathematics-programs/rankings]Rankings”>http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-mathematics-programs/rankings)</p>
<p>These are grad school rankings. I doubt an undergrad ranking list would differ much.</p>
<p>Don’t forget schools like Williams. They won’t appear on that list because they don’t have a graduate program in math.</p>
<p>St. Olaf has a wonderful math program - small LAC in Minnesota</p>
<p>Merely looking at schools with good grad schools makes only some sense. Good grad programs does not mean your undergrad experience will be great. Brown has a great Applied Math department. Even if you’re not into stats, there’s the crazy classes like Number Theory, etc. And the hard tracks we have (i.e. Math 35 and 54 for intro courses) are among the best, if not the best, in being extremely difficult classes because of the amount you must learn and understand.</p>
<p>Mathematics is one of the most traditional majors. As such, it is safe to say that virtually any good university will have a strong Mathematics departments. This said, from a purely academic point of view:</p>
<p>Brown University
California Institute of Technology
Columbia University
Cornell University
Harvard University
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
New York University
Princeton University
Stanford University
University of California-Berkeley
University of Chicago
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
Yale University</p>
<p>Other excellent departments that I know of:
Duke University
Johns Hopkins University
Northwestern University
University of California-Los Angeles
University of Minnesota-Twin Cities
University of Pennsylvania
University of Texas-Austin
University of Wisconsin-Madison</p>
<p>I will second the recommendation for St Olaf. Great math program, particularly statistics.</p>
<p>From previous posts:
LACs for math from Rugg’s:
Bates
Bowdoin
Bucknell
Carleton
Colgate
Dartmouth
Davidson
Dickinson
Harvey Mudd
Holy Cross
Kenyon
Mount Holyoke
Occidental
Pomona
Rice
St Mary’s (MD)
St Olaf
Trinity (CT)
Union
Wabash
Wellesley
Wheaton
Whitman
Willamette</p>
<p>Another set of rankings from previous posts:
Gourman Report ranking for undergrad math:
Princeton
UC Berkeley
Harvard
MIT
U Chicago
Stanford
NYU
Yale
Wisconsin Madison
Columbia
Michigan Ann Arbor
Brown
Cornell
UCLA
Illinois Urbana Champaign
Caltech
Minnesota
U Penn
Notre Dame
Georgia Tech
U washington
Purdue WL
Rutgers NB
Indiana U Bloomington
U Maryland College Park
Rice
UC San Diego
Northwestern
Texas Austin
carnegie Mellon
Johns Hopkins
Washington U St Louis
Ohio State
SUNY Stony Brook
Penn State
UVA
RPI
Illinois Chicago
U Colorado Boulder
U Kentucky
UNC Chapel Hill
Dartmouth
U Rochester
U Utah
SUNY Buffalo
Tulane
USC
UC Santa Barbara
U Massachusetts AMherst
U Oregon
Duke
Louisiana State Baton Rouge
U Arizona
case Western
Michigan State
U Pittsburgh
Brandeis
US Air Force Academy</p>
<p>Gourman’s methodology was suspect and the list is over 10 years old, I think.</p>
<p>But unless you are a real math prodigy, any top 100 university and highly thought of LAC will have what you need to get a very solid foundation and move on to grad school. That is where you really look deeply into specialties like who is tops in Number Theory (which I liked too, btw).</p>
<p>For now, focus on schools that are good fits in overall things you are looking for such as size, location, quality overall of your peers, etc.</p>
<p>Hello. I am a transfer student and will be attending either Cal or UCLA this next fall. My question would be to people who have either graduated from these programs or are currently enrolled in them. I have researched both majors and am still undecided on which one would be my best fit. The Cal major seems to be a more traditional math major with a total of 5 “abstract/proof” related classes, and then whatever classes I wish to make up my area of emphasis cluster. On the other hand, UCLA math/econ major seems to have a little less focus on the proof related classes and a little bit more freedom in both your math electives and economics classes (if I’m correct the UCLA major requires Intro to Analysis, Abstract Algebra, and Numerical Analysis for the “core” proof related classes).</p>
<p>I have taken discreet math so I’m semi-familiar with proofs, although I know that Analysis is THE hardest course in undergraduate and has been known to kick the ass of even the brightest students. I’m not sure as to what I’d like to do after I graduate. I feel that Cal’s major would prepare me slightly better for graduate school in mathematics since it has more proof related core math classes, but at the same time I feel that UCLA’s major would prepare me slightly better for the private sector/work, and/or master’s in various math/finance specialties.</p>
<p>To anyone who is currently in the program and/or has graduated please let me know what you think of your respective education. Obviously both of these schools are amazing; Cal has one of the world’s top math programs (graduate school though), and I’ve been told by my professor who completed a PhD at UCLA that their applied math program is extremely strong. If you have graduated let me know what you are currently doing. Work (what kind), graduate school, etc. Thanks.</p>
<p>violin232: </p>
<p>although I can’t answer your original question, I did want to tell you about a great program that my daughter attended while she was at Brown in Math/CS. It is called Budapest Semesters in Math and it is a 25 year old program that is well respected, one professor at the grad school she is now attending called it ‘excellent’. I think it was a bonus on the CV for grad school applications.</p>
<p>It is a program in math, oriented at theory. There are mostly math majors attending, but there are a few CS theory types there too. Look at the website. </p>
<p>I bring it up so that people who know what they are interested in can plan ahead. She only ‘discovered’ her major through attending college, so was late to her major and this program. She had to give up some other opportuntities to attend Senior year fall. It is a fantastic opportunity.</p>
<p>You can get a US govt Gilman study abroad grant for this if you are Pell Grant elgible, and they award a good amount to about 1/3 of the applicants.</p>
<p>I think Alexandre gave you a pretty definitve list of the top programs. There are also small colleges that are extremely good, but are not mentioned on that list, so see Erin’s Dad’s list for more places to research.</p>