<p>Which SUNY has harder math based classes and has more oppurtunities for research for an undergraduate student?</p>
<p>How are we supposed to know that? I wont know which one has more opportunities even though SB has plenty. I feel bad I never took advantage of those research opps and I’m about to graduate… :(</p>
<p>Stony Brook has two math departments (applied math and pure math) both departments are very well recognized but personally I think pure math has harder classes. Here are the rankings for top geometry schools by US news:</p>
<ol>
<li>Harvard</li>
<li>UC Berkeley</li>
<li>Princeton</li>
<li>MIT </li>
<li>Stanford</li>
<li>Stony Brook</li>
</ol>
<p>Thats some pretty good company.</p>
<p>Wow, that is really impressive. How soon do you think that one can get involved with research?</p>
<p>in general, the math department at stony brook is very highly regarded, and to a much larger extent than buffalo.</p>
<p>also it depends on whether we’re talking applied or pure, since they are VERY separate departments at Stony brook.</p>
<p>regarding research, it’s a weird situation. math research is perhaps different from other fields. to do research in most areas of pure math you need an immense amount of background material. so instead of doing research, most advanced students take part in reading courses to learn about a topic they are interested in. there are summer programs to do some research, and you can choose to write a senior thesis in math.</p>
<p>Well based on the differences that I know, I think I will enjoy pure math more.</p>
<p>Look at the courses available at both schools. I don’t know anything about Stonybrook, but DH and I, both math majors were impressed with the texts used by UB when we were looking at through their bookstore. The 4 SUNY cornerstone universities have excellent top level academic opportunities that are very much underrated IMO.</p>