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<p>I can’t see how anyone could rate Caltech as “second tier” when it actually offers the most rigorous undergraduate math program in the US !</p>
<p>^ bruno, it was an MIT study… ;)</p>
<p>bruno, secopnd tier in this case includes Michigan and NYU, both of which are considered as good as Caltech in Math.</p>
<p>I find this debate quite trivial. I mean who really cares? Both Haaaaavard and UChi have excellent math departments. As an undergraduate math major at UChicago I can undeniably vouch for the rigor and quality of the department. It is completely proof based and builds a comprehensive understanding of analysis and algebra from the ground up. While it doesn’t get the recognition it deserves in the States, it is more than well known overseas as one of the most rigorous, if not the most rigorous, undergraduate math departments in the world. I would personally be more than happy to take on any math major at any other school in the world in a ‘test of the minds’ so to speak. People here go to school to learn…not to get a degree. That is what makes this institution unique. It’s not about the end result, but how you reach that end. Remember, sure it might work in practice, but how does it work in theory? That is what math is all about. And to say that just because you have the IAS at Pton is quite humorous. By that standard I can say we have reachable faculty at NW, UofI, UChicago and IIT. Ill gladly take my degree from UChicago over a degree from Pton or Harvard any day. Oh, and by the way, I was accepted at all three and chose Chicago.</p>
<p>I’d say all 11 of the universities in the Big 10 conference are really good for math.</p>
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<p>Been to Harvard recently?:
- under 50% white
- majority female
- 70% on financial aid
- 65% graduated from public HSs</p>
<p>^ Harvard Common Data Set figures: </p>
<pre><code>* 15% In-state students
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85% Out-of-state students
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51% Women
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49% Men
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1% American Indian/Alaskan Native
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19% Asian/Pacific Islander
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8% Black/Non-Hispanic
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7% Hispanic
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41% White/Non-Hispanic
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10% Non-Resident Alien
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15% Race/ethnicity unreported
</code></pre>
<p>That “under 50% white” is at least somewhat debatable on the basis of those figures.</p>
<p>Majority female? I need to get myself to Harvard!</p>
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<p>I hadn’t noticed that 15% declined to report race. If we assume that all of them are in fact white, then the percentage of White / Non-Hispanic U.S. students in Harvard’s student body would be in the mid-50s. But regardless, if you hang out in Harvard Yard during a class day afternoon, the degree of diversity in the population is impressive.</p>
<p>
Aren’t most college campuses slightly majority female these days?</p>
<p>My husband says that many of you folks seem very strangeeeee!!! I must agree. Do any of you think that any other opinions may happen to be valid and important to other people on here, other than just your own, that is? Just sayin’…</p>
<p>Chicago, MIT and Princeton</p>
<p>Although schools with good graduate programs are often likely to have good undergraduate programs, sometimes a school with a good graduate program may have an undergraduate program that can leave students wanting, simply because the faculty that makes a graduate program good can teach undergrads horribly. </p>
<p>My number theory prof says that, while UT-Austin is a good place to do a math PhD, UT-Austin has a [comparatively] horrible undergraduate program; she obtained her PhD from UT-Austin (and, since UT-Austin has a funded mathematics PhD, she likely had to teach undergrads in some capacity for at least one year) so I think she isn’t completely off the mark. </p>
<p>Conversely, there may be quality undergraduate programs at schools whose graduate programs are horrible, or inexistent.</p>
<p>Cambridge is, by far, the best undergraduate math program in the world. Cambridge attracts the best brains in the world for a reason.</p>