<p>In your opinion, what are the top colleges in the world for undergraduate math?</p>
<p>CalSci :D</p>
<p>I tease.</p>
<p>MIT</p>
<p>10 char</p>
<p>I say Massachusetts Institute of Technology.</p>
<p>I’d say in the top 5 (No particular order)</p>
<p>Harvard, MIT, Cambridge, Princeton, Caltech</p>
<p>chicago maybe</p>
<p>MIT and Oxbridge definitely.</p>
<p>Totally biased b/c I’m going there this fall, but Chicago should have a good shot at top 5, probably a lock for top 10.</p>
<p>MIT, Caltech, Princeton, Harvard, Chicago.</p>
<p>oxbridge fosho
caltech a distant third</p>
<p>It depends on criteria of judgment. If you ask senior mathematicians, the impression is that the top 4 are Harvard, Princeton, Chicago, MIT. I recently heard from a professor at Michigan that Stanford’s program is going to be a clear top 5 in a few years, and that they’re building to be a great undergraduate program.</p>
<p>At least in terms of what I’ve seen from professor’s opinions, Caltech doesn’t seem to be on par with these 4. It gets “lay mathematician” prestige from doing well in the Putnam Contest, but no one really takes such contests seriously outside of the undergraduate population. This is also why Chicago isn’t seen as a top 5 program by lay mathematicians - because it only has a few participants each year, and the best tend to abstain.</p>
<p>In conclusion, in terms of lay prestige, the top 5 are Caltech, MIT, Harvard, Princeton, Stanford. In terms of reputation by senior mathematicians, the top 4 are Chicago, MIT, Harvard, Princeton, with Stanford and Caltech vying for that last position, although neither of the latter 2 are deemed on par with the former 4. (I’m excluding Cambridge here, as I’m uncertain of its reputation via professor’s opinions. It has a strong showing for lay prestige, though.)</p>
<p>I’m going to have to agree with failboat in saying that its CalSci. Their math department is headed by an absolute genius. i had the opportunity of sitting in on one of his lectures and it blew my mind. The name of the professor heading the department is “Charlie Eppes”, perhaps you’ve heard of him.</p>
<p>MIT > Harvard, guys. ;)</p>
<p>Lulz at most people forgetting that the rest of the world exists.</p>
<p>MIT, Caltech, Tsinghua, Princeton, Cambridge, Caltech (Oxford is generally considered better at artsy stuf. But it sucks in general.)</p>
<p>Would Cambridge be better than the rest in terms of math though?</p>
<p>B/c I got an offer from Cambridge, but if MIT, Caltech, Harvard or Princeton also take me, I will have to make a difficult decision.</p>
<p>I don’t really know about math(s) at Cambridge, but if it’s like other subjects, you generally start off studying it at a higher level than you do at American schools. And, since you’re only studying math, you specialize earlier on. You also get a lot more 1-on-1 time with professors at Cambridge than you do at other schools.</p>
<p>So, in terms of specialization and general level of study, Cambridge might be better. I think it depends on what you’re looking for. For simple comparisons, US study is often called wide while UK study is considered deep. In the US, people generally pursue graduate and postgraduate degrees if they want/need that depth.</p>
<p>Cambridge is however, much poorer than all the other schools. Except maybe Tsinghua. I have no idea what money Tsinghua has. Also remember that Cambridge’s resources aren’t evenly divided. Some colleges have more cash (and more cachet) than others. If I remember correctly though, you were fished to Magdalene, which is pretty well off. I’m not sure how well-off, but they’re ridiculous White Tie May Balls make them sound pretty rich.</p>
<p>Do remember though, if you get into MIT, that it and Cambridge have a program where a student at one can do a year abroad at the other. I was much comforted by that until I realized that for some reason, it’s not offered for my subject.</p>
<p>^ If I end up going to Cambridge, I probably wouldn’t want to go do the MIT exchange program b/c it’ll put me way behind in my tripos.</p>
<p>So Cambridge is quite poor in comparison to the other schools mentioned above?</p>
<p>Does anyone know how rich Magdalene is? I know Trinity is quite rich, but every time I think about Trinity I am kinda disappointed I didn’t get in Trinity. So if anyone knows some really good pros about Magdalene speak up please!</p>
<p>I’ve heard of CalTech and Princeton as being good.</p>
<p>Oxford, Cambridge, MIT, Princeton and Harvard.</p>
<p>As though there’s much of a difference between any of the big names…</p>