<p>My S got accepted by Harvard, Princeton, Yale, and Stanford. He wants to major in Applied math and Economics. Which school is the best for him? </p>
<p>Your advice is greatly appreciated.</p>
<p>Any of them would be great. Probably a slight advantage to Harvard or Stanford, especially on the math side, because those schools attract more math people. I know Harvard has a very vibrant applied math concentration. All four have fabulous economics departments, Harvard Stanford Princeton being perhaps marginally more fabulous than Yale. The possible advantage to Yale is less crowding, since math and economics are a little less popular there (and the faculty is still first rate).</p>
<p>The academic differences in these very mainstream fields where all four universities are solidly among the best in the world aren’t really a basis for choosing which one to attend. Your son should probably base his choice on other factors (location, feel, cost, etc.).</p>
<p>JHS said pretty much what I’d say. I think of Harvard as more of a pure math, than an applied math place. But I could be totally wrong on that. Back in my day, Apple math (as it was known) included all the computer scientists, but it doesn’t any more. There are real differences in how housing is organized, the locations and of course the weather. I wouldn’t worry that much about the majors.</p>
<p>The results of the 2008 William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition have been announced. The Putnam competition is widely considered the most prestigious math competition for college undergraduates in the U.S. and Canada and is administered out of the Department of Mathematics at Harvard which houses the offices of the Mathematical Association of America. Teams from 545 universities competed this year, including (I believe) all of the Ivy League schools.</p>
<p>This year, Harvard took first place for the second year in a row while Princeton took second, the same ordering as last year. Princetons team won the competition two years ago, but Harvard has far more first place team finishes than any other school. The top five teams are singled out for honors. This year the ordering of the top five was identical to that of last year with the exception of the 5th place award. This year 5th place went to CalTech whereas last year it had gone to Duke.</p>
<p>For those interested in studying math at Princeton, Princeton has a long and storied history in mathematics and the current Chair of the Department is Andrew Wiles who became famous for proving Fermats Last Theorem which had been one of the great unsolved mathematics problems for over three centuries. Wiles was knighted by the British government for his proof.</p>
<p>2008 Putnam Team Finishes</p>
<p>1st — Harvard
2nd — Princeton
3rd — MIT
4th — Stanford
5th — CalTech</p>
<p>Top Five Finishes in the Last 20 Years</p>
<p>19 — Harvard
13 — Princeton, MIT
12 — Duke
9 ---- U. of Waterloo
6 ---- CalTech
5 ---- Stanford
4 ---- U. of Toronto
3 ---- Cornell, WUSTL & Yale
2 ---- U. of Chicago, Harvey Mudd, Michigan & Berkeley
1 ---- U. of Miami & Rice</p>
<p>Top Five Finishes in the Last 10 Years</p>
<p>9 — Harvard
8 — Duke & MIT
6 — Princeton
4 — CalTech</p>
<p>Top Five Finishes in the Last 5 Years</p>
<p>5 — Princeton & MIT
4 — Harvard
3 — Duke
2 — CalTech, Stanford & Waterloo
1 — U. of Chicago & Toronto</p>
<p>Borrowed from the Princeton board posted by Pton2000.</p>
<p>At Princeton the economics major can follow a more math based econ path with their calc based econ pathway. (they also have a non-calc based one, well, not as MUCH calc!).</p>
<p>Kat</p>
<p>if you’re interested in applied math and economics theres also ORFE at princeton, which just got a brand new building</p>
<p>If the “name” in math and econ matters most, I’d opt for Harvard or Princeton. </p>
<p>But quite seriously, unless the OP’s son is absolutely extraordinary, the difference isn’t going to matter all that much to an undergrad. (Remember too that more than half of all undergrads switch their majors.) If you think it might for him, at least get the catalogs for all of these colleges–I think all are available on line–and read through the course offerings and requirements at each college. Try to plot out a hypothetical course of study. Do any of the differences matter to him? </p>
<p>Personally, I think that the OTHER differences among these schools matter more than the academic differences do. They each have a somewhat different “feel.” Some kids would be miserable and unhappy at one and love another. So, look at the other things.(In my kid’s case, an EC really mattered and the strength of and opportunities in that EC vary a lot among these colleges.)</p>
<p>I’d say Princeton is as good as Harvard in math–better in some areas even. S applied to Harvard and not to Princeton though he loved his visit to the Princeton math department. It had to do with Princeton’s suburban environment and eating clubs. But academically, both are equally terrific. They’re both a small notch above Stanford–very small, and probably not important for most undergraduates. Yale was experiencing many retirements when S was looking at colleges; that and New Haven vs. Boston/Cambridge decided him against applying there. But it is likely that Yale has been rebuilding its department since then.</p>
<p>Thanks for all of your advice. I will let my son read your posts.
My son is good at math but not extraordinary, ( If he goes to Harvard, he wouldn’t take Math 55. Math 25 is the highest class he can handle) so I think any of the four schools is good enough. He might choose one, between Princeton and Harvard.</p>