I’m interested in doing a BS in Math and then going to medical school afterwards my question really is that if there is a good college for engineering would that same college be good for math majors.
Thanks
Yes, but there are also many LACs that do not offer engineering which also offer strong classes in math and have good premed advising.
What @AroundHere said.
One of the best math departments in the world is at UChicago, which is not particularly known for engineering.
These colleges are among those that appear in a Princeton Review sampling, “Great Schools for Mathematics Majors,” and offer notably strong math programs across a range of selectivity, locations and school sizes:
Bowdoin
Bryn Mawr
Caltech
Carleton
Grinnell
Hamilton
Harvard
Harvey Mudd
Haverford
Macalester
MIT
Reed
Rice
St. Olaf
UChicago
URochester
Note that many of these schools do not offer engineering majors.
Not necessarily. For example, Cooper Union is well regarded for engineering majors, but does not even offer a math major.
In general, you should evaluate the desirability of the college’s math department on its own, and not use its engineering departments as a proxy.
There are a LOT of universities with very strong math programs. Without knowing more about the student it would be easy to suggest still more options, but difficult or impossible to suggest schools that will actually be a good match.
I think that most (or all?) schools that are good at engineering are also good at math. However, as others have pointed out the inverse is not true: Some schools are excellent for math but are not good at all for engineering.
There is a USNWR repost ranking for math. Tops are MIT, Princeton, Harvard, Uchicago. Stanford, UC Berkeley and Cal tech. No surprises there. But for undergraduate, you just consider the overall undergrad experience you want.
These schools are listed as colleges with excellent mathematics programs by Steven R. Antonoff, an educational consultant from Denver, Colorado. The list is a product of his research and the input of countless other higher education professionals.
Bates College
Bowdoin College
Bryn Mawr College
Bucknell University
California Institute of Technology
California Polytechnic State University — San Luis Obispo
Carnegie Mellon University
Case Western Reserve University
Clarkson University
Columbia University
Dartmouth College
Grinnell College
Harvard University
Harvey Mudd College
Haverford College
Humboldt State University
Illinois Wesleyan University .
Johns Hopkins University.
Kansas State University
Lafayette College .
Louisiana State University
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Mount Holyoke College
New York University
Northwestern University
Oberlin College
Occidental College.
Oklahoma State University
Pomona College
Princeton University
Reed College
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
Rice University.
SUNY — University at Buffalo.
Seattle University.
Stanford University
Swarthmore College
Texas A&M International University.
The University of Texas at Austin.
Union College
University of California — Los Angeles
University of California, Berkeley
University of California, San Diego
University of California, Santa Cruz
University of Chicago
University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign
University of Michigan
University of Notre Dame.
University of Pennsylvania
University of Pittsburgh
University of Washington, Seattle.
Washington University in St. Louis.
Wellesley College
Yale University
Grinnell, Carleton, Colby, Binghamton, and Allegheny.
@CrewDad
I find it odd that Williams is not on that list. I’ve read and heard from multiple sources that they are one of the best LACs for math in the country.
@Springbird I agree I know someone who went to Williams for math and is now a biomedical engineer.
^Yeah, that’s kind of the problem with lists like these. Even for graduate school there are issues, but for undergrad - without any specific, easily measurable criteria that is agreed upon across the field - it’s hard to come up with a list. It’s particularly tricky because undergrads only take about 1/3 of their classes in their major, so while major is important, it doesn’t even need to be the primary concern of an undergrad. There might be some really good reasons why a young aspiring math major might choose Williams over Clarkson, or Smith over Mount Holyoke, or Michigan State over Seattle U. Or even Pomona over Harvey Mudd or MIT.
The good news is that most good, solid colleges have good, solid programs in pretty much all of the majors they offer.