Yale Math Placement

Hi! I just got in early to Yale and I’m already thinking about math placement lol. I’m in a sort of weird position because I’m quite good at math (I taught myself BC Calc freshman year), but my real passion lies in Econ. I’ve done plenty of abstract math, but I really don’t care for it. So it’s not that I think Math 230 would be easy for me by any means, I just have no desire to spend that much time on abstract stuff. I’d much rather take applied math, calculus-based statistics classes. I took Multivariate calc and linear algebra my sophomore year so I’d have to do lots of review if I wanted to place out (because again, it’s not that I’m “above” the class). My situation is super weird and I know it’s very early to be thinking about this. Thoughts?

Congratulations on your acceptance! As you have very specific questions, I would email Andrew Casson (andrew.casson@yale.edu), the Director of Undergraduate Studies at Yale’s Math Department and ask him directly: http://math.yale.edu/undergrad/undergraduate-studies

I’m not suggesting that you take math courses that you don’t care for, but DS (a CS major) found that Math 230 prepared him tremendously well for other classes. He learned to do proofs at a level he had never conceived of before. I’m sure that you will do well, with or without the course, but consider shopping it and seeing for yourself if it offers you something worth the effort.