<p>Our son is now deciding between math at Yale and Harvard. His current goal is to go to graduate school and become a math professor. He fits well at Yale (loves it, actually), but understands the strength of Harvards math department: grad school placement, reputation, Math 55, etc. He knows less about Yales math department and its strengths and weaknesses. Assuming that he does well at either Harvard (will probably start with Math 55) or Yale, will he limit his grad school opportunities by going to Yale? Any information regarding graduate placement for recent Yale math grads is greatly appreciated. Thanks for your input.</p>
<p>Shouldn’t he go to the place that he “loves”? Won’t that, in and of itself, increase his chances of success in grad school and beyond?</p>
<p>Applied math or theoretical? I don’t actually know much of what Yale does for Math majors in general but my sample size of 1 math major I know is heading off to an extremely prestigious grad school post graduation. On that note, there are fewer math majors at Yale, which can be considered good(less competition for resources), or bad(not as many math crazy people?) as you decide.</p>
<p>@ Ecazndb8r: He is interested in theoretical. Is your “sample” graduating this year and how did she/he find the quality of the professors? We’ve heard that the department might be getting a little old, any info on that? Thanks.</p>
<p>Have to agree with dignified1 given your comment:</p>
<p>He fits well at Yale (loves it, actually), but understands the strength of Harvard’s math department</p>
<p>I think most would say H’s math department has more renown but Y’s degree is not going to hold your son back if he applies to graduate school. The math major I know best chose to go to professional school but chose a math degree anyway since he liked the subject matter and the department at Y. Since both schools are so fine and the statistical likelihood of his career path changing is so great, the general sense of “love” and “fit” are probably more important to his long term happiness.</p>
<p>Of course the response here on the Y board may be biased but I did note that your similar query on the H board, posted before your Y posting, has been ignored so far.</p>
<p>hmmm…the person I know is an applied math and ChemE double major…so not sure if the experience is comparable. But I’ve heard no complaints about the professors, regarding advising or teaching, and given the long list of acceptances(multiple Ivy’s) it worked out(yes, graduating this year). </p>
<p>I can’t guarantee that it will work for your son, but of the math/engineering/science people I know who are graduating this year, they all either have jobs or grad schools lined up. No one is heading home to crash on mom’s couch…</p>
<p>well Harvard is an increbile place to do math as an extremely talented undergrad- there are a lot more math majors and I think the vibrant math community there really incentivizes one to work hard and seek new challenges.</p>
<p>Yale is also an excellent math department with world-class grad students, assistant professors and senior professors. Math majors are a lot fewer, so the peer effects will be less. At the undergrad level, the differences will be moot except for Math 55, which is a class like no other. (I did not take it, but am familiar with most of the content through my four years of undergrad and two years of grad school to date)…</p>
<p>Agree with YaleGradandDad and dignified1. Did your son attend Visitas and enjoy it?</p>
<p>Don’t go to Harvard just cause of Math 55, since, most likely, you will be dropping it unless you happen to be an IMO medalist or equivalent, and why would you want to self-flagellate yourself with 30+ hour a week problem sets? :P</p>
<p>There are pros and cons of both departments. I would generally say Yale’s Department is smaller (and has a better student to teacher ratio), providing for more individual attention and opportunities for research, while Harvard’s is larger and provided more opportunities to be more immersed in a math community. Yale still does have an undergraduate math society ([Yale</a> Undergrad. Math Society](<a href=“http://sites.google.com/site/yalemathsociety/Home]Yale”>http://sites.google.com/site/yalemathsociety/Home)) and Harvard obviously has opportunities of their own for research.</p>
<p>Harvard math’s reputation I suppose speaks for itself, however Yale math has its own list of accomplishments. Many of our professors have received prestigious awards, including a fields medalist and wolf medalist (Gregory A. Margulis), a former Putnam Fellow (Roger Howe, IIRC), and many members of the National Academy of Sciences and similar prestigious organizations. Many seniors I know are going off to prestigious graduate schools like University of Chicago, Columbia, and Princeton and last year one of our freshman was a Putnam Fellow. If you look through the course catalog, you see a full compliment of courses ranging from Math 230, an intense combined linear algebra and multivariate calculus course, to Math 325 (Functional Analysis) to Math 682 (Higher Teichmuller Theory). Also keep in mind that all undergrads can take graduate classes, although it might not be advisable 
(I would be very surprised if a freshman could be comfortable in a Teichmuller Theory class).</p>
<p>My general analysis is if you are VERY set on mathematics and are generally not interested in humanities or other fields, Harvard is probably a better social setting. If you love mathematics, but still like other academic fields and don’t want to do math at the exclusion of other things, Yale might be better. However it all comes down to the feel of the campus and the student body, so I hope your son was able to visit one or both schools to get a feeling! :)</p>
<p>He did attend Vistas. Also went to Bulldog Days and Princeton’s admitted students day. He like Harvard, liked Princeton less and, as noted, loved Yale. Yale has put on a big recruiting push and his three visits to Yale were all been great. Like you all, it’s sometimes easy for us to say, “Go to Yale, you love it.” Both schools are fantastic. However, again, given the strength of the Harvard math department (“C’mon, Dad, it’s Harvard. How can I say no?”), he’s struggling with the decision. </p>
<p>Thanks for all your thoughts.</p>
<p>Sorry for the typo. I meant to write: "you’ll love it.</p>
<p>I was in a similar position to your son, and I chose Yale.</p>
<p>I’m not into maths per se, but I did attend IPhO… and I didn’t walk away empty handed. I’m a physics nerd, but I’m also passionately interested in music and languages. Yale seems to be throwing money and opportunities at undergrads who pursue science, and to me, it seems as though you’re someone if you go down this path: sure, you’re still mingling with an absolutely brilliant cohort, but there’s still room and you’re given chances to shine. I also know that if I do pursue science, I don’t want to be locked away in a lab, but I’d like to have a vision… I’d like to bridge the gap between science and society, be that through communication, policy or advocacy. I think Yale would better equip me to do that than being immersed in a solely physics culture.</p>
<p>Congratulations on your decision, schrodingerscat. Your interests sound similar to my son’s; he made the same difficult choice you did a few years ago. And it was the right choice for him. Yale is an incredible place for kids with strong interests in both math/science and the humanities/social sciences. And the music opportunities are phenomenal. I’ve quoted my son on this before, but I think it’s worth repeating – on this thread in particular. The fact that, in comparison with its closest peers, Yale has a larger percentage of undergrads who are humanities/social science majors rather than math/science majors creates a richer intellectual experience for everyone, including quant-y types. As my son puts it, organic chemistry doesn’t naturally generate stimulating breakfast table conversation. Philosophy and economics and music do.</p>
<p>yaleorharvard:</p>
<p>Your son’s response “C’mon, Dad, it’s Harvard. How can I say no?” is the reason some have suggested explains why Yale students seem to have nicer things to say about their undergraduate experience. Imagine if 10% of the Harvard freshmen felt the same when they picked it over a place that just felt more right but could not turn down the USNWR #1 ranking prize. I have never heard from a Yale student that he/she felt bamboozled by the Bull Dog Days marketing campaign. If he liked Harvard but loved Yale, well …
Congratulations on his dilemma and good luck to him on making the decision this coming week.</p>
<p>The advantage of Harvard is that one can take classes with students at MIT. Most of the top math students in the country are in 02138/02139. See the recent Putnam fellows list… there is a Yale sophomore from China who is amazing.</p>
<p>Daniel M. Kane (MIT) 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006<br>
Vladimir V. Barzov (MIT) 2004<br>
Aaron C. Pixton (Princeton) 2004, 2005, 2007<br>
Oleg Golberg (MIT) 2005<br>
Matthew M. Ince (MIT) 2005<br>
Ricky I. Liu (Harvard) 2005<br>
Tiankai Liu (Harvard) 2005, 2006<br>
Hansheng Diao (MIT) 2006<br>
Po-Ru Loh (Caltech) 2006<br>
Yufei Zhao (MIT) 2006, 2008, 2009<br>
Jason C. Bland (Caltech) 2007<br>
Brian R. Lawrence (Caltech) 2007, 2008, 2010<br>
Qingchun Ren (MIT) 2007, 2009<br>
Xuancheng Shao (MIT) 2007<br>
Arnav Tripathy (Harvard) 2007, 2008, 2009<br>
Seok Hyeong Lee (Stanford) 2008, 2010<br>
Bohua Zhan (MIT) 2008<br>
William Johnson (U of Washington) 2009<br>
Xiaosheng Mu (Yale) 2009<br>
Yu Deng (MIT) 2010<br>
Colin P. Sandon (MIT) 2010<br>
Alex (Lin) Zhai (Harvard)</p>
<p>Less than 2 days left to decide. We don’t know what he’s going to do. Thanks for all of your responses.</p>
<p>Go with a place he’s really comfortable with, and I hope it’s Yale! :)</p>
<p>The decision has been made: it’s Yale!</p>
<p>Thanks for all the help. We’re very happy for him.</p>
<p>Boola Boola. Good choice!</p>