Best Small Colleges for Math

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Williams College
Saint Olaf
Lawrence University
Grinnell
Case Western Reserve
Oberlin

Did you even read the original post? How did you come up with a list of schools 90% in Ohio and the Midwest? SMH

This actually is a good list, as the question was mainly about math and these all do that exceptionally well.
For OP, you may want to Google map some schools. CWRU and Oberlin, for example, are slightly closer to DC than Williams.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Williams College
Saint Olaf
Lawrence University
Grinnell
Case Western Reserve
Oberlin

One note about Oberlin. I have a sophomore there who likely will end up as a math major. For a liberal arts college, it's a fairly big department-- and maybe if interest to your daughter is that roughly half of the math faculty members are women. It's an impressive group of faculty members, but having so many women profs is (sadly) uncommon, but much valued by many students. We spent a lot of time looking for a great math program, and my DC was and is very happy and very challenged at Oberlin. And it's 6 hours door to door from our Bethesda home, even with a short stop or two.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My daughter wants to major in math (she’s a true nerd who thinks MV calculus is the most fun she’s ever had) and had always said she wanted a larger school but since we’ve started looking she’s clearly drawn towards smaller (2000-4000). She loved Bowdoin, liked Wesleyan but obviously these are reaches for everyone. Looking for a range of smallish colleges with great Math programs.

Has anyone found a comprehensive source for things like this? I have seen several lists but they’re all vastly different.

Shes a junior with with great stats but no hooks, looking to stay northeast or mid Atlantic (ie nothing as far west as Ohio).

Thanks for any suggestions!

Pure or Applied or hasn’t decided?

[Anonymous]

Historically women's colleges?
Smith
Mount Holyoke
Bryn Mawr

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I also thought MV calculus was the most fun thing ever and would encourage her to consider Mechanical Engineering as a major. If not Mech E, there are a lot of other applied math majors like data analytics or majors that require math-like analytical skills, like CS.

Math majors end up focusing on theory more than fun math like calculus and many math majors become disillusioned. It's just not the same.

This is really helpful, thanks! We’re both foreign policy parents flying blind.

I’m flip of you - spouse and I are quant focused but our son loves international politics/affairs! Maybe you are one of the helpful parents who responded on my recent thread looking for info for intended foreign affairs majors 😂. On a school break we should each take the other’s kid out for coffee

I was also going to suggest she try some engineering courses if she loves mv. That will be harder at smaller colleges, of course, since they usually don’t have engineering schools. For pure math, Carleton is tops among slac’s. Williams and Wesleyan would be great, too. Bowdoin isn’t as known for math but it is an excellent college so no doubt she’d have a great experience. Wesleyan is an easier admit than Carleton, Williams and probably Bowdoin. Wellesley has an excellent math dept and is a wonderful school for stem oriented women. For an easier admit, St Olaf has an excellent math dept.

She also might want to explore Tufts - it is larger than these slac’s but has a slac “feel” and has a strong and upcoming engineering school they are trying to grow, and my understanding is that there is more flexibility between engineering and A&S majors and classes than in a larger engineering program (eg, often students double major in an engineering discipline and an A&S discipline), so possibly there is the ability for her to explore some engineering classes even if she doesn’t want to enroll in the school of engineering.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I also thought MV calculus was the most fun thing ever and would encourage her to consider Mechanical Engineering as a major. If not Mech E, there are a lot of other applied math majors like data analytics or majors that require math-like analytical skills, like CS.

Math majors end up focusing on theory more than fun math like calculus and many math majors become disillusioned. It's just not the same.

This is really helpful, thanks! We’re both foreign policy parents flying blind.

I’m flip of you - spouse and I are quant focused but our son loves international politics/affairs! Maybe you are one of the helpful parents who responded on my recent thread looking for info for intended foreign affairs majors 😂. On a school break we should each take the other’s kid out for coffee

I was also going to suggest she try some engineering courses if she loves mv. That will be harder at smaller colleges, of course, since they usually don’t have engineering schools. For pure math, Carleton is tops among slac’s. Williams and Wesleyan would be great, too. Bowdoin isn’t as known for math but it is an excellent college so no doubt she’d have a great experience. Wesleyan is an easier admit than Carleton, Williams and probably Bowdoin. Wellesley has an excellent math dept and is a wonderful school for stem oriented women. For an easier admit, St Olaf has an excellent math dept.

She also might want to explore Tufts - it is larger than these slac’s but has a slac “feel” and has a strong and upcoming engineering school they are trying to grow, and my understanding is that there is more flexibility between engineering and A&S majors and classes than in a larger engineering program (eg, often students double major in an engineering discipline and an A&S discipline), so possibly there is the ability for her to explore some engineering classes even if she doesn’t want to enroll in the school of engineering.

This is not true; Carleton is an easier admit.

For class of 2022, Wesleyan was 14.5%, Carleton was 16%; Wesleyan had a higher ED admit rate (40% vs 22%). For class of 2023, Carleton was at 22%, and Wesleyan was at 16.5%.

[Anonymous]

OP here - thank you all for being so helpful!

[Anonymous]

It’s probably more of a medium-sized school (6,600) but what about WPI?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I also thought MV calculus was the most fun thing ever and would encourage her to consider Mechanical Engineering as a major. If not Mech E, there are a lot of other applied math majors like data analytics or majors that require math-like analytical skills, like CS.

Math majors end up focusing on theory more than fun math like calculus and many math majors become disillusioned. It's just not the same.

Calculus isn't the same as "fun math". Fun is personal preference.

Pure math is harder than applied math. High school and calculus is applied math.

Engineering majors get disillusioned too. It's hard in a different way.

[Anonymous]

Harvey Mudd

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My daughter wants to major in math (she’s a true nerd who thinks MV calculus is the most fun she’s ever had) and had always said she wanted a larger school but since we’ve started looking she’s clearly drawn towards smaller (2000-4000). She loved Bowdoin, liked Wesleyan but obviously these are reaches for everyone. Looking for a range of smallish colleges with great Math programs.

Has anyone found a comprehensive source for things like this? I have seen several lists but they’re all vastly different.

Shes a junior with with great stats but no hooks, looking to stay northeast or mid Atlantic (ie nothing as far west as Ohio).

Thanks for any suggestions!

Pure or Applied or hasn’t decided?

OP said MV Calc, which is Applied Math. Some people branch out into pure math, but it's less common and many people dont know about it in high school, unless they got a special program or have a mentor or are in Olympiad circles.

[Anonymous]

Smith is a great place for math.

Our niece just graduated from there and had two offers for phd programs from Ivy League schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I also thought MV calculus was the most fun thing ever and would encourage her to consider Mechanical Engineering as a major. If not Mech E, there are a lot of other applied math majors like data analytics or majors that require math-like analytical skills, like CS.

Math majors end up focusing on theory more than fun math like calculus and many math majors become disillusioned. It's just not the same.

This is really helpful, thanks! We’re both foreign policy parents flying blind.

I’m flip of you - spouse and I are quant focused but our son loves international politics/affairs! Maybe you are one of the helpful parents who responded on my recent thread looking for info for intended foreign affairs majors 😂. On a school break we should each take the other’s kid out for coffee

I was also going to suggest she try some engineering courses if she loves mv. That will be harder at smaller colleges, of course, since they usually don’t have engineering schools. For pure math, Carleton is tops among slac’s. Williams and Wesleyan would be great, too. Bowdoin isn’t as known for math but it is an excellent college so no doubt she’d have a great experience. Wesleyan is an easier admit than Carleton, Williams and probably Bowdoin. Wellesley has an excellent math dept and is a wonderful school for stem oriented women. For an easier admit, St Olaf has an excellent math dept.

She also might want to explore Tufts - it is larger than these slac’s but has a slac “feel” and has a strong and upcoming engineering school they are trying to grow, and my understanding is that there is more flexibility between engineering and A&S majors and classes than in a larger engineering program (eg, often students double major in an engineering discipline and an A&S discipline), so possibly there is the ability for her to explore some engineering classes even if she doesn’t want to enroll in the school of engineering.

This is not true; Carleton is an easier admit.

For class of 2022, Wesleyan was 14.5%, Carleton was 16%; Wesleyan had a higher ED admit rate (40% vs 22%). For class of 2023, Carleton was at 22%, and Wesleyan was at 16.5%.

And Northeastern had a lower acceptance rate than both, but a lower stat student can be admitted there than either of Carleton or Wesleyan. Acceptance rate is one component of selectivity in admissions.

[Anonymous]

Lafayette College in PA has a strong math program.

[Anonymous]

My son also loves math and plans to major in Applied Math. He put Tufts, CWRU on his list. Also University of Rochester and Emory. Not sure how big they are. He did a lot of research and evaluation on the applied math programs at each.