Which schools are good in pure / theoretical math?

[Anonymous]

My kid is a math major at Virginia Tech and having a very good experience. She’s been to math conferences and believes she’s getting a very strong education with teachers who are helping her make networking connections.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:East coast or west coast preferred, but happy to hear anywhere.

Your state flagship is good I'm sure. No sense paying $90k if you're going to pay for graduate school. These SLACs just impress other DCUM posters.

You don’t pay for graduate school in STEM.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:East coast or west coast preferred, but happy to hear anywhere.

Your state flagship is good I'm sure. No sense paying $90k if you're going to pay for graduate school. These SLACs just impress other DCUM posters.

You don’t pay for graduate school in STEM.

Great. I'll tell my son that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:East coast or west coast preferred, but happy to hear anywhere.

Your state flagship is good I'm sure. No sense paying $90k if you're going to pay for graduate school. These SLACs just impress other DCUM posters.

You don’t pay for graduate school in STEM.

+100, you get funding to be a grad student in math.

[Anonymous]

Stanford, MIT, Harvard, Caltech, Rice, Chicago, Williams, UC Berkley.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:East coast or west coast preferred, but happy to hear anywhere.

Your state flagship is good I'm sure. No sense paying $90k if you're going to pay for graduate school. These SLACs just impress other DCUM posters.

You don’t pay for graduate school in STEM.

+100, you get funding to be a grad student in math.

For grad or postgrad?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If female, Wellesley is good.

It is sometimes annoying to my VT student that she is often one of very few females in her math classes. She said that her physics and chem classes are much more even (maybe 40/60 women/men). So if fighting the woman in math battle is not something your DD wants to do every day, then a female dominated school might be a great choice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:East coast or west coast preferred, but happy to hear anywhere.

Your state flagship is good I'm sure. No sense paying $90k if you're going to pay for graduate school. These SLACs just impress other DCUM posters.

You don’t pay for graduate school in STEM.

+100, you get funding to be a grad student in math.

For grad or postgrad?

Grad. You get a stipend to live off of and work as a TA in pursuit of your PhD

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Stanford, MIT, Harvard, Caltech, Rice, Chicago, Williams, UC Berkley.

Williams does not fit in with the math excellence of that group of institutions.

[Anonymous]

Caltech, Berkeley, Princeton, MIT, Harvey Mudd

[Anonymous]

My advice is to be aware that a high school kid's interest in pure or theoretical math may not survive actual contact with college level pure or theoretical math. Therefore, don't go to a small, STEM-focused school like Mudd or CalTech, go to a large school with lots of other options for majors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My advice is to be aware that a high school kid's interest in pure or theoretical math may not survive actual contact with college level pure or theoretical math. Therefore, don't go to a small, STEM-focused school like Mudd or CalTech, go to a large school with lots of other options for majors.

No, the opposite. Be in a community of people inspired by math, and the attitude will be nearly infectious. A ton of people drop the major from a lack of community and support. If you have the aptitude to stay in a stem program, stay in one and take on the challenge. No one gets into Caltech who couldn’t be a math major,

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My advice is to be aware that a high school kid's interest in pure or theoretical math may not survive actual contact with college level pure or theoretical math. Therefore, don't go to a small, STEM-focused school like Mudd or CalTech, go to a large school with lots of other options for majors.

There is a lot more STEM than just pure math at STEM-focused schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP: DS is pretty good in math and stem (all As), but not as well rounded (B/B+ in humanities).

Probably looking to get Masters and/or PhDs in pure math. I can see him in academia doing research.

TIA

FYI "all As in math and science" in HS is not sufficient to thrive in pure math through grad school.

For that you should already have substantial interest in math beyond what school offers.

That's OK, though; there is a lot of non pure math opportunity in college too, and it is very appealing to students who enjoyed HS math.

Don’t listen to this clown. I majored in math at UVA and don’t know what is required “beyond what school offers” to go all the way through grad school.

Grad school in what?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This list includes statistics, but schools with the most alumni per capita who go on to earn a Ph.D. in math or statistics:

1. Caltech
2. Harvey Mudd
3. MIT
4. Pomona
5. Swarthmore
6. Princeton
7. Reed
8. University of Chicago
9. Carleton
10. St. Olaf
11. Grinnell
12. Williams
13. Harvard
14. Haverford
15. St. John's
16. Whitman
17. Rice
18. St. John's
19. New College of Florida
20. Wheaton

https://www.collegetransitions.com/dataverse/top-feeders-phd-programs#math

That's not the useful data column.

If your want peers who had grad school bound, you want the raw numbers, not the per
capital numbers.

#19 New College has less than one future math PhD per year. That's quite lonely.


Having peers in your program is more important than having fewer non-peers on the same campus.