Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Villanova has a track record for math majors.

Hahahaha yup

Anonymous wrote:Berkeley would fit if he can get in (I assume Stanford is too much of a reach).

Anonymous wrote:I’ll throw my knowledge into this. I am an academic in an area adjacent to math, so this is second hand.

From what I’ve heard, math PhD admissions is all about taking hard courses and getting good recommendation letters. Surprisingly, research doesn’t matter as much because real research is too hard for most undergrads.

So, your kid should go somewhere where they can take lots of advanced courses, impress the professors in those courses, and get them to write excellent recommendation letters. Keep in mind that applicants to top programs are usually expected to have completed graduate courses in the core areas of math, so you should ideally be taking grad courses starting sophomore or junior year.

If you want an LAC, this is possible through consortiums at the following: Claremont Colleges, Tri-Co colleges, Amherst+Smith? (not sure on that one). Williams and Reed don’t have consortiums, but they do run advanced courses regularly. Wesleyan has its own PhD program, so there’s that too.

Again, this is for pure math. I think that expectations are slightly lower in applied math and statistics.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Berkeley would fit if he can get in (I assume Stanford is too much of a reach).

Berkeley is only a fit if you're USAMO level and can get into top research lab through pure intellect.

Anonymous wrote:Berkeley would fit if he can get in (I assume Stanford is too much of a reach).

Anonymous wrote:You forgot to mention Harvey Mudd.

Melanie Wood (tenured math professor) said "My mathematics research experiences as an undergraduate at the REU [Research Experiences for Undergraduates] at the University of Minnesota-Duluth and through the PRUV [Program for Research for Undergraduates] program at Duke University, where I was an undergraduate, were really the tipping point for me in deciding I wanted to be a mathematician." Her advisor, Fields Medalist Manjul Bharghava, was also in the Minnesota-Duluth program.

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Anonymous wrote:Math is the largest major at Amherst (sometimes alternating for 2nd with economics), and advanced students can take graduate classes at UMass.

This is important as some math students need more than is offered by the typical LAC curriculum. One reason that OP's student should give serious consideration to U Chicago or any other National University.

How many math major at Amherst College ? TIA

You wouldn’t have this issue at Pomona.

I'm not a mathematician, so actual mathematicians can correct me on this if needed. But my understanding is that the math offerings at LACs like Mudd, Pomona, Williams, Reed, and Swarthmore will be more than enough for the vast majority of math majors. If your kid is a true savant (not just the best mathematician in their high school), however, then they should consider a university's deeper grad school offerings. A university might also be preferable if a kid is interested in a niche mathematical area. But most kids at these LACs tend to get humbled pretty quickly when they realize that most of their fellow math majors also took Calc BC by their sophomore year of high school and are incredibly intelligent.

What are you trying to say here? That all of the Math majors at SLACs are smart so the smart kids will be humbled by each other? My kid is a Math major at a SLAC discussed here far too often and the Math offerings are fine from her perspective. Research opportunities have been excellent as well with professors reaching out proactively to recruit for research projects, summer jobs, TA opportunities etc. She's not looking for academia so this is all that she needs.