Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Looking to build a good college list and would love some advice: My DC wants to study pure math, and by the time he graduates high school, would have completed Calc IV (multivariable calculus) and Linear Algebra. Both classes were fairly easy for him.

Would either Carlton or Reed be a good school for him to continue study math, mainly:
- are math classes there challenging?
- will he "run out of" higher level math classes during his undergrad years?
- will he find a good "math kid" crowd at either school?
- other things he should be aware?

He'll likely go on to get a masters or PhD in math.

He has other schools on his list (e.g. Umich, Wisconsin, etc), and his counselor suggested these two, and we're not familiar with either.

It depends on how pure he wants to be. Most high school students don't realize that most of what they think of as math is applied math, not pure math.

Reed, for example has a math & statistics department that doesn't have the "grad-level" courses that would be junior/senior courses at an MIT or a Harvard.

But it offers several CS theory and Statistics courses.

If he really wants to go hard-line advanced pure math through grad school, not applied or mixed with science in the more liberal arts tradition, he's better off at a big state university where he can dip into grad courses, or, more realistically, a T10 school.

The small liberal arts colleges are a great foundation for grad school, but they absolutely are not accelerated, as haven't adapted to the modern (past 20 years) trend of doing calc (1-4) and linear algebra courses (plus after school math clubs/courses for deeply enticed algebra, geometry, and discrete math and proofs) in high school

https://www.reed.edu/math-stats/courses.html

There’s nothing to adapt to…you skip calc 1-4 if you can pass the placement test, same for linear algebra. What tends to happen at DD’s lac (Pomona) is students come in having taken a very basic, linear algebra course and then get near 0s on the 1-on-1 placement exams with professors for higher level courses, because the first year first semester linear algebra course is entirely proof based and some years introduces Jordan Canonical forms and markov/stochastic processes that would not be typically introduced in a high school course.

Reed is actually a great example, because very few can place past Intro Analysis there. You can do advanced coursework early, but you’re going to actually need a rigorous proof background.

There literally aren't enough courses in the catalog unless you branch out to the applied fields.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is extremely suspect that all of these people happen to have good anecdotes on Carleton college. It is not a particularly well known college and is tiny. I wouldn't take those comments seriously.

Carleton is mentioned in the subject line, so anyone who has a connection to the school is likely to notice and many will join in. My math-focused senior is another student considering Carleton so I appreciate the information.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Looking to build a good college list and would love some advice: My DC wants to study pure math, and by the time he graduates high school, would have completed Calc IV (multivariable calculus) and Linear Algebra. Both classes were fairly easy for him.

Would either Carlton or Reed be a good school for him to continue study math, mainly:
- are math classes there challenging?
- will he "run out of" higher level math classes during his undergrad years?
- will he find a good "math kid" crowd at either school?
- other things he should be aware?

He'll likely go on to get a masters or PhD in math.

He has other schools on his list (e.g. Umich, Wisconsin, etc), and his counselor suggested these two, and we're not familiar with either.

It depends on how pure he wants to be. Most high school students don't realize that most of what they think of as math is applied math, not pure math.

Reed, for example has a math & statistics department that doesn't have the "grad-level" courses that would be junior/senior courses at an MIT or a Harvard.

But it offers several CS theory and Statistics courses.

If he really wants to go hard-line advanced pure math through grad school, not applied or mixed with science in the more liberal arts tradition, he's better off at a big state university where he can dip into grad courses, or, more realistically, a T10 school.

The small liberal arts colleges are a great foundation for grad school, but they absolutely are not accelerated, as haven't adapted to the modern (past 20 years) trend of doing calc (1-4) and linear algebra courses (plus after school math clubs/courses for deeply enticed algebra, geometry, and discrete math and proofs) in high school

https://www.reed.edu/math-stats/courses.html

There’s nothing to adapt to…you skip calc 1-4 if you can pass the placement test, same for linear algebra. What tends to happen at DD’s lac (Pomona) is students come in having taken a very basic, linear algebra course and then get near 0s on the 1-on-1 placement exams with professors for higher level courses, because the first year first semester linear algebra course is entirely proof based and some years introduces Jordan Canonical forms and markov/stochastic processes that would not be typically introduced in a high school course.

Reed is actually a great example, because very few can place past Intro Analysis there. You can do advanced coursework early, but you’re going to actually need a rigorous proof background.

There literally aren't enough courses in the catalog unless you branch out to the applied fields.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Looking to build a good college list and would love some advice: My DC wants to study pure math, and by the time he graduates high school, would have completed Calc IV (multivariable calculus) and Linear Algebra. Both classes were fairly easy for him.

Would either Carlton or Reed be a good school for him to continue study math, mainly:
- are math classes there challenging?
- will he "run out of" higher level math classes during his undergrad years?
- will he find a good "math kid" crowd at either school?
- other things he should be aware?

He'll likely go on to get a masters or PhD in math.

He has other schools on his list (e.g. Umich, Wisconsin, etc), and his counselor suggested these two, and we're not familiar with either.

It depends on how pure he wants to be. Most high school students don't realize that most of what they think of as math is applied math, not pure math.

Reed, for example has a math & statistics department that doesn't have the "grad-level" courses that would be junior/senior courses at an MIT or a Harvard.

But it offers several CS theory and Statistics courses.

If he really wants to go hard-line advanced pure math through grad school, not applied or mixed with science in the more liberal arts tradition, he's better off at a big state university where he can dip into grad courses, or, more realistically, a T10 school.

The small liberal arts colleges are a great foundation for grad school, but they absolutely are not accelerated, as haven't adapted to the modern (past 20 years) trend of doing calc (1-4) and linear algebra courses (plus after school math clubs/courses for deeply enticed algebra, geometry, and discrete math and proofs) in high school

https://www.reed.edu/math-stats/courses.html

There’s nothing to adapt to…you skip calc 1-4 if you can pass the placement test, same for linear algebra. What tends to happen at DD’s lac (Pomona) is students come in having taken a very basic, linear algebra course and then get near 0s on the 1-on-1 placement exams with professors for higher level courses, because the first year first semester linear algebra course is entirely proof based and some years introduces Jordan Canonical forms and markov/stochastic processes that would not be typically introduced in a high school course.

Reed is actually a great example, because very few can place past Intro Analysis there. You can do advanced coursework early, but you’re going to actually need a rigorous proof background.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP again: how does pure math (to the poster above: he has done a lot of proof work so he knows he wants to do pure math) at these additional LACs compare:

- Williams
- Harvey Mudd

Thanks for all the input so far - very informative!

Hey OP! As I stated before, I'm a Pomona parent, and DD actually chose between Pomona and Williams for mathematics. There's something around 60-70 mathematics faculty in the consortium, which means you have a lot of course availability (including graduate coursework, mostly in applied mathematics, but Harvey Mudd also tends to teach 2-3 graduate math courses per semester). Mudd and Pomona have some star math faculty members that will get you far in your graduate applications.

Williams is also amazing, but you are more isolated and have fewer faculty to learn from, work with, etc.

Anonymous wrote:OP again: how does pure math (to the poster above: he has done a lot of proof work so he knows he wants to do pure math) at these additional LACs compare:

- Williams
- Harvey Mudd

Thanks for all the input so far - very informative!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Looking to build a good college list and would love some advice: My DC wants to study pure math, and by the time he graduates high school, would have completed Calc IV (multivariable calculus) and Linear Algebra. Both classes were fairly easy for him.

Would either Carlton or Reed be a good school for him to continue study math, mainly:
- are math classes there challenging?
- will he "run out of" higher level math classes during his undergrad years?
- will he find a good "math kid" crowd at either school?
- other things he should be aware?

He'll likely go on to get a masters or PhD in math.

He has other schools on his list (e.g. Umich, Wisconsin, etc), and his counselor suggested these two, and we're not familiar with either.

It depends on how pure he wants to be. Most high school students don't realize that most of what they think of as math is applied math, not pure math.

Reed, for example has a math & statistics department that doesn't have the "grad-level" courses that would be junior/senior courses at an MIT or a Harvard.

But it offers several CS theory and Statistics courses.

If he really wants to go hard-line advanced pure math through grad school, not applied or mixed with science in the more liberal arts tradition, he's better off at a big state university where he can dip into grad courses, or, more realistically, a T10 school.

The small liberal arts colleges are a great foundation for grad school, but they absolutely are not accelerated, as haven't adapted to the modern (past 20 years) trend of doing calc (1-4) and linear algebra courses (plus after school math clubs/courses for deeply enticed algebra, geometry, and discrete math and proofs) in high school

https://www.reed.edu/math-stats/courses.html

Anonymous wrote:Looking to build a good college list and would love some advice: My DC wants to study pure math, and by the time he graduates high school, would have completed Calc IV (multivariable calculus) and Linear Algebra. Both classes were fairly easy for him.

Would either Carlton or Reed be a good school for him to continue study math, mainly:
- are math classes there challenging?
- will he "run out of" higher level math classes during his undergrad years?
- will he find a good "math kid" crowd at either school?
- other things he should be aware?

He'll likely go on to get a masters or PhD in math.

He has other schools on his list (e.g. Umich, Wisconsin, etc), and his counselor suggested these two, and we're not familiar with either.

Anonymous wrote:It is extremely suspect that all of these people happen to have good anecdotes on Carleton college. It is not a particularly well known college and is tiny. I wouldn't take those comments seriously.

Anonymous wrote:It is extremely suspect that all of these people happen to have good anecdotes on Carleton college. It is not a particularly well known college and is tiny. I wouldn't take those comments seriously.

Anonymous wrote:It is extremely suspect that all of these people happen to have good anecdotes on Carleton college. It is not a particularly well known college and is tiny. I wouldn't take those comments seriously.