Anonymous wrote:My son is on track to finish Linear Alg and MultiCalc when he graduates high school. Would a SLAC have enough advanced math classes to challenge him as an undergrad?

Your son will have yet to have taken essential (or important) college-level mathematics courses such as real analysis, abstract algebra, complex analysis, topology and functional analysis. Beyond courses in “basic” topics such as these, he might foresee taking an additional 4 to 10 math courses tailored more specifically to his interests during his undergraduate education, at least on his home campus. Therefore, as your son looks through department sites, he’ll want to see whether he can find close to 15 math courses of potential interest to him as an indicator of whether a college’s offerings would be ample for his level. Wherever he attends, he would be unlikely to be advised (or permitted) to take more math classes than this. Courses in computer science and mathematically-oriented courses in physics (e.g., mathematical physics, general relativity) also should be considered as potentially integral to the mathematical component of his education. Additional opportunities for variety and depth can arise through a Budapest semester or an REU.

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Anonymous wrote:My son is on track to finish Linear Alg and MultiCalc when he graduates high school. Would a SLAC have enough advanced math classes to challenge him as an undergrad?

My son took those courses in high school and his LAC made him retake them. It was because he took them at a CC that taught them with just computations, and the LAC taught them as proof based.

At Hamilton, for example, linear algebra qualifies as a general Writing Intensive requirement.

Anonymous wrote:My son is on track to finish Linear Alg and MultiCalc when he graduates high school. Would a SLAC have enough advanced math classes to challenge him as an undergrad?

My son took those courses in high school and his LAC made him retake them. It was because he took them at a CC that taught them with just computations, and the LAC taught them as proof based.

Interest in theoretical math = PhD program in math. Look at the feeder schools into math PhD programs: https://www.collegetransitions.com/dataverse/top-feeders-phd-programs
You really want to look at *per capita* rankings not overall. It means a lot more if you have 5 out of 10 math majors at Swarthmore regularly heading into PhD programs vs 5 out of 500 math majors at Berkeley.

DP. Will this student have completed linear algebra, for example, while still a high school student?

*he, sorry

OP, which (math) classes has she taken so far? What has she learned via independent study (which books?)?

Anonymous wrote:My son is on track to finish Linear Alg and MultiCalc when he graduates high school. Would a SLAC have enough advanced math classes to challenge him as an undergrad?

Yes, but make sure they accept the credit or offer credit/placement via challenge exams

Anonymous wrote:Make sure your kid DOES NOT take multivariable calc in high school!

why?

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.

Take a careful look at the alma maters of the students there. It's all top schools.

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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.

Ours did Calc BC freshman year and attends Pomona- hasn't run out of math. The prodigy types are going to MIT/Princeton/Betkeley

Or UChicago!

Did they take one or two math classes per year after BC in high school? How many math classes per semester does she take in college?

Anonymous wrote:applied math? or theoretical math? that makes a difference.

theoretical math

applied math? or theoretical math? that makes a difference.

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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.

Most of the mathematicians I know where either taking graduate courses sophomore year or went somewhere like Princeton, UChicago (whose honors analysis sequence taken by freshmen is grad level), Caltech, MIT, etc

Do the mathematicians you know distinguish between anecdotal observations and empirical evidence? Do they account for the heuristic traps and biases of the former? Also, who the hell are you and why do you know so many mathematicians?

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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.

Most of the mathematicians I know where either taking graduate courses sophomore year or went somewhere like Princeton, UChicago (whose honors analysis sequence taken by freshmen is grad level), Caltech, MIT, etc