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: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:

Anonymous wrote:Although both are considered strong math programs, my understanding is that Reed is more theory focused than Carleton. He'll get proofs from day one at Reed. My daughter, who intends to study pure math was accepted EA to Reed, and is strongly considering attending. Other LAC options are Williams, Grinnell, Swarthmore, Pomona, HMC, and St Olaf.

Highly recommend Pomona or Swarthmore. Very talented faculty at those schools.

Anonymous wrote:Would he rather live in a small midwestern college town, or one of the most liberal cities on the planet? That’s how I’d decide.

Anonymous wrote:Although both are considered strong math programs, my understanding is that Reed is more theory focused than Carleton. He'll get proofs from day one at Reed. My daughter, who intends to study pure math was accepted EA to Reed, and is strongly considering attending. Other LAC options are Williams, Grinnell, Swarthmore, Pomona, HMC, and St Olaf.

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:This is another College Transitions site, in this case particular to mathematics, that may be of interest:

2025 Best Colleges for Mathematics - College Transitions https://www.collegetransitions.com/blog/best-colleges-for-mathematics/

As an opinion, the site offers some good suggestions but should not be relied on as authoritative. For example, why does Claremont McKenna place so highly? And where is Reed?

I don't see either of those questions as an issue. Do you expect Claremont McKenna to have a bad math department? They linked methodology: https://www.collegetransitions.com/dataverse/top-colleges-methodology/

A potential concern with CMC might be that it graduated only 7 first majors in math in a recent year. For comparison, some other LACs graduated 30 or more.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is another College Transitions site, in this case particular to mathematics, that may be of interest:

2025 Best Colleges for Mathematics - College Transitions https://www.collegetransitions.com/blog/best-colleges-for-mathematics/

As an opinion, the site offers some good suggestions but should not be relied on as authoritative. For example, why does Claremont McKenna place so highly? And where is Reed?

I don't see either of those questions as an issue. Do you expect Claremont McKenna to have a bad math department? They linked methodology: https://www.collegetransitions.com/dataverse/top-colleges-methodology/

Anonymous wrote:This is another College Transitions site, in this case particular to mathematics, that may be of interest:

2025 Best Colleges for Mathematics - College Transitions https://www.collegetransitions.com/blog/best-colleges-for-mathematics/

As an opinion, the site offers some good suggestions but should not be relied on as authoritative. For example, why does Claremont McKenna place so highly? And where is Reed?

Anonymous wrote:Someone up-thread mentioned PhD feeders. Any of the schools on this list (https://www.collegetransitions.com/dataverse/top-feeders-phd-programs#math) would be great. (That's actually two lists, with overall count on the left, per-capita on the right.)

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.