you'llsee...

Princeton is tops in mathematics........hands down.

Clendenenator

I'm going to be a math major at Rice. I recall looking at the Putnum math competition scores from previous years as a rough guide. Schools that appeared on there multiple times included Harvard, MIT, Princeton, Yale, Duke, Stanford, Berkeley, Cornell, Caltech, Chicago, Michigan State, Michigan, Rice, WashU St. Louis, some ones in Canada (I think Waterloo, UToronto), and some others that I don't remember probably. Suprisingly, not as many Columbias, Browns, Dartmouths, and Penns as I might have thought. You should run a google search for it if you're interested.

bruno123

For undergraduate mathematics in the US, I'd suggest Harvard, MIT, or Princeton. If you want to go overseas, the best schools for math are the University of Cambridge in England and the École Normale Supérieure in Paris, France.

Alexandre

Mathematics, along with English, is quite possibly the most traditional college major. As such, EVERY major university and respectable LAC is going to have a well established Math department. From what I have seen, the following schools have the best departments:

Brown University (particularly Applied Mathematics)
California Institute of Technology
Columbia University
Cornell University
Harvard University
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
New York University (particularly Applied Mathematics)
Princeton University
Stanford University
University of California-Berkeley
University of California-Los Angeles
University of Chicago
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
Yale University

But like I said, the rest of the Ivies (Dartmouth and Penn), other respected universities (such as Duke, Johns Hopkins, Northwestern, Rice etc...), major state schools (like Georgia Tech, Michigan State, Penn State, UT-Austin, Wisconsin etc...) and most good LACs will have good Mathematics departments.

bruno123

According to the Faculty Scholarly Productivity Index, here are the top 10 departments in :

1) Applied Math .

2) Pure Math .

3) Statistics .

Source: Chronicle of Higher Education

I must admit I was surprised to see MIT didn't make to any of the top 10 list and Harvard only made to the top 10 Statistics list.

Alexandre

Faculty scholarly productivity means very little if impact of that productivity is not measured...and it seldom is measured.

bruno123

I don't understand your comment. I was under the impression that impact factors (e.g. number of citations per paper and percentage of faculty with journal papers cited by other authors) were fully factored in the Chronicle's FSP index.

What do you mean by impact then ?

Alexandre

I mean the significance of those papers. A department may only publish X number of papers, but the majority of those papers may be groundbreaking, as opposed to a department that publishes more papers but with a less substantial impact.

bruno123

Like I said, groundbreaking papers tend to have multiple citations and tend to be cited by other authors. Number of citations is how one typically measures "impact" in academia and the FSP index does that.

I guess you could also consider number of awards per faculty, like Nobel prizes, Fields medals, or other minor (e.g. best paper) awards, but those measures are generally narrower than ISI impact factors based on citations.

unalove

Having two family members who tried their hands at pure math and gave up, I think it's difficult to find a "good" math department, as in, one that produces research AND one that cares for its undergraduates and their education. The kinds of people who go into math research (pure math, in particular) are stereotyped as so clueless about anything that doesn't involve their research as to be ineffectual for the undergraduates they teach and advise. That was, at least, my family members' experiences with two of the schools on Alexandre's list.

If you're really interested in pursuing pure math (applied math, cs, physics, econ, are less problematic, IMO), make sure there are people in the department who are aware of your existence, and, moreover, want to help you grow. I think that a state school would offer a "better" math program if there were professors willing to teach and help out undergrads than an ivy or other elite where a lot of research is done at the complete ignorance of undergrads.

dadofsam

To the OP: You may need to do some thinking that is different from what has been said so far in this thread (except for some of the thoughts of Alexandre). Looking for the best math departments in the country will be interesting but should not be the main basis of your choice where to apply.

If you are counting on your interest in math as any kind of a "hook", then for it to be useful to gaining admission to the top math schools in the country, your record had better be exceptional, because you will be competing with the best high school math students in the country.

Look at the colleges and universities overall (as you might even decide to change your major) and look at the financial situation of your family.

JohnnyK

basket-weaving is being seriously underrated here

CountingDown

OP, How far have you gotten in the math sequence in HS? I say this because there are some schools (including some highly regarded ones), where if you have taken 2-3 years of post-AP math while still in HS, they may not be able to accommodate you for four years. One doesn't have to be an IMO medalist to be in that predicament.

Lesser Perfesser

I disagree, particularly with respect to the assertion that every respectable LAC is going to have a solid math department. At certain LACs, math is not a popular major, and there is a lack of "critical mass" necessary to be strongly supported by the college. For example, take a look at Vassar's limited # of faculty, students, and course offerings:
http://math.vassar.edu/

I am not picking on Vassar particularly, as it is certainly a great LAC in its areas of strength. But I would caution against making such a blanket statement that all respectable colleges and universities have sound math departments. Prospective applicants that are reasonably sure of their major should always do some investigation into the strength of the faculty and offerings in that area.

bruno123

Cambridge Mathematics strikes me as meeting your two criteria: it is exceptionally strong in research (having produced, I think, 7 or 8 Fields medalists) and, at the same, offers unparalleled individual attention to each undergraduate student through the unique Oxbridge tutorial system.

Of course, generally speaking, the best quality of math instruction is found precisely where research is the strongest, and there is a much broader selection of upper-level classes offered each semester.