dvk

My son was admitted to HYP and is having some difficulty deciding which would be best. We are Americans living overseas, so our son was not able to attend any of the preview programs this month (although we visited these colleges during the summer). He wants to major in pure mathematics, but also loves acting and hopes to find extracurricular theatre opportunities--perhaps improv. He has also been on his high school's speech and debate team and hopes to continue debating in college. He has heard that Princeton's undergraduate caters to the upper echelon of math majors and that it fails to provide a solid grounding in fundamental math. Of course besides his major in math, he would like to have a great overall undergraduate experience. As you know, he has to make a decision soon! I would really appreciate your thoughts regarding this dilemma.

chicagoboy12

Ok here are points for each. While I've not attended, this is what is commonly to be the differences:

Harvard: one of the best for math. known for math. some say grad students tend to get more focus. great access to boston

princeton: possibly #1 in the nation for math. great theatre extra curriculars, and much more focus on the undergrads. notably a more suburban setting.

yale: not known for math, but more popular for theatre. probably better focus on undergrads than harvard, but not better than focus at princeton. notably a more urban setting, being in new haven (you will get mixed opinions about new haven).

gagilord

I've not attended any of these but I agree with chicagoboy12 in that Princeton's math department is No.1 in the US and that at Yale you may get more attention as an undergrad than you would at Harvard (dunno about Princeton in that respect)