<p>The Putnam Competition, which is regarded as the world cup of Mathematics, and the toughest Math challenge on this universe, is where the best of the best universities compete. It’s a global competition, that is usually a showdown between MIT vs Harvard, this year, a state school, Stony Brook University is ranked top 5, placing in 4th.</p>
<p>This is a perfect example for those who judge schools strictly by US News rankings.</p>
<p>Ponder over this, and be proud of the school you attend. Name brands like Princeton, Yale, Cornell, Columbia, CMU, and other 50K sticker price schools couldn’t use their ‘rankings’ to increase their competition rank.</p>
<p>I agree that you don’t need to attend an Ivy League caliber school to do well, but isn’t this a poor example to use to make that point? If it’s usually a showdown between MIT and Harvard, does this mean this was a fluke? Are the top math students at SB exceptionally bright this year compared to other years?</p>
<p>I’m going to draw a comparison to Stony Brook’s baseball program. They were in the College World Series last year, so you don’t need to go to a baseball powerhouse program to do well. However, does this mean their program is just as good as Arizona and can attract top recruits? Or was last year just a fluke?</p>
<p>Hey Chris, with due respect, I am not trying to denigrate it. I am very fond of MIT, but the point I am trying to make is often times if you are not getting a full-ride at those heavy price-tag schools, your local state school might not be that bad. Quality professors do not just exist in Harvard and MIT, and that is the image most of the posters give to guests roaming around in CC. That if you don’t get into those US News top 10 schools, you won’t be able to make it. Here, a local state school, with a decent track record in Science, is ranked 4th. This is a time for those folks making their mind about Engineering schools to think about their local state schools and save money, avoid debt.</p>
<p>Ken285, the baseball program is improving, and we are trying to prove to the world that even with a low endowment like ours, we can still defeat the best of the best schools. Stony Brook has traditionally produced some of the leading mathematicians, and scientists on earth, with noble winning scientists. Putnam however, is a whole different ball game. There is a strong Science culture at SBU, and at most flagship state schools.</p>
<p>One does not need to pay 40K to a ‘private school’ if they have SBU calibre state school.</p>
<p>Perhaps your argument would be more forceful if you didn’t only ever take examples from your own university. The fact that you only ever promote Stony Brook’s achievements on this forum makes it seem like you’re advertising your university rather than public universities as a whole, although this probably isn’t your intention.</p>
<p>How I see it is the school doesn’t often create the bright minds of the world, but the success is generally dependent on the individual. If someone was a genius at mathematics as a child, I am pretty sure they will be a genius at math at any university and achieve just as much regardless of what school they end up at. </p>
<p>The benefit to someone like this at being at an ivy league school would be the connections and the competition. I say the competition because, at least for me, competition motivates me to do better. This can make the difference between an ivy and a state school in my mind. However, I still believe the person in this example could end up at the same successful point in their life regardless of where they are. It just depends.</p>