Are top LACs considered Equal to Top Universities

OHMomof2
Sat, 15 Jul 2017 21:18:37 +0000

@katliamom Very useful info you provided just above, thanks.

I went to look at Amherst’s math dept recs for potential PhDs and they recommend a sequence that includes a few UMass courses, I think 4. So that may be the sweetest spot of all - a LAC (with close prof relationships and advising and such) in a consortium with a university with advanced offerings.

In the meantime, I found a few lists.

the National Science Foundation has conducted a survey of all earned doctorates annually since 1957. Among other questions, they query where one attended for his/her undergraduate degree. You can find the original data at: https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/srvydoctorates/.

Based upon this data, the top undergraduate feeder institutions for producing math and statistics PhDs (as a percentage of undergraduate enrollment) are (note that statistics is included in the mathematics data):

1. CalTech

2. Harvey Mudd

3. Reed

4. University of Chicago

5. MIT

6. Harvard

7. Pomona

8. Rice

9. Princeton

10. Swarthmore

There, 4 out of the top 10 are LACs.

Then this one (domain may be blocked by CC, not sure) - https://www.■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/infographics/top-feeders-phd-programs - that breaks down by PhD subject, same source, the NSF, but did something that made a somewhat different list. This is again math PhDs only:

1 Caltech
2 Reed
3 Pomona
4 Swat
5 Williams
6 Carleton
7 Whitman
8 St. Olaf
9 Haverford
10 Rice
11 Oberlin
12 Minn-Morris
13 Princeton
14 Amherst
15 MIT

and http://www.thecollegesolution.com/the-colleges-where-phds-get-their-start/ has a similar list for math ('97-'06) - same as the first.

1 Caltech
2 Mudd
3 Reed
4 UChicago
5 MIT
6 Harvard
7 Pomona
8 Rice
9 Princeton
10 Swat