Best College for Mathematics

tk21769
Wed, 21 Mar 2018 13:36:55 +0000

By my own calculations from IPEDS and WebCASPAR data, colleges with the highest math PhD production rates (per 1000 math majors) include the following 25:
Amherst College
Bowdoin College
California Institute of Technology
Cornell University
Duke University
Georgia Institute of Technology-Main Campus
Grinnell College
Harvard University
Harvey Mudd College
Lafayette College
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Oberlin College
Princeton University
Rice University
Smith College
St Olaf College
Stanford University
Swarthmore College
University of Chicago
University of Notre Dame
University of Pennsylvania
University of Puget Sound
Whitman College
Williams College
Yale University

Each of the listed LACs generated at least 10 math/stat PhDs between 2011-2015 (per WebCASPAR);
each of the listed RUs generated at least 20 math/stat PhDs between 2011-2015 (per WebCASPAR).
Each of the listed schools appears to have generated at least 100 math/stat PhDs per 1000 math majors, as represented (imperfectly) by the number of math majors graduating between 2010-2014 (per IPEDS).

This is not necessarily an exhaustive list. I may be omitting, for example, some colleges with high rates but relatively low absolute numbers (< 10 for LACs, < 20 for RUs). Very large universities may suffer scaling effects that disadvantage them in these comparisons.

Program yield ratios (math/stat PhDs per 1000 math/stat majors) for these colleges appear to range from 10%-42%. Compare that to the ~7.6%-34.9% STEM institutional yield ratios for T25 schools reported in Fiegener & Proudfoot 2013, Table 4 (https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/infbrief/nsf13323/).