<p>According to [ARWU</a> SUBJECT 2009 Mathematics](<a href=“http://www.arwu.org/SubjectMathematics2009.jsp]ARWU”>http://www.arwu.org/SubjectMathematics2009.jsp), Princeton is number one in the world for mathematics; Cambridge is fifth. Both are apparently great, though Princeton may have a slight edge (perhaps indiscernable at the undergraduate level, however). For financial reasons, I would probably go with Princeton.</p>
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<p>Perhaps? Don’t choose based on rankings at this level. There are so many vastly bigger differences that will have a vastly greater effect on how you do and how you like your time there.</p>
<p>Those ranking are useless. The real rankings should be based on where do the IMO (and MOP) kids go.</p>
<p>Do the IMO kids teach the classes? Or give out research opportunities?</p>
<p>Terry Tao almost ran into me today. Not sure why he was running in the hall. When he walked back the other direction he seemed somewhat agitated.</p>
<p>^ No but the IMO kids are at the rare intersection of those who will be choosing their undergraduate institution based mostly on mathematics, those who will be exposed to other (olympiad coaches etc.) who know all about various top schools math departments and those who could probably get into any school they wanted to.</p>
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<p>This was intended to be my conveyance.</p>
<p>Hey, speaking of Terry Tao:
[Which</a> universities should one apply to? What’s new](<a href=“http://terrytao.■■■■■■■■■■■■■/career-advice/which-universities-should-one-apply-to/]Which”>Which universities should one apply to? | What's new)</p>
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<p>That’s a little more approachable than his typical posts. :)</p>
<p>^You don’t read his random matrices lecture notes?</p>
<p>See, Tao agrees with me.</p>
<p>After CPW and meeting all the IMO type math kids at MIT, I started wondering why they cluster at MIT and the same is not true for Cambridge?</p>
<p>I must bump this thread once again.</p>
<p>I will probably visit Princeton before I make my decision. Turns out total costs for Princeton (because of fairly generous financial aid) is 25,000 USD while for Cambridge it’s 40,000 USD (24,000 pounds). There is a big difference in costs, but Cambridge is only 3 years while Princeton is 4, and the Part III is very tempting.</p>
<p>Finally no general education requirements. Not having to take humanities courses and being able to focus on mathematics is great.</p>
<p>And what’s MIT’s cost?</p>
<p>Not sure yet, but I am guessing it won’t be as cheap as Princeton, probably 40,000 ish.</p>
<p>i haven’t read anything from this thread except the title and based on that alone, i would pick</p>
<p>mit</p>
<p>^ why? an explanation would help more than just saying which school.</p>