<p>qwerty:</p>
<p>Running out of courses is a legitimate issue at small LACs. However, the flip side of the coin is that the top LACs are structured to encourage “directed study” (which is a private tutorial course with you and a professor) or seminar study (prof and a few students) that often pick an advanced topic of interest, such as a new research paper in the field. These can obviously be very advanced. For example, Swarthmore’s entire Honors Program is designed around special double-credit seminars in these kinds of topics. Honors designations and grades are based on a week of oral and written exams given by a panel of outside visiting experts in your three areas of preparation. I have never heard of Swarthmore Honors Program students feeling insufficiently challenged. Here’s a link to the Math Honors program along with some sample written Honors exams if you want to test your meddle:</p>
<p>Honors Program
[Academic</a> Program of the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at Swarthmore College](<a href=“Mathematics & Statistics :: Swarthmore College”>Mathematics & Statistics :: Swarthmore College)</p>
<p>Course Listing
[Academic</a> Program of the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at Swarthmore College](<a href=“Mathematics & Statistics :: Swarthmore College”>Mathematics & Statistics :: Swarthmore College)</p>
<p>Your best bet, if you are a student with atypical preparation in a field, is to sit down with the chairman of the math dept at each school you are considering and hear how a program can be tailored to meet your needs.</p>