Now more than ever, the world needs mathematicians. Math is used in nearly every profession, even outside of STEM and business, and thus a strong basis in math will give you vast opportunities after college. And studying math is one of the best ways to engage your brain and discover new, valuable insights about the world around you.
Are you interested in majoring in general mathematics, statistics, or a related field? Here are some of the most comprehensive and well-respected math programs offered at US colleges and universities. This list includes private research universities and state schools to fit any type of college you’re looking for.
Private Research Universities
Stanford University
Stanford University is located in Stanford, California, in California’s bay area, 40 minutes south of San Francisco. Stanford is an extremely selective university with an acceptance rate of 4%, and it has an undergraduate population of just over 8,000 students. Math students at Stanford go on to pursue careers in technology, finance, computer science, and the corporate sector, while others go on to graduate school. The Stanford math major requires a Writing in the Major (WIM) class, which teaches students how to develop writing skills in the context of the math major. In addition, at least eight advanced math courses are core requirements for the major, along with a capstone project and an optional honors curriculum.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, right next to Boston. MIT is an extremely selective university with an acceptance rate of 4%, and it has an undergraduate population of over 4,000 students. MIT has an internationally acclaimed math program that has contributed to some of the world’s greatest scientific breakthroughs, including collaborations with NASA. MIT hosts four different undergraduate math programs, three being mathematics and one of which being computer science. The mathematics programs, or ‘Course 18,’ include General Mathematics, Applied Mathematics, and Pure Mathematics.
MIT offers a wide variety of math courses, but the program requires that courses taken towards the major must not be too similar to one another. At least one course from Linear Algebra, Algebra, Complex Variables, Probability, Statistics, and Computation must be taken.
Princeton University
Princeton University is located in Princeton, New Jersey, twenty minutes from Trenton. Princeton is an extremely selective research university with an acceptance rate of 6%, and it has an undergraduate student population of over 5,000 students. The Princeton mathematics program has birthed several nobel prize winners, including Alan Turing and John Nash. Math majors usually start their program with one of two introductory math programs, and they’re expected to know multivariable calculus, linear algebra, and proofs before entering the major. The math major requires at least eight math courses, and it is recommended these courses are completed by the end of sophomore year. Afterwards, students must partake in one or more junior seminars, an optional junior paper, and a required senior thesis.
Harvard University
Harvard University is located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, right next to Boston. Harvard is an extremely selective university with an acceptance rate of 3%, and it has an undergraduate population of over 22,000 students. Instead of majors, Harvard students have ‘concentrations,’ thus math majors are referred to as mathematics concentrators. Math students at Harvard tend to go into fields that are not purely mathematics after college, such as industry, education, finance, or medicine. The math concentration at Harvard requires twelve letter-graded courses. Eight of these courses must be listed as Mathematics courses, and at least one of the courses must be an analysis course, one must be an algebra course, and one must be a course in geometry or topology. Students must also submit a five-page expository essay on a math subject to fulfill the Math Expository Requirement.
New York University
NYU is located in New York, New York in Manhattan’s famous Washington Square Park. NYU is a selective university with an acceptance rate of 13%, and is the largest private undergraduate university in the United States by enrollment with over 50,000 undergraduates. The Department of Mathematics at NYU is housed in both the College of Arts and Science and the Tandon School of Engineering, providing a wide interdisciplinary approach to mathematics. Both pure and applied mathematics are offered at NYU. Students can pursue joint programs wherein math is combined with one of the following:
- Computer science
- Economics
- Data science
- Engineering
The engineering option gives students the opportunity to receive a joint Bachelor’s of Science and Bachelor’s of Arts, while the other options only provide a B.A. Students are required to take thirteen courses in order to complete the math major, and none of these classes can be taken pass/fail.
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is located twenty minutes from downtown Chicago, Illinois, in the Hyde Park neighborhood. University of Chicago is an extremely selective university with an acceptance rate of 5%, and has an undergraduate population of over 7,000 students. The University of Chicago’s math department is heavily focused on research. Virtual seminars take place weekly, as well as open lectures and colloquiums. The University of Chicago also offers the Mathematics REU (Research Experience for Undergraduates) program. All participants of the math REU program must write a paper, and students within it are paired with a mentor for individual tutoring. The math department also hosts a study abroad program in Paris.
State Universities
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California at Berkeley is located in Berkeley, California, just across the bay to San Francisco. UC Berkeley is a highly selective research university with an acceptance rate of 11% and an undergraduate population of over 30,000 students. Students of the Department of Mathematics take both lower and upper-division math courses which are very different in their subject matter. Lower-division math courses are primarily focused on computation, while upper-division math courses are more theoretical and are widely considered more difficult. Math majors must take six lower-division math courses, four upper-division courses, and four electives. All classes applied to the math major must be taken as graded rather than pass/fail.
University of California, Los Angeles
The University of California at Los Angeles is located in the western portion of Los Angeles. UCLA is a highly selective research university with an acceptance rate of under 9% and an undergraduate population of just under 45,000 students. Students looking to pursue their BS in mathematics at UCLA must take ten courses before being accepted into the major. Afterwards, the major itself requires twelve additional courses. Mathematics majors can choose to specialize in computation in which more mathematics classes as well as programming classes are added to their curriculum. All courses must be taken for a letter grade.
University of Washington, Seattle
The University of Washington at Seattle is located in northeastern Seattle, Washington. UW is a somewhat selective research university with an acceptance rate of 48% and an undergraduate population of over 36,000 students. The Mathematics department at UW offers four different majors, each emphasizing not only computation but also abstract thinking, proofs, and critical writing. The most versatile of these majors is the standard Bachelor of Arts in mathematics, which boasts a wider variety of electives than the other majors, though it is encouraged for students to focus their electives on a certain discipline.
The B.A: Teacher Preparation option is designed for students looking to become teachers in middle or high schools and contains coursework which emphasizes not just learning math but communicating it to others. The B.A: Philosophy Option is a combination of the math and philosophy major and focuses largely on the philosophy of mathematical reasoning. Finally, the B.S option for math students exists for those who want a strong foundation in scientific mathematics.
Texas A&M University, College Station
Texas A&M University is located in College Station, Texas, equidistant from Houston and Austin. A&M is a somewhat selective research university with a 63% acceptance rate, and it has an undergraduate population of almost 60,000 students. Students looking to pursue a B.S. in mathematics at A&M will find a competitive curriculum emphasizing the connections between mathematics and other STEM disciplines. Students from A&M’s math programs are prepared to enter the technology and finance industries or begin graduate and PhD programs in mathematics. Texas A&M provides a comprehensive course calendar for every semester a student is in residence, outlining how a math major should progress through their major and how they should space out the core, non-math classes required by A&M versus their major classes.
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan is a selective research university and one of the best state schools in the country. It is located in Ann Arbor, Michigan, with an acceptance rate of under 18% and an undergraduate population of over 50,000 students. Mathematics is one of the most popular majors at the University of Michigan, and thus is split into six different programs. These include:
- The Secondary Mathematics Teaching Certificate, designed to train future math teachers
- Actuarial Mathematics, which studies the mathematics of insurance
- Mathematics of Finance and Risk Management, contributing the mathematical component of financial institutions
- Pure Mathematics, providing exposure to the broad categories of Algebra, Analysis, and Geometry/Topology
- Honors Mathematics, for students in the LSA Honors Program with graduate courses and courses on recent developments offered
- Mathematical Sciences, which allows students to specialize in one of eight particular areas of mathematics
All these programs provide a strong basis for future job opportunities or pursuit of graduate education.
A math major can prepare you for virtually any career out there. Keep in mind that the prestige of a college doesn’t always mean you’ll have a better experience or a brighter future, and virtually any math degree can help you achieve success.
