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Top 5 mathematics departments in the country

futureaussiecto

13

Ok choose 5 maths departments from the list above that you think are the top 5 in the country.

Reply 1

random123

2

I'm not seeing a 'list above'. Unless there's a poll pending.

*holds breath in excitement*

Reply 2

Posie

Where's the list? I'd say Cambridge, Warwick, Bath, Nottingham and St. Andrews but unsure about the last one.

Reply 3

Angel Interceptor

11

I can't see the list, but I'd go with Cambridge, Bristol, Bath, Warwick and then probably Oxford or UCL.

Did some people really get 'bubble sort questions at Imperial? That really takes the piss! Unlucky that you got a hard one mate - sometimes life just isn't fair.

Reply 4

random123

2

Joe_87

I'm not seeing a 'list above'. Unless there's a poll pending.

*holds breath in excitement*

Now I see it. :biggrin:

I went for Oxford, Cambridge, Imperial, Warwick and Durham.

Reply 5

Angel Interceptor

11

Yeah, I see the list now and voted for the same ones that I listed.

Reply 6

Posie

Lol I'm at Durham and they're good but not the best I would have thought. Their strength appears to lie in the Mathematical Physics side of things because the Physics department is outstanding. Two of my maths lectures are actually Theorectical Physicists, although I don't know if this is common in other universities.

Reply 7

AlphaNumeric

10

Posie

Two of my maths lectures are actually Theorectical Physicists, although I don't know if this is common in other universities.

The Cambridge maths department is split into DPMMS (Department of Pure Mathematics and Mathematical Statistics) and DAMTP (Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics). All my lecturers this year are theoretical physicists, but thats because I'm doing theoretical physics modules.

They lecture younger years too, and I had theoretical physicists lecturing me for complex methods, dynamics, algebra & geometry, vector calculus and then the more obviously physicsy things like quantum mechanics, quantum field theory and general relativity.

I imagine every department is like that, since at a high enough level non-hands on physics is maths.

Reply 8

futureaussiecto

OP

13

pratikv

I can't see the list, but I'd go with Cambridge, Bristol, Bath, Warwick and then probably Oxford or UCL.

Did some people really get 'bubble sort questions at Imperial? That really takes the piss! Unlucky that you got a hard one mate - sometimes life just isn't fair.

yeh it was either a bubble sort or a quick sort. Im interested in encryption and so he gave me a prime number question (devise a general algorithm to prove whether a number is a prime) and i hadnt even done D1 then!! i got rejected and my two friends that got quick/bubble sort and another one got offers.

To be honest i would rather do the ISE at Imperial, got my interview on the 15th Feb.

With regards to maths, warwick are hopefully changing my offer to maths and my 6th choice will probably be filled by UCL maths.

Reply 9

futureaussiecto

OP

13

Update: put UCL as my 6th choice, like the place- good uni rep and maths rep isnt that bad. Would choose Warwick over it for maths though!

Reply 10

Angel Interceptor

11

futureaussiecto

Update: put UCL as my 6th choice, like the place- good uni rep and maths rep isnt that bad. Would choose Warwick over it for maths though!

A lot of people would, Warwick has a better maths department, but I never fancied applying there as I didn't want to be on a campus university where the nearest town/city to go out with was Coventry.

Reply 11

LouiSjisung

i think that cambridge is by far the best and then either imperial or oxford for second choice

Reply 12

The Orientalist

10

LouiSjisung

i think that cambridge is by far the best and then either imperial or oxford for second choice

Replace imperial by warwick and you got it right :smile:

Reply 13

President_Ben

15

I picked the three that I see as being great. I don't know enough about Maths courses to pick a top five comfortably.

Cambridge, Warwick and Imperial. I'm surprised by the number of votes for Oxford. I feel that people are picking it because of the name, not the reputation of the Mathematics department. I'm sure it's good, not sure it's great.

Reply 14

Popa Dom

2

President_Ben

I'm surprised by the number of votes for Oxford. I feel that people are picking it because of the name, not the reputation of the Mathematics department. I'm sure it's good, not sure it's great.

I think Oxford does have a very good maths department, I mean just the college that I applied to has Marcus Du Sautoy and Andrew Hodges as tutorial fellows, who are both relatively famous mathematicians, especially MdS, whos on TV a lot, has written a famous book, but also is an extremely good mathematician (I think he was one of the youngest people ever elected as fellow of the royal society). And Roger Penrose is also there, though he doesnt do any teaching. I realise the fame of a department's members isnt a direct measure of the department's quality, but I expect theres a correlation, as the better mathematicians will often go to the better departments.

Reply 15

futureaussiecto

OP

13

President_Ben

I I'm surprised by the number of votes for Oxford. I feel that people are picking it because of the name, not the reputation of the Mathematics department.

yeh i thought that too

by the way popa dom- how on earth did u end up with an offer of AAAAB? lol

Reply 16

ssmoose

13

Probably because they want to stretch him to his full potential. Which 11 people thought that Cambridge didn't have a top 5 department?

Reply 17

RichE

15

President_Ben

I picked the three that I see as being great. I don't know enough about Maths courses to pick a top five comfortably.

Cambridge, Warwick and Imperial. I'm surprised by the number of votes for Oxford. I feel that people are picking it because of the name, not the reputation of the Mathematics department. I'm sure it's good, not sure it's great.

People seem to put Cambridge as top on the basis of how demanding the course is and the variety of options offered in later years. By those two criteria Oxford maths is comfortably second in the country. It's not hard to compare the syllabuses.

I would make arguments why, for many good mathematicians, Oxford is a better choice than Cambridge for maths based on other criteria - mainly "who you get taught by" and "level of support"

Reply 18

freemyice

I don't think anyone would want to choose warwick over oxford to do mathematics. Some people might choose it over imperial, perhaps because they don't want to live in London, but what's wrong with oxford? :rolleyes:

Reply 19

Angel Interceptor

11

President_Ben

I picked the three that I see as being great. I don't know enough about Maths courses to pick a top five comfortably.

Cambridge, Warwick and Imperial. I'm surprised by the number of votes for Oxford. I feel that people are picking it because of the name, not the reputation of the Mathematics department. I'm sure it's good, not sure it's great.

That's exactly what I thought. A lot of people probably don't know too much about all of these Unis and probably put Oxford down because of its history and the fact that it's generally seen as an extraordinairy Uni.

Top 5 mathematics departments in the country

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