Best Maths Universities?

Am starting to think about applying for university for maths and am having a real tough time deiciding what to apply for.

Already likely I'll be applying for Cambridge.

Warwick, Durham, Bath, St Andrews, ICL, UCL are all considerations.

Anyone been to any of these unis for maths (or any course actually) and can give me some advice or comparisons between these?

Thanks in advance.

Reply 1

Kevin De Bruyne

21

Original post by ThatAlmondNut

Am starting to think about applying for university for maths and am having a real tough time deiciding what to apply for.

Already likely I'll be applying for Cambridge.

Warwick, Durham, Bath, St Andrews, ICL, UCL are all considerations.

Anyone been to any of these unis for maths (or any course actually) and can give me some advice or comparisons between these?

Thanks in advance.

Bath is decent. It's not overly challenging but challenging enough for the average student. I find some units boring but maths can be a very wide degree so I stick to stats etc.

Has a placement year which, coming to the end of mine, I can say is a huge plus...

I would prefer to study in London but ah well, nice to be in a more rural area, people are really nice.

Reply 2

S2M

22

Original post by ThatAlmondNut

Am starting to think about applying for university for maths and am having a real tough time deiciding what to apply for.

Already likely I'll be applying for Cambridge.

Warwick, Durham, Bath, St Andrews, ICL, UCL are all considerations.

Anyone been to any of these unis for maths (or any course actually) and can give me some advice or comparisons between these?

Thanks in advance.

I'll tag anyone who I think can help. :smile:

@Zacken @IrrationalRoot @13 1 20 8 42

Reply 3

IrrationalRoot

20

Original post by ThatAlmondNut

Am starting to think about applying for university for maths and am having a real tough time deiciding what to apply for.

Already likely I'll be applying for Cambridge.

Warwick, Durham, Bath, St Andrews, ICL, UCL are all considerations.

Anyone been to any of these unis for maths (or any course actually) and can give me some advice or comparisons between these?

Thanks in advance.

Well they're all top unis for maths (with Cambridge obviously being a league above the others), but I would say Warwick and Imperial are the best two out of those other six, probably with ICL being a bit better course-wise. Can't really say with 100% certainty since I didn't go to Imperial, but I'm pretty sure based on Warwick's course.

I don't think it's particularly hard to decide which 5 unis to apply to for maths, unless Cambridge is unrealistic for you (in which case you'd be unnecessarily limiting yourself to 4 options or even less). If you do have a reasonable chance at getting to Cambridge then it only makes sense to apply to the best unis which include Cambridge, Imperial, Warwick and then any other two which shouldn't really matter. A slightly harder decision is your insurance choice given that you get an offer from Cambridge. Though this likely wouldn't be based on grades because given that you get a Cambridge offer, the other offers should be pretty easy to meet. Personally I chose mine (choosing firm and insurance for Warwick and Imperial) based on location.

Reply 4

mathsinsider

11

I think that from next year onwards fewer will be insuring Imperial with Cambridge as firm, since Imperial's standard offer for 2018 is now the same and will in some cases be higher than Cambridge's standard offer.

For 2018 Entry for Undergrad Maths:

Cambridge A*A*A + STEP (1,1)
Imperial A*A*A -A*A*A* + MAT or STEP (2,2)

It seems that one main reason to insure Imperial would be if you're sure that you'll hit the A*A*A but are unsure about hitting STEP 1,1

Reply 5

BenjaminBraddock

1

I think that the 'big five' for maths are Cambridge, Oxford (but obviously you can't apply to both), Durham, Warwick & Imperial. Another really good one you haven't mentioned is Bristol.

Reply 6

Jai Sandhu

12

Original post by jlennon8755

I think that the 'big five' for maths are Cambridge, Oxford (but obviously you can't apply to both), Durham, Warwick & Imperial. Another really good one you haven't mentioned is Bristol.

Don't kid, top 5 isn't a thing, Durham is good don't get me wrong but COWI is solidly ahead.

Reply 7

artful_lounger

Universities Forum Helper

21

All the of the advice above is more or less correct, although I'd suggest Warwick edges out Imperial for single honours Maths. While they're about equal on prestige, the variety of courses available to Warwick Maths students from second year onwards is much larger than Imperial, and closer to the breadth offered to Cambridge students. Bristol and Bath as mentioned are solid contenders however, with Birmingham and Southampton as reasonable options as well (albeit the latter has the downside of Koeck doing first year Calculus now apparently, and Anderson only doing a random Graph Theory course...that may pull it down a few notches potentially :tongue:

).

(edited 6 years ago)

London Met

Original post by Gem Thief

London Met

Only the best mathematicians know that, secretly, London Met is the best maths university in the world. I highly recommend it. I wish I was smart enough to go there.

Reply 10

Zacken

22

Original post by mathsinsider

I think that from next year onwards fewer will be insuring Imperial with Cambridge as firm, since Imperial's standard offer for 2018 is now the same and will in some cases be higher than Cambridge's standard offer.

For 2018 Entry for Undergrad Maths:

Cambridge A*A*A + STEP (1,1)
Imperial A*A*A -A*A*A* + MAT or STEP (2,2)

It seems that one main reason to insure Imperial would be if you're sure that you'll hit the A*A*A but are unsure about hitting STEP 1,1

Just two things:

1. "You'll hit the A*A*A but unsure about hitting STEP 1,1" - this is every Cambridge maths offer holder.

2. I don't see how Imperials offer is ever "higher than Cambridge's standard offer".

Reply 11

mathsinsider

11

Original post by Zacken

Just two things:

1. "You'll hit the A*A*A but unsure about hitting STEP 1,1" - this is every Cambridge maths offer holder.

2. I don't see how Imperials offer is ever "higher than Cambridge's standard offer".

Imperial's offer for 2018 of up to A*A*A* is higher at least on A-Level grades than Cambridge's A*A*A. We'll have to wait until the offers start coming in for 2018 applicants to see if Imperial do actually give out A*A*A* offers or stick to A*A*A

Reply 12

Zacken

22

Original post by mathsinsider

Imperial's offer for 2018 of up to A*A*A* is higher at least on A-Level grades than Cambridge's A*A*A. We'll have to wait until the offers start coming in for 2018 applicants to see if Imperial do actually give out A*A*A* offers or stick to A*A*A

My point is that A*A*A* + x where x is < 1,1 in STEP is lower than Cambridge's standard offer.

Reply 13

Randymagallon

3

I'd say Cambridge and Warwick are the top two.
The teaching at Imperial is so impersonal. The profs don't really care much about the undergrad -- they're more focused on handling the grad and postgrad students.

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