Re: Mathematical physics for graduate school

On 27 Jul 2005 12:47:51 -0700, "George" <hagstrom@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

>So is it generally true that if I wanted to study any subfield of
>mathematics, like algebra or number theory, I will find that the top 4
>math departments as you have given them will be stronger than other
>universities in the subfield? Or is it only true of the more popular
>areas of math?
>
>I was actually under the impression (by chatting with one of my friends
>who went to graduate school in math) that most top departments (top
>here is larger than 4) had specialties. For example, I remember that
>there was a particular area of math that my friends thought was best at
>Stanford, and one at Princeton, Harvard, NYU etc. I also recall being
>told that event the top departments were weak in large areas of
>mathematics. Was my friend just completely wrong?

It's natural for the top departments to evolve towards specialization
in one or more specific areas of math, since once a department gets a
one of the known greats in a field, that potentially attracts other
top talent in that field (ability to bounce ideas of someone else in
the department, to share ideas, intuition, examples, etc).

One idea that you could try is to look at textbooks that you admire
(where the authors are still alive and actively teaching) and then
check to see which schools those authors are at.

Of course, a good author may or may not be a great teacher or a great
advisor, but it's a good sign.

quasi
.

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