Applied Maths in Florida University

RomanS · Post by **RomanS** » Sun Nov 18, 2007 7:47 pm

Hello. Can you tell me please, how good is University of Florida and it applied math programs?

Thanks.

rod · Post by **rod** » Sun Nov 18, 2007 8:05 pm

Define "good".

Are you more interested in learning math, or in having a sexy school name in the "education" section of your resumé? Are you aiming at what degree? BSc? MSc? PhD?

RomanS · Post by **RomanS** » Sun Nov 18, 2007 8:37 pm

Thanks for your interest to my post.

I am finishing bachelor's study in my institute in Russia. So, my aim is master's program. Well, the cause of my interest may be more in the famous name, because there are many places to learn math in Moscow...

cekpet · Post by **cekpet** » Mon Nov 19, 2007 8:51 pm

it ain't MIT, ranked #29 among public universities

your research ability is clearly nil, you could at least look at their own website:

http://www.ir.ufl.edu/nat_rankings/us_news/appl_math_old.pdf

RomanS · Post by **RomanS** » Mon Nov 19, 2007 9:29 pm

Well, I saw that, however I thought that something changed through this five years, and also I'm not going in PhD program...

Bachelier · Post by **Bachelier** » Mon Dec 03, 2007 9:49 am

And that Cyrillic keyboard is slowing you down......

Honestly, it is just fine for a job in Atlanta, but it will get you nowhere in NYC or Chicago. Ditto Georgia Tech's similar program.

ClopeMan · Post by **ClopeMan** » Tue Dec 04, 2007 6:27 pm

One can get a rough idea from a global ranking such as this . Although it don't give you much info on your precise target department, it still gives a rough idea... There is no shortage of junk (university) rankings on the web, but this last one seems reasonable to me... to the extent that it don't completely violate my own understanding of things.

edit: it looks fishy that ENS-Paris is not in top 30

rod · Post by **rod** » Tue Dec 04, 2007 7:16 pm

The art of crafting university rankings is quite voodoo-like, and one should always take rankings with a grain of salt. I would say that:

- university rankings make sense at the BSc degree.

- department rankings make sense at the MSc degree.

- research group rankings make sense at the PhD level.

However, the sad truth is that image is everything. A guy with a less than stellar academic performance but who has a degree from Harvard is always more likely to land an interview at a bank than, say, a smarter kid that comes from UC Berkeley or Caltech.

Of course that if you talk to a Phrenchman, he will tell you that these rankings are all crap... because if rankings were accurate, then École Polytechnique would be f*cking #1 worldwide (and INSEAD would come in a close 2nd place) Evil Grin

ClopeMan · Post by **ClopeMan** » Tue Dec 04, 2007 7:33 pm

LOL, funny... i 100% agree with everything rod wrote, even concerning the phrench!:) I nevertheless think it's weird not to find any of the best Grandes Ecoles in the top 30, and i ain't a phrench-dude, dude! Smiley

rod · Post by **rod** » Tue Dec 04, 2007 7:59 pm

@ SamyBoy:

I agree with you, and I ain't a phrenchie either. I believe that the university rankings are very biased towards the US and UK. We all know that the US has top-notch schools, but other other countries have them too. France has the Grandes Ecoles, Israel has the Technion, Russia stills kicks ass in math, Japan keeps a low profile but they also do great things there. Iran has the Sharif University of Technology, which seems to place students every year in the top science & engineering PhD programs in the US. Curiously enough, many of these schools are not in the top 50 worldwide... although some schools in the US you never hear about are in the top 50.

Disclaimer: I am not American, nor British, nor Israeli, nor Iranian, nor Japanese, nor Phrench. My opinions are not nationality-biased, I believe.