Math/Stats (Not Actuarial Math):
This department is quite small in terms of student population. The majority of students in the math department are in actuarial math but even still i think it's only about 60 people in actuarial (so about 180 in levels II-IV?)
- Upper year classes will be small (possibly less than 10 people at the end of the course). In a way this is good because you can get to know your profs and they can get to know you better.
- Small number of people interested in "actual" math and stats courses means fewer variety in course offerings (especially in fourth year courses). This means that even after you've chosen what field of study you like the most, you may not be able to take further courses on the topic. In this case you would need to find a supervisor to take a reading course and learn the material on your own but that's not really fun unless there's more than one person doing it and you're all friends so you can collaborate.
- In a way I feel like if you don't already live in Hamilton, it may benefit you to go to any other university that has a math department that is more populated. Like maybe Waterloo or something in the Toronto area. Having a larger population interested in math definitely helps when it comes to course offerings and variety. The small population is not all bad. For example, with fewer people and depending on what courses your prof is teaching this semester, you could technically get more help 1 on 1 during office hours or during any other time you need help since there's fewer people asking for help. So there's pros and cons to having a small student population in math.
- I feel like the math and stats students' society doesn't really have a presence...
- Pure math and Pure stats students have lots of electives. You can definitely minor in something if you choose
- Because the program is so small you will probably have the same classes as everyone else so you can get to make some friends who will be in all of your classes
Let me know if you have any other questions about anything in particular.
Last edited by Imperious : 04-25-2017 at 08:08 PM.
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