The best course/University for a Maths degree.

[Mel2Mel]

My DS will be starting his As levels next year. He is a capable mathematician and highly motivated.
I would really appreciate your advice on the best University for him to study Maths and what are the differences between the courses from one University to another.
Thank you very much in advance

Funnily enough I was supervising a post grad student recently ( not maths BTW) and she asked me where she could get a tutor.

I was surprised as she is very able, very commited and already gets one to one sessions as part of her studies.

But in the country she's from it's very common.

Who knew?

We have come across more than one teenage who relies on the tutor to do homework. Indeed, and this was a boy at a very famous school (not W), the tutor did the GCSE coursework. My children tell me they learn best by listening in class, which is a good learning habit. Some kids instead learn to rely on tutors instead to go through material, which must frustrate teachers

God forbid! not W but the other famous school, not my children but the other children.... Very funny

OP sounds a couple of mothers I know, indeed I wonder if I might know her..... Its been strange. I know there is an element of this in MN but in the world of central London private schools, there seem to be ranks of hugely gifted children. DC never were. At times it has felt as if the parents have judged us on our ordinary public sector jobs and then their children have assumed the same attitude towards our children. (A bit tedious, and not dissimilar to the attitude towards career tutors which seems to exist here.)

I don't live in London but I spend a lot of time in London and I know a lot of parents from W and SP who tutor their DC in hiding.

What makes you think we are not in the public sector as well? What makes you think that my DH doesn't work for the Foreign Office, for example? Stop projecting your biased assumptions motivated by misinformed prejudice.

Have a good sleep Needmoresleep

Mel as you say quite normal but in my sample a higher relative frequency of Cambridge mathematicians. It's great that some high ability mathematicians love their subject enough to teach it.
Your DS sounds as though he will thoroughly enjoy the maths Olympiad camps (assuming that he has not already experienced them).

summerends Most high ability mathematicians I know love to share their love for Maths with others so they end up in teaching positions at one level or another. They are so keen, they'll do it for free
He has been to one and is declining the one for this year because we will be in the states attending a program over there. If all goes well next year he will definitely go.

Ah now I see.

mel is one of those experts on schools she has no direct experience of, jobs she's never done etc etc .

If I had a pound for every person who thinks they have the inside track on Westminster (far more current than, you know, actual parents, with, you know, real live kids there )...

I like the idea of OP being a diplomat

Forte, belligerent or peace-making diplomacy? Let me think ....

OP what degree did you do and what do you do for work now? you seem very well informed about maths so I am wondering if you are/were a mathematician.

I have found this thread very interesting, even though none of my (younger) children seem like they will be in any way exceptional at Maths. It seems like a hard choice between the "pure" but modestly paid world of academia and research or going into the city to be an Actuary and earning, what, 2/300k a year? Similar to my own background in science. I guess traders could earn way more, but wouldn't really be using their maths skills/passions much. From my own experience of being self employed I would have thought somebody running a successful tuition business would be not far off the actuary in terms of income anyway.

The problem is we as parent see all this through the lens of our own experience in the workplace. Yes money is important, of course, and the self esteem is brings, but so is personal happiness and being a decent human being. There are a lot of maths grads in investment banks that I have met that maybe struggle on those 2 counts.

Well that was strange! D's went to Cambridge maths open day yesterday and they made a big deal about want I g people who would fit in and contribute to college life. This was very surprising as previously we have heard that it is only interest in, and ability in the subject that counts ((confused))

The admissions slant may change depending on the previous cohorts. For example one year the degree results from the college may be relatively less good due to too much time on non-academic pursuits. Another year the college may not have much to say in its fundraising college newsletter to the alumini so would quite like to correct that (whilst obviously still wanting the academic brilliance as well )

I like the idea of OP being a diplomat I have never claimed to be one! Have another look at my comment again, sleepy head

laughingcow13 Where did you hear it?

Mel2Mel humour does n't follow Boolean logic. like the the idea of does not = you claimed to be. However since even partners of diolomats have to exhibit diplomacy the association is not stochastic.

Funny summerends I haven't even confirmed that my DH is a diplomat

I am starting to believe that I am talking to few ''failed economists'' who base much of their diatribe and their conclusions on assumptions

PS: Have you seen Obama's Anger Translator?

I'm starting to believe that I'm speaking to someone with zero sense of humour and an overinflated sense of themselves .

Mel2Mel we can safely assume you have no connection to diplomacy.
Too many assumptions in your last post to make any sort of tenable hypothesis about any of us .

My concluding post on this thread:

I have just compared notes between what I have gathered on this thread and what my DC have found out on TSR - the difference is huge!

My DC have learnt an enormous amount of information and facts about different Universities, courses, professors, accommodation, activities etc in breath and in depth on TSR.

Conversely on this thread:

• Whilst some contributors have been very constructive and I would like to thank them for sharing their knowledge ;
• Others have gone out of their way to be discouraging, sarcastic, knocking down something on this thread but hailing it few minutes later on a parallel one, offloading the burden of their own personnel gripes which have nothing to do with the subject of the thread and made their conclusions/speculations on wildly incorrect assumptions based upon their own narrowly held prejudicial foundations.....to those I simply say- GET A LIFE.

As for me, I am going out for lunch!!!

Be very careful about information gleaned on TSR.

Last year I saw my own name come up in connection with a subject I don't even teach !

I've also regularly seen lots of inaccurate stuff in there about the subject I do teach.

Mel2Mel Even the chaos theory is based on a butterfly effect.
Sounds as though your DS is much more effective which is an important attribute for his future.

I'd echo what WordFactory says about TSR. My PR people put me on to some threads on TSR that we needed to monitor, and I started reading various bits of the fora there they're informative if you want to get a sense of atmosphere and student attitude, but for my field at least -- a lot of the posts are blinkered, opinionated, and pretty inaccurate, in terms of facts.

Indeed.

As I say, I saw my own name come up in the context of a thread about a course I don't teach on .

A colleague sent me an email saying, I know you're a polymath but this is ridiculous, with a link to the thread.

OP, no one on MN has an obligation to be helpful to you. You will find that if you come on here with a prickly attitude then they will prickle right back at you!

As you sow, so shall you reap.

senua the stated purpose of Mumsnet is for parents to support one another hmm

Supporting people doesn't always mean saying what someone wants to hear.

And often there is no one right answer to a question. So you get differing opinions.

Most adults consider this A Good Thing. But some want an echo chamber. Tough luck for them on MN.

Mel2Mel A Cambridge outreach speaker who came to the school a few weeks ago asid they were not interested at all in unrelated extra curriculars.

On reflection I think the guys at the open day were trying really really hard not to frighten the kids off.
For example they said the pre interview test taken under exam conditions, was to distract students fom their interview and put them at their ease, which doesn't sound very likely to me!