Please suggest grad schools for pure mathematics

ArcanaNoir

I'm sure everyone gets tired of this question, but it's important, so I'll ask anyway. Can anyone make suggestions for good grad schools for pure mathematics? Especially number theory or algebra. I already have a list of about ten of the top tier schools, but it would be especially helpful to receive suggestions for mid-level schools. I have all A's in math, but I want to have some realistic options, not just optimistic ones. I will only consider schools on the east coast of the united states. Thanks for your help :)

MathWarrior

This might be useful.

Monocles

You should ask your professors that know you (especially if they work in the areas that you're interested in). They will be best equipped to suggest schools for you to apply to and will know who is strong in what areas. Rankings can be a good baseline but they are an amalgamation of many factors, some of which will be important to you and some that won't be.

twofish-quant

For physics USNews World Report is useless, and even looking at the rankings should be avoided. Can someone from the math world tell about whether the same is true for math or not?

Also for my reference, is there something in mathematics that's similar to the AIP register of physics and astronomy programs?

http://www.aip.org/pubs/books/graduate.html

ArcanaNoir

Thanks for the ideas so far. I've recently taken to browsing the faculty lists to see what schools everyone went to. Too bad most of my profs went to foreign schools.... Like Armenia... It is helping some, though.

Mépris

That's not a problem if they work or interact with other faculty of American institutions. Ask them what they think with regards to places you can look into for algebra and number theory.

Also try to get a list of where people who graduate with Mathematics degrees from their department ended up. (quite a few persons on here and elsewhere have mentioned that this can be useful and it is)

mathwonk

The University of Georgia has a strong group in number theory.

http://www.math.uga.edu/research/number_theory.html

20Tauri

I don't know much about the schools myself, but there's a professor at my school who went to Brandeis and one who went to Rutgers, so I assume they must be good programs. The number theorist here did her PhD at the University of Michigan, which is an amazing school but not, as you say, on the east coast.

Have you tried poking around on phds.org or the student section of the AMS (American Mathematical Society) website? They're both good resources.

I'm Awesome

Yeah, U-M is good, but if you did want to go there make sure it's the Ann Arbor Campus.

ArcanaNoir

Thanks for the input. This is scary stuff! Like, decisions that will affect the rest of my life scary stuff! It was so much easier coming out of high school. The stakes just seem to keep getting higher as approach "real life". Too many choices....