Comparing Math Programs at UCF and FAU

[Bill_B]

Earlier this year, I finished my AA degree from a community college and transferred to the University of Central Florida to major in mathematics. My plan is to finish my BS in math and attend grad school for math with a focus on cryptography. Admittedly, I haven't been at UCF for very long, but I'm considering transferring to Florida Atlantic University for the remainder of my BS.

The math programs at UCF seem to be very engineering and physics oriented. Even in the pure math track, there are a lot of engineering/physics oriented applied math courses, and most of the research going on in the department seems to be in support of the engineering and physics departments. Not that I have anything against physics or engineering -- it's just that my interests are elsewhere.

FAU has on its main campus, the "Center for Cryptography and Information Security," and quite a few of the school's math faculty are active researchers in cryptography. My feeling is that going there could give me good exposure to the field (even as an undergraduate), and a chance to make important and useful contacts. Plus, there are a few more crypto-related courses offered at FAU than at UCF.

Both are state schools, and my basic assumption is that I can get a good math education at either school. Though unfortunately, I don't really know how to validate that assumption, and it's possible that it's false.

So I have two main questions, though other comments or suggestions are also welcome -

Does anyone have information or opinions on the quality of the undergrad math programs at FAU vs. UCF?

Are my reasons for wanting to transfer valid/relevant?

 

[mxbob468]

neither is a good school but ucf is probably better than fau.

hands down though uf is the best choice in florida save maybe for um. i went to fsu and my brother is going to uf and according to several metrics uf is 3 times the school that fsu is (and therefore ucf)

 

[Bill_B]

neither is a good school but ucf is probably better than fau.

Are you speaking generally, or specifically with regard to their math programs?

hands down though uf is the best choice in florida save maybe for um. i went to fsu and my brother is going to uf and according to several metrics uf is 3 times the school that fsu is (and therefore ucf)

You sound a lot like my coworker. She lives and breaths everything UF, despite the fact that she never went there. I don't really understand it, but then, I've never really cared about football or partying.

Regardless, neither UF nor UM are on my radar for various reasons.

 

[QuarkCharmer]

The college of optics and photonics at UCF is one of the top 3 programs in the country. (for optics and photonics obv.) Of the two, UCF is the obvious choice, but as stated above, for general (BS etc) neither are really that impressive.

I wouldn't go to the University of Miami for engineering, but it has one of the best music programs in the country. Point is, it's probably more important that the school you decide on has a program relevant to YOUR education, rather than basing your decision soley on the school as a whole.

 

[Bill_B]

Point is, it's probably more important that the school you decide on has a program relevant to YOUR education, rather than basing your decision soley on the school as a whole.

Exactly. Unfortunatly I haven't been able to find very much information the relative quality of the math programs at UCF and FAU, which is why I'm asking here.

Though, relavance to my interests is my main reason for considering the transfer, since there's a lot of crypto-related activity going on at FAU, and (as far as I can tell) almost none at UCF.

 

[Bill_B]

Just wondering if anyone else has any more input...

 

[twofish-quant]

Though, relavance to my interests is my main reason for considering the transfer, since there's a lot of crypto-related activity going on at FAU, and (as far as I can tell) almost none at UCF.

That's a really good reason to go. One thing that you'll find about universities is that some of the topics are multi-disciplinary. I do know some really good people in high performance computing and software testing from FAU.