Simon Fraser University for Undergrad Math

[cjwalle]

Hiya,

I'm currently applying to Canadian universities for an undergrad degree in Mathematics (Combined with Computer Science somehow). My first choice would be University of Toronto, but that costs beyond what I am able and willing to pay for an undergraduate degree as an international student, in addition to giving less IB transfer credit than other universities.

I've narrowed it down to a few small Liberal Arts/Sciences unis (Mount Allison, Acadia, St. Francis Xavier) and one bigger university that I think looks great: Simon Fraser.

I know it's well ranked overall, and I know its business program is good. However, I do not know much about their mathematics/CS department. Can anyone fill me in?

 

[cjwalle]

I guess I could add that I'm also considering the University of Oslo in Norway. Anyone actually know whether or not they have an internationally respected Maths department?

 

[Stephen Price]

Hi cjwalle,

I'm an advisor in the Faculty of Science at Simon Fraser University. SFU is a very strong school for Mathematics and particularly for applied mathematics (although that isn't the only area). You've probably also seen that we have a Joint major in Math and computing, which would appear to fit nicely with your interests.

SFU is also ranked in the top 100 universities worldwide for mathematics - global rankings don't tend to tell you much about the student experience, though - they just tell you that the faculty are being published extensively in international journals.

At SFU, there is also the Interdisciplinary Research Centre in Mathematics and Computational Sciences, which collaborates with researchers across the planet. There is a nifty tool on their website that uses Google Earth to show the extent of this collaboration: http://www.irmacs.sfu.ca/collaborations/home (select "global collaboration at Left). I've advised a number of undergraduate students who have worked in this centre and done really interesting project in Math and Computing.

If you want any more information about the math department specifically, you can email me at: stephen_price@sfu.ca.

Good luck selecting a university!

All the best,

Stephen Price
Faculty of Science
Simon Fraser University