Tufts Daily

Issue date: 10/10/07 Section: Features

Though the number of math majors nationwide has dipped in the past two decades, Tufts' math enrollment has stayed fairly constant. And according to math professors, a jump in declared majors last year may lead to a rise in the department's importance.

If you randomly choose a student from the Tufts undergraduate population, what is the probability that he or she will be a math major? If this type of question baffles you, it might be because the answer is smaller than you'd think: only 67 students - about 1.3 percent of Tufts undergraduate students - are math majors.

But according to Professor of Mathematics Boris Hasselblatt, who has been keeping record of math enrollment since he began teaching at Tufts in 1989, Tufts has actually defied a general decline in math degrees awarded nationwide. And thanks to new admissions programs, the numbers may now be on the rise.

According to the Conference Board of the Mathematical Sciences (CBMS), the number of U.S. bachelor's degrees granted in math decreased by 19 percent between 1990 and 2000, while total college enrollment actually increased 9 percent.

At Tufts, though, enrollment in mathematics stayed fairly constant during the '90s, with about 20 to 25 math majors per class, Hasselblatt said. Though those numbers fell slightly in the past few years, from 24 math degrees in the class of 2003 to 13 in the class of 2006, according to Tufts Factbook, the trend reversed last spring when 44 sophomores declared their majors in math.

"My expectation is that this doubling in [the number of] majors is not likely a blip," Hasselblatt said.

Hasselblatt gives credit for Tufts' sudden increase in math enthusiasts to the dean of undergraduate admissions, Lee Coffin.

"The class that entered two years ago, the juniors, they seemed very different from other classes," Hasselblatt said. "Tufts has always had very good students, but this class had much more intellectual energy and excitement. My expectation is that something has changed in who's interested in applying to Tufts and who decides to come here."

And while the interim head of the mathematics department, Professor Todd Quinto, said the department didn't do anything differently last year that would cause such a dramatic increase in the number of math majors, the admissions office might not be the only reason for the spike in interest.

Continued...

Page 1 of 3 next >

Article Tools