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Univer of utah math department

Posted: Thu Apr 18, 2019 4:56 am
by namvuong
Hi all,

I just got accepted to uni of utah. I would study Commutative Algebra. I want to ask about the environment here. My advisor recommended this program and I really do not know much about it. Any information would b useful.

Thank you in advance

Re: Univer of utah math department

Posted: Thu Apr 18, 2019 9:13 am
by pyfgcr
Probably top ten in the country for commutative algebra/algebraic geometry. It's a great program, and the students I know there like it. Plus, if you like to hike in the mountains, there is no better department in the country!

Re: Univer of utah math department

Posted: Thu Apr 18, 2019 10:22 am
by djysyed
Honestly its a fantastic program for CA/AG and I would personally recommend going there over other places like Purdue, Oregon, UIC, etc. if you don't have environment or faculty preferences. My interest is also commutative algebra so I'm sure we'll meet at conferences :)

One thing that I would consider a very small negative is the high amount of racism in parts of Salt Lake City and areas further away from campus. However, you really have to go out of your way to be in these areas and the chances of you having to deal with racism is negligible.

Re: Univer of utah math department

Posted: Fri Apr 19, 2019 2:12 am
by fmcgla
Hey, I was also accepted into the program at Utah. I declined but it was a hard decision. So far as I can tell the commutative algebra at Utah is about as good as it gets. Also I was told by a recent graduate that there is strong community of graduate students and that the city is very affordable. She said The Avenues is a neighbourhood in Salt Lake, biking distance from campus, where a lot of grad students live in nice old houses.

One negative I wasn't aware of is that Salt Lake has some of the most polluted air in the U.S. during the winters. This is due to this something called climate inversion which you can read about here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_of_Salt_Lake_City. I've heard that inner city salt lake city is pretty progressive, but you should keep in mind that The State of Utah is essentially run by the LDS, so it's going to be very conservative in a lot of respects. For example alcohol is heavily regulated.

Re: Univer of utah math department

Posted: Fri Apr 19, 2019 10:22 am
by mook713
I also turned it down, but it was my top choice until I found out another one of my options had hired a new tenure-track professor right in the center of my area of interest.

The visit day was a blast. I would definitely advise you to go--their algebra in general is wonderful. Their commutative algebra and algebraic geometry are very good, and representation theory (my area) is excellent.

I didn't get any weird vibes from SLC either--it was very nice.