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I am a rising senior in a small liberal arts college, and I was wondering if anyone could suggest me good graduate schools for graph theory. My only exposure to graph theory has been the intro graph theory course at my school, so I clearly do not know much about the different varieties of graph theory, but I was wondering if anyone could shed some light on the graduate schools which provide research focus on any of the varieties of graph theory.

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    $\begingroup$ Are there any geographical preferences? This would be good to know. $\endgroup$
    – The User
    Commented Jun 6, 2013 at 23:25
  • $\begingroup$ There are rankings for U.S. grad schools in "discrete math and combinatorics". Not the same as graph theory, but it's a decent place to start. (Take it with a grain of salt, though.) grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/… $\endgroup$
    – Sam Nolen
    Commented Jun 6, 2013 at 23:41
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    $\begingroup$ I know I should keep to comments that only relate to the question, but my recommendation is to go to the best place you get in and not just apply to places that have what you think you want to do. Most people (especially if you only have a small exposure) end up changing their minds after the first year of grad school. You'll want good people in all sorts of fields if this happens. $\endgroup$
    – Matt
    Commented Jun 7, 2013 at 1:53
  • $\begingroup$ Thanks, @Matt. Yeah, I think I'm one of those people who have little exposure, and I'm trying to balance my applications as to what I want to study and also where there is wide breadth. Thanks for the advice. $\endgroup$
    – Sunny
    Commented Jun 7, 2013 at 17:59

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The University of Waterloo has an entire Faculty of Mathematics, consisting of several departments: Pure Math, Applied Math, Combinatorics & Optimization, Statistics, Operations Research, and (at least when I went there) Computer Science.

Anyway, the Department of C&O has several people that work on graph theory, as you can see here: http://math.uwaterloo.ca/combinatorics-and-optimization/research/areas#graph-theory

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    $\begingroup$ And if you are willing to go to Canada, Simon Fraser University has a pretty good graph theory group as well. $\endgroup$
    – Casteels
    Commented Jun 7, 2013 at 0:31
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First of all, let me point out that I am not a graph theorist.

I have been told by a graph theorist that UCSD has very strong faculty specifically in graph theory. It also seems to me that Rutgers has some very strong combinatorialists and graph theorists. Ultimately you should decide on a place based on who you would like and are likely to work with.

EDIT: A small remark regarding Matt comment. I've seen two types of people in graduate school. Those that arrive not knowing what they want to do and those that arrive because they knew already what they want to do and with whom. People in the second category typically have already done research in the field and start working on some questions right away. People in the first category take more time, take some course, and find out what they like. Of course there are exceptions to everything.

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  • $\begingroup$ I'd definitely like to second that Rutgers recommendation. Great school for combinatorics and graph theory! $\endgroup$
    – Vidit Nanda
    Commented Jun 23, 2015 at 1:29
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Here's my (incomplete) list of recommendations based on my current knowledge of graph theory research.

General: Rutgers, UCSD, Tel Aviv, Waterloo, McGill, Princeton, Yale, Eötvös Loránd University, Rényi Institute, Emory University, Queen Mary University of London, Warwick University, Simon Frasier University, Charles University in Prague, University of Hamburg.

Algebraic Graph Theory: Waterloo, University of Western Australia, Tilburg University, CWI Amsterdam, QMUL, Imperial College London, Tohoku University, Delaware, Clemson, Michigan Technological University, Wyoming.

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Another option would be Northeast university, which has a ph.d. program on network science (basically applied graph theory). Barabasi and Vespigniani are faculty there, and if you have had little exposure, you may want to consider a more practical approach

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