Brief description of our graduate degrees

The mathematics department gives two graduate degrees: an M.A. and a Ph.D. Each of these degrees requires taking a minimum number of courses. The number and type of courses needed depend on the degree track. Other requirements are described below.

Ph.D. degree

The Ph.D. program has two tracks: pure and applied. Both tracks require students:

• to pass qualifying exams in Algebra, Analysis, and either Numerical Analysis or Probability/Statistics
• to pass a preliminary exam in their area of research
• to demonstrate knowledge in foreign and computer languages
• to pass an oral comprehensive exam
• to write a thesis
• to defend the thesis

These requirements are designed to move the student through broad general knowledge into more and more specalized knowledge which ultimately leads to the original research of the Ph.D. thesis. Full details are given in the Mathematics Department Handbook. For number of credit hours, specific courses required, etc., you can also consult the table of requirements for the Ph.D. degree.

Our alumni do very well working in academia, high-tech start-up companies, and established corporations, banks and financial institutions. Recently, our Ph.D. graduates have obtained very competitive positions and awards upon graduation, including selective postdoctoral positions at research universities, a Clay Mathematics Institute Liftoff Fellowship, and an NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship.

M.A. degree

The M.A. program in our department is very flexible and design to accommodate the different interests and backgrounds of our students. Some of the courses required for the M.A. are common to our Ph.D. tracks and we encourage the students interested in an M.A. to take among their selective course work advanced Ph.D. classes too.

In addition to course work, the M.A. candidates must complete a research component. The research component is written up as a paper and defended by an oral examination.

Many of our Ph.D. students obtain an M.A. in their way to the doctoral degree. They have the option to do so after completing the qualifying exams.

After graduation, our M.A. students usually obtain very good jobs in industry and the private sector (mostly financial, insurance, telecommunication and e-companies), as well as teaching jobs at junior colleges. Some have also gone out to work for government agencies.

Again, more details about requirements can be found in the Mathematics Department Handbook or by consulting the table of requirements for the M.A. degree.

("Department Handbook" means the most recent version and it is available from the department office. In case of minor discrepancies in the documentation, the directives of the Graduate School should be followed; see the Graduate School Catalog)