Graduate Program Requirements and Qualifying Exam Information

M.A. Program Requirements

The M.A. program is designed to allow a student, in consultation with an academic advisor, to design a personalized program of study which will prepare the student either to proceed to the Ph.D. program, or to prepare for a career in industry, government, or teaching at the community college level.

Ph.D. Program Requirements

Students who are planning an academic career, or those interested in senior-level project director roles in industry should consider a Ph.D. in Mathematics. The main steps in completing a Ph.D. degree are passing qualifying examinations and writing a dissertation.

First Qualifying Exam

The purpose of the First Qualifying Examination is to assist the Director of Graduate Studies and the student in deciding soon after the student's entry into Graduate School, whether or not he should be in the Ph.D. program. The exam is a three-and-a-half-hour written examination based on a syllabus covering introductory real variables, introductory abstract algebra, and linear algebra.

Second Qualifying Exams

The Second Qualifying Exams consist of two three-hour area examinations, selected by each student from the following four choices: ALGEBRA, ANALYSIS, GEOMETRY/TOPOLOGY, and DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS. It is the purpose of the second qualifying examination to insure that each student has a rudimentary command of at least two "core" areas of mathematics.