Selecting a Graduate School and Applying

Selecting a Graduate School

Be sure to talk with faculty about choosing a graduate school. Most graduate programs in the mathematical sciences provide students with graduate assistantships or fellowships that can cover much or all of the costs of graduate study. The following links provide information about master's and PhD programs in the mathematical sciences.

• The American Mathematical Society's links for considering, finding, and applying to graduate schools.
• The National Research Council released a report on doctoral programs in many areas of study in 2010. The Chronicle of Higher Education has a chart that can be used to analyze some of the data for programs in (for example) mathematics. Click on the column headers to sort on that item. Click on other fields (e.g. applied mathematics) to view the data for those programs.
• Information about NSF Graduate Research Fellowships from the National Science Foundation and from the Mathematical Association of America.
• Graduate Fellowships for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Diversity from the National Physical Science Consortium.
• Graduate Research Fellowships from the Department of Defense.

Applying to Graduate School

To apply to graduate school, visit the web site for the universities that interest you and search for instructions. Most universities require official transcripts, Graduate Record Exam (GRE) scores, letters of reference, and an application fee. Your undergraduate GPA and GRE scores will affect your chances of admission. According to the NSF, more than 75% of master's degree recipients in the mathematical sciences had at least a 3.25 undergraduate GPA.

• The directions for applying to graduate school at ASU provide a good example of the application process.
• ETS provides information about preparing for the GRE. The ASU library a variety of GRE preparatory materials, including:
  • Barron's GRE: Provides a great vocabulary refresher, including excellent writing, verbal and quantitative sections.
  • Kaplan's GRE 2016 Strategies, Practice, and Review .
  • Thomson Peterson's Master the GRE: Accompanying CD contains weaker exercises than previous GRE prep materials and the practice test are more difficult than the Kaplan and ETS prep materials.
  • Gruber's complete GRE guide 2013 Online resource.

Thanks to Emily Elrod and Mitchell Jareo for contributing to this page.

Back to: Jeff Hirst's Homepage or Mathematical Sciences