Colorado Technical University

Suggestions for pursuing a graduate mathematics degree?

I'm entering the field after a 10-year hiatus from math studies. I'll need to complete a significant amount of undergrad prerequisites before attending grad school, as my B.A. was in Business Administration. - Where can I find out more about my options for this? - Is it worth it to get a 2nd B.A. or B.S.? - Are there some good, accredited distance learning courses for Calc 1-3? - What are some resources for evaluating Masters and PhD programs, and learning more about the research specialties/opportunities at different schools?

Public Comments

1. I don't have any specific advice (sorry!), but I would suggest contacting the departments of some of the schools you're interested in....grad schools are usually very receptive to providing this sort of information to interested students, and actually talking options over with seriously interested students. A lot of people don't realize that, and treat admissions like the fairly-anonymous college application process...being proactive can go a long way in grad admission. Grad school admissions (especially to more specific, smaller programs like math/science PhD programs) is also often a matter of making a connection and sparking interest....sometimes just getting one prof excited enough about you can be your in ticket. So with that in mind, when you call for advice, also be prepared to have solid reasons prepared as far as why you want the degree, why now, etc....consider each encounter as a mini-admissions interview. So I'd contact some schools, especially before throwing some money at online courses that may or may not be accepted by the schools.
2. I had a similar situation -- I decided to go to graduate school to study math, with a BA in economics and many years out of college. I opted not to take a second bachelor's degree, because of the time that would be involved. Instead, I took the undergraduate prerequisites, studying by distance learning. I had calculus I and II and linear algebra, and I took the following: Calculus III Number Theory Ordinary Differential Equations Discrete Math Abstract Algebra Advanced Calculus I and II Graduate Linear Algebra I also had an MS in business, focusing on statistics and operations research. All together, this was enough to get me into a good graduate MS program in math. Now you can probably get into a graduate program somewhere without taking all of those courses I listed above. But the better programs want to see a lot of undergraduate couses if you do not have a BA or BS in math. I would recommend that you take (at minimum) the calculus sequence (calc 1 - 3), linear algebra (or matrix theory), differential equations and advanced calculus. If you can take more, then I would recoomend abstract algebra, more advanced calculus, and perhaps some probability. With that you should be able to get into an MA or MS program in math, applied math or math education -- they might ask you to take a couple of additional undergraduate level courses to add to your background. Don't take online math courses just anywhere. The following is a link to a good, accredited program that has a number of the key undergraduate courses you will want to take: http://netmath.uiuc.edu/courses.php There are a couple of other ways to do this. If you wanted to just take calc 1-3 online (or somewhere else) and then go to graduate school, there are two possibilities: 1. You could go for a good MA/MS program in Mathematics Education or Mathematics Teaching. The better programs allow you to take a variety of advanced undergraduate courses, or special courses for math teachers covering advanced undergraduate material. This way, you get a lot of the undrgraduate math curriculum, without doing a four year BA/BS. The MA/MS would prepare you for a Ph.D program, and give you some education courses that might be helpful if you decide to teach later. 2. Some colleges with MA/MS programs in math might let you in with just the three course calculus sequence, if you agree to take undergraduate courses to make up deficiencies. Top university programs are less likely to do this, but colleges with terminal master's programs might. The master's degree would prepare you for a Ph.D program somewhere else. To get some idea as to which universities are strong in which areas of math, you might start with the U.S. News & World Report graduate program rankings (their premium edition has a longer list of rankings in each math category). http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/grad/rankings/phdsci/phdsciindex_brief.php Once you have an initial list of universities you generally have to go to their math deparment web sites to get more detail on the research specialties they have.