Dear Math Students,
For those of you considering graduate school in mathematics, I have
attached a spreadsheet containing the newest NRC (National Research
Council) rankings of research and *graduate* programs for math. What
follows is general information about the NRC rankings and how you may use
this information. If you would like information on other areas you may
download a monster master spreadsheet with all areas from
http://www.nap.edu/rdp/
Please note that you may have to change your settings to view the master
spreadsheet--but I'm not an expert on these things so please don't ask me
for advice if you can't make it work. :) The attached spreadsheet should
be easily usable with Excel.
1) The attached spreadsheet has the universities ranked by an average
score on several measures of scholarly quality--I'll explain a little more
below for those who are interested. Since there is a header on the
spreadsheet, the rank is the row minus 1. So for example UT is ranked 52.
2) The 1995 ranking column is the last NRC ranking of each program. So for
example, UT was ranked 73, which I'm happy to point out indicates that we
have gone up 21 places since 1995.
3) Universities within a few points of each other are generally very
comparable.
4) For math graduate school, you should seek not only admission, but an
assistantship that pays both tuition and a living stipend in exchange for
teaching classes. It is unwise to go to graduate school in math without an
assistantship; in other, especially non-science areas including education,
assistantships are more rare and students often go deeply into debt to get
a graduate degree.
5) Here are some very rough guidelines based on my experience with UT
undergraduates, concerning what level of program you can expect to get
into (meaning an assistantship). Note that we have a very strong
undergraduate program, including very good sequence/breadth requirements.
Top 20: Near perfect grades in math classes, including some graduate
courses. Fairly high subject GRE score. Excellent quality research
project, published in a regular journal if possible.
Next 20: Excellent grades in math classes, including at least upper
division honors sequences; graduate courses help. Reasonably high GRE
score often good. Very good quality research project.
Next 25: Mostly A's in math classes, with nothing below B. Very good
overall GPA. Some schools may require subject GRE, but not all. Research
project or senior thesis can definitely help.
Below 65: varies, but good grades in upper division math classes are
always necessary.
6) You should also consider the 1995 rankings: Universities that have
fallen (e.g. UNC-Chapel Hill) a lot may still be relatively harder to get
into due to their former reputation. Similarly, ones that have moved up a
lot may be relatively easier to get into. Note that the 1995 rankings were
based on a "reputation" survey while the current rankings are based more
on quantitative measures related to research and teaching qualities.
Programs might have a high reputation based on the work of 2-3 world class
faculty, but overall be less productive. If you are able to work with one
of the 2-3, that's great; if not, that's not so great. That's partly why
the NRC changed methodologies.
7) In general large public universities will be easier to get
assistantships at than smaller private universities of similar rank.
8) The last column in the spreadsheet is a rough ranking of "student
support and outcomes" on a scale from 1-16. Low is better. Don't read too
much into this because, for example, a department can get worse scores if
it graduates a lot of MS students and fewer PhD students--even though it
may support its students very well. However, if a fairly highly ranked
university has a score above 8 you should perhaps be concerned that PhD
students aren't finishing quickly and/or are losing their financial
support.
9) How should you choose where to apply? Use the guidelines in #5 to
decide where you fall in the spectrum (paying some attention also to the
1995 rankings). Apply to at least 6 departments in that category, and at
least 6 more in lower categories. You may also apply to higher categories,
but getting an assistantship will be more difficult.
10) Notes on spreadsheet headings: 9,95 are percentiles. S and R are two
NRC ranking criteria. RT is the sum of the four columns preceding it. The
spreadsheet is initially ranked by the RT column; if you know how to sort
a spreadsheet then you may sort it as you please. RA refers to a measure
of research activity, and SO is a measure of student support and outcomes.
The formula for the last column may be found by clicking on any cell.
Conrad Plaut
Professor, Director of UT Math Honors
Math Department
Aconda Ct. 104
1534 Cumberland Ave.
University of Tennessee
Knoxville, TN 37996-0612
Office: Aconda Ct. 401A
Phone: 865-974-4319
http://web.utk.edu/~cplaut
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