Deadline
The deadline for Fall 2023 admission is February 28, 2023.
Basic Application Parts
- Official Transcripts from all colleges and universities attended for course credit
- Test Scores
- Applicants whose native language is not English must supply TOEFL or IELTS scores
- Two or more letters of Recommendation
- A Statement of Purpose (your mathematics goals, interests, experiences, etc.)
- Supplemental Materials (as applicable). Examples include CV/resume, papers, preprints, etc.,...
Come for a Visit
If you've been accepted and haven't come for a visit already, we encourage you to do so if possible. We provide limited travel support for applicants who received assistantship offers from us.
We hope you'll be able to meet faculty and other students, explore the local area, sit in on classes, and join us for a seminar before you begin your studies at UofSC.
TOEFL Requirements
The University requires an Internet based TOEFL score of 80 or better (or equivalent according to concordance tables) for admission. For teaching assistantship, our Department requires an Internet based TOEFL score of 100 or better. If you completed a degree from an institution of higher education in the US or Canada, the university waives the TOEFL requirement.
Assistantships
We expect to award 11-13 assistantships for Fall 2022. The starting stipend (9 month salary) for new assistantships is $19,500. New assistantships will also get full tuition abatement. Subject to annual performance reviews of scholarship and teaching, these assistantships are renewable for up to 5 years.
In last 10 years, we have been able to offer summer stipends to all students who prepare for the qualifying exams in the summer after their first year, and to most students who prepare of the comprehensive exams in the summer after the second year. Summer stipend amounts range between $3,500 and $4,500, depending on the teaching assignment. Many students in summers beyond their their third year find support from individual faculty member grants or from external sources such as internships or other employment outside of UofSC.
When comparing financial packages, keep in mind that the cost of living in Columbia, SC is very low.
Fellowships
Strong applicants are also eligible for two types of Fellowships.
- Presidential Fellowship: $8,000/year for 4 years.
- College of Arts Sciences Fellowship: $4,000/year for 4 years.
Teaching responsibilities.
All graduate student assistants are expected to teach except for those supported by faculty grants. Student teaching assignments are as follows:
- 1st year students: teaching assistants for calculus I or calculus II.
- In the second semester of the first year and the first semester of the second year, students take 1-credit courses on math pedagogy (Math 791 and 792) under the instruction of Dr. Sean Yee.
- Starting in the second year, students who completed or are taking Dr. Yee's course are eligible to be instructor of record for the following courses: Math 111 (college algebra), Math 115 (precalculus), Math 122 (business calculus), Math 170 (finite mathematics), Math 174 (discrete math for computer science). On certain occasions, usually in Spring, experienced student instructors can be instructor of record for Math 141 (calculus I), Math 142 (calculus II), Math 241 (calculus III), Math 242 (elementary differential equations), and Math 374 (discrete math).
Outcomes:
In recent years, our Ph.D graduates have taken postdoctoral appointments at Arizona State, U. Delaware, Georgia Tech, Harvard, Max Planck, Penn St., Queens U., UC-San Diego, U. Southern California, Texas A&M, U. Utah, and Wake Forest. Our graduates have also taken jobs with Ernst & Young, Microsoft, Google, NSA, NASA, Texas Instruments, and Wells Fargo.