Core Curriculum, Comprehensive Exams, and MS Degree

All new graduate students, upon arrival at LSU, are expected to visit the Graduate Director for advising and registration. Thereafter, each semester every graduate student will be given a pre-registration form on which to plan course-work for the coming semester. This form must be filled out and signed by the student's Advisory Committee (as explained below), and returned to the Graduate Director by the specified time.

Most new graduate students begin their study at LSU with the Fall semester Core Curriculum: Algebra (7200), Analysis I (7311), and Topology I (7510). These three courses will provide the preparation for the first three sub-tests of the Comprehensive Exam. Passing these 3 sub-tests at the MS-Level constitutes the major portion of passing the Final Exam for a non-Thesis MS Degree. Passing these 3 sub-tests at the PhD-Qualifying Level constitutes the first stage of PhD Qualification.

Some students with prior graduate-level background choose to skip one or more of these courses, while some others are advised to take a 4000-level course to prepare for one of the Core Courses. If you feel that part of the Core Curriculum is inappropriate for you, you should discuss this matter with the Graduate Director.

Sometimes the Department needs to communicate quickly with a student. You should check your letter-box in the Department daily, and keep an eye on the Graduate Bulletin Board outside room 304. Also, you should be sure that the Department has a current local address and telephone number at which you can be reached at any time. In addition, you are entitled to a (free) computer account in the Department, which includes full Internet access. You should activate your account and check it regularly for messages.

Doctoral Program of Study Form & The Advisory Committee

Each first-year doctoral student needs to download a copy of the Doctoral Program of Study Form from the section Online Resources in this Handbook. It is necessary to ask one graduate faculty member to sign as Chair of your Advisory Committee and two other graduate faculty members to serve as well on this committee. The Program of Study Advisory Committee need not be the same as the Advisory Committee for the General Exam. Thus, when you ask a professor to serve as Chair of your Program of Study Advisory Committee, you are not asking him to be your dissertation advisor - at least not yet! Those few students who have already arranged with a faculty member to be the advisor or likely advisor on the dissertation should ask that faculty member to sign as Committee Chair. Most students will not be ready for such an arrangement before the 3rd year however. In this case you may ask any three graduate faculty members from whom you like to get advice - for example, your 7000-level teachers. If you are not sure whom to ask, we advise you to ask three of the graduate faculty members from the Graduate Committee members: their names are listed on the Department Bulletin Board.

The role of this committee will be to advise you during Pre-registration each term and at other times when advising or supervision seems appropriate, until you have a definite dissertation advisor - which should occur by the 3rd year. The committee members will sign your pre-registration course-selection. The Department will expect you meet with each committee member at least twice per term. We hope it won't just be a matter of getting a signature, but that you will discuss how you are getting along, and seek whatever kind of advice or guidance would most help you to have a successful and satisfying graduate school experience. We don't want you to feel that you are ever without recourse to help and guidance.

When filling out the Program of Study Form, here is what is required:

• At least 9 hours of Math 9000 (dissertation research) - not necessarily to be taken right away.
• At least 18 graduate hours beyond the current semester - so as to insure at least one full year of graduate study beyond the current year, thereby satisfying the Residency Requirement for full-time study.
• A total of at least 54 graduate credit hours to provide at least 3 full years of study beyond the Bachelor's degree. These hours include previously completed graduate credit hours (in your first semester, probably you do not have such hours yet) which would be listed under Courses Completed at LSU. List the hours for courses in which you are currently enrolled, as well as those you plan to take later under Probable Further Course-work. Most doctoral students eventually take many hours of Math 9000 (dissertation research) and Math 7999 (individual reading courses).
• The space for Minors should be left blank unless there is to be a professor from an External Minor Department represented on the Committee. Leave blank also the signature line for Minor Professor unless appropriate.
• You will need to get all the required signatures and to take the form to 114 David Boyd Hall to turn it in.
• If changes are needed at a later date, there is a procedure for such changes as are required in the Program of Study form.

Second Semester Curriculum

During the Spring semester of the first year, the PhD student is normally expected to take his or her choice of 3 of the following second-semester Core Courses: Field Theory (7210), Measure and Integration (7312), Differential Equations (7320), Graph Theory and Combinatorics (7400), Topology II (7512), or Differential Geometry (7550). It is required for breadth that PhD students take a fourth course from among these six - usually by the end of the second year of study. Each PhD student will choose one of the six Spring semester Core Courses as the subject for his or her fourth (and final) sub=test of the Comprehensive Exam. Passing this fourth test, together with passing the first three sub-tests at the PhD Qualifying Level, constitutes PhD Qualifying.

In addition to the Core Curriculum described above, each new graduate student in Mathematics is required to enroll for one year in a one-credit-hour per semester course `Communicating Mathematics' (Math 7001 and 7002). This course provides instruction and practise in teaching mathematics, writing mathematics, and delivering talks in mathematics at both elementary and advanced levels.

Every graduate student needs to be aware of the Graduate School Calendar. A copy of the current calendar is always posted on the Graduate Bulletin Board (outside room 304) and on the Graduate Director's door. The Graduate School is strict about the deadlines published in this calendar. For example, if you need to drop or add a course, you can do this easily by visiting the Graduate Director until the published deadline for adding a course. After that deadline, courses can be added only through appeal to the Dean of the Graduate School. Courses can be dropped until published final drop date. But students receiving financial aid (assistantships or fellowships) must be full-time students at all times in order to keep their aid. Sometimes students are very ambitious and sign up for many courses, expecting to drop one or more if the load becomes too heavy. This is alright, but you must be sure to take the drop action before the published deadline for dropping a course.

All students in a PhD or non-Thesis MS curriculum are expected to pass the Comprehensive Examination by January of the second year of graduate study. If you do not pass the Comprehensive Examination at the intended level by the time required, it is up to the Department's Graduate Committee to decide whether or not you can repeat all or part of the Exam.Students are encouraged, however, to attempt this Exam as early as possible so as to get it out of the way. This is especially relevant to those who have entered following advanced study elsewhere. (The Comprehensive Examination serves as the major portion of the Final Exam for the non-Thesis MS degree, and as the PhD Qualifying Examination.) The Exam is offered in August and in January. There are two levels of passing: the MS level, which suffices as the major portion of the Final Exam for a Master of Science Degree, and the PhD level, which suffices for continuing in doctoral study in addition to being the major portion of the final exam for the MS degree.

Students may take the Comprehensive Examination earlier than required without risk. To help you study for this Exam, syllabi and sample questions for the three Core-I tests are downloadable from the Graduate Web-site, under the heading Graduate Exams.

It is also possible to earn an MS degree by writing a Thesis, and without taking the Comprehensive Examination. However, it is very important to be aware that the Department gives first priority for Financial Aid to students who are in a curriculum designed to pass the PhD Qualifying Exam. For those students who choose a thesis MS curriculum, it is necessary to take the first semester core courses (7200, 7311, and 7510) and at least three 7000-level courses from diverse areas of pure or applied mathematics. It is also necessary during the second semester of study for such students to have a faculty advisor and an Advisory Committee. The MS Thesis will be written under the advisor's direction. The student's Thesis Advisor will be the Chair of the Advisory Committee, which will include at least three Graduate Faculty Members from the Mathematics Department, including representatives of at least two of the following four areas: algebra, analysis, combinatorics, and topology. The Final Examination for the MS degree for such students is primarily a Thesis Defense. The intention of this program of study is to provide greater breadth, albeit with less of the depth in the core subjects needed for doctoral studies.

It is possible also to earn a more specialized Thesis-MS in Mathematics with a Concentration in either Applications or Finance. For detailed information about these Concentrations as well as the other degree options, look under the heading Graduate Degrees in the Graduate Program Menu at this web-site.

Required Forms and Deadlines to Receive the MS Degree

Print a Copy of this Paragraph and Discuss it with your Major Professor

When you are in the semester in which you intend to receive the MS degree, there are two Graduate School Forms which you need to fill out. You need to file an Application for the MS Degree, which is a two-page form the first page of which is the `Diploma Page, and an Application for the Final Exam for the MS degree. The Final Exam for the MS is offered once each regular semester, at a time and date to be set by the Department. Each MS-Candidate must appear for the MS Final Exam, at which the Examining Sub-Committee of the Graduate Committee will review the results of the written Comprehensive Exam with the student, who will be questioned and advised. The Graduate School forms are available directly from Graduate School Online, and listed in this Handbook's Table of Contents under Online Resources. The information can be typed into these forms online and printed on any of the Department's printers. Both these forms must be turned in by every MS-candidate according to the schedule in the Graduate School Calendar, and they should not be confused with the Department's sign-up sheet for the Comprehensive Exam, even though this is the major portion of the Final Exam for the non-thesis MS. If you are applying for a thesis-based MS, then your Final Exam will be the Thesis Defense, which requires the presence of your full Advisory Committee. Even if you have passed the Comprehensive Exam in a previous semester and have been waiting to earn 36 graduate credit hours in Mathematics so as to qualify for the MS, you still need to file the Application for Final Exam. Regardless of the type of MS degree you are seeking, you must fill out the Application for Final Exam form from the Graduate School and submit it typed and signed at least three weeks in advance of the proposed exam date. The Graduate Director can help you fill out these forms. Please note: Math 9000 cannot be counted as part of the 36 credit hours towards a non-thesis degree!

Students who are awarded an MS Diploma in Mathematics by LSU will receive a $100 per year increase in their assistantship stipends. Students in the Thesis-MS curriculum also need to submit the Application for the Final Exam for the MS Degree. For those students, the thesis defense is the centerpiece of the Final Exam.

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