Graduate Information

Detailed guidance is provided here for your search for your first post-doctoral job.

The Department maintains a complete set of format files for preparation of a doctoral dissertation or a masters thesis.

Students who are unsure whether or not it is required to sign up for all or some of the parts of the Comprehensive and PhD Qualifying Exam need to consult with the Graduate Director. Please access the Comprehensive Exam Registration Form here.

Every continuing graduate student in Mathematics is required to have preregistration advising each fall and each spring. Either the Pre-General Exam Registration Form or Post General Exam Registration Form must be filled out, signed as indicated, and returned to the Department's Graduate Director. If you are not fully registered by the time listed in the Registration Calendar inside the on-line Schedule Book, LSU will bill you for a $75 Late Charge! Your choices need not be permanent, but unapproved changes may delay your registration for the new semester, delay your degree, or jeopardize financial aid if you overlook Departmental or University requirements! The Department will check each student's schedule.

This page has been written for the use of doctoral students nearing completion of their studies and seeking their first postdoctoral employment. It is also useful reading for doctoral students in earlier stages of their studies, because it is not too early to think about how to prepare for the various types of employment available. We use the term postdoctoral employment literally - meaning your first job after earning a PhD in mathematics. As you progress through your doctoral studies, it is natural and appropriate for you to think about your future. It is unlikely that you will begin to think about this too early, but we caution you not to begin too late! Many postdoctoral research jobs are awarded early in the spring semester to commence the following fall. These jobs may have early deadlines for application in the fall of your final year of graduate study. Also, the type of job for which you intend to apply may influence your choice of activities long before graduation, including research conferences, paper presentations, and other valuable preparatory experiences.

Visitors and New Students

Graduate School Calendars and Schedule Books

Departmental Registration and Comprehensive Qualifying Exam Forms

Graduate School Forms

Dissertation Format, Tex Files

Academic Job Search

New international students must take a written English placement test upon arrival and before being registered for Mathematics courses. This test will determine whether or not it is necessary to take one or more semesters of written English courses for international students. The only form of financial aid which the Department is permitted to offer to an international student is a teaching assistantship or a teaching assistantship in combination with the Graduate School Enhancement and Supplement Awards. New international students cannot teach a class at LSU until they receive a recommendation to teach from the English as a Second Language Program within the Department of English. This can be accomplished by means of an interview with the ESL staff upon arrival at LSU, but it usually requires a semester of Spoken American English first. Until an international graduate assistant receives this recommendation to teach, non-teaching jobs must be assigned for assistantship duties. Since the number of such jobs available within the Department of Mathematics is limited, it is very important for international graduate assistants to earn the recommendation to teach as soon as possible.

The Department actively seeks all available funds with which to support its graduate students. Most of our students are supported with Teaching Assistantships, grant-supported Research Assistantship, Graduate School Enhancement or Supplement Awards, Fellowships, or Traineeships. Fellowships are governed by regulations set down by the State Board of Regents or other granting agency, and by the Graduate School. Most Fellowships must be awarded prior to enrollment at LSU: They cannot be awarded after enrollment to reward outstanding academic performance here. (There are exceptions, such as the Dissertation Fellowship which is offered by the Graduate School to a small number of deserving candidates for the final year of dissertation research.) Board of Regents Fellowships provide 12 months' support, covering the two academic year semesters plus the Summer Term. There are also Graduate School Enhancements awarded as supplements to assistantships and fellowships.