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If she pursues this path, the better graduate programs will expect her to take a number of graduate courses as an undergraduate. And no, there’ll be no transfer credits. She’d also be strongly encouraged to go elsewhere for the PhD.</p>
<p>First, some schools will let you reserve graduate courses (not count them toward your undergrad but counting instead toward the graduate degree if you enter the program in the same school) - in any event these things vary quite a bit from school to school so you should talk with an advisor.
Second, some universities just charge a fixed amount for a full time student. However, other places have a per-credit charge. In this case graduate courses may cost more per credit than undergraduate courses.</p>
<p>B@r!um why would she be encouraged to go elsewhere for the PhD?</p>
<p>Thank you StatBeast1.</p>
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Because academia looks down on “academic inbreeding.” Not to mention the career advantages of having a wider network to draw on. Working with two different sets of professors and experiencing the dynamics of two different departments would also give her a much better idea of what to expect from a career in academia. </p>
<p>When I was visiting graduate programs (the best part about applying to PhD programs in math were the all-expenses-paid visits :)), I was quite surprised how much the atmosphere varied among the top programs. Some programs explicitly encouraged competition between their students while others encouraged collaboration. In some departments the professors were much more available than in others. In some departments the graduate students struck me as overworked and depressed, while in others they seemed quite happy. And of course some departments are much more generous with funding than others. (Are their graduate students teaching two courses every term or TAing one course per year?)</p>
<p>Different professors have different advising styles too. Some are more hands-on than others, some advise more students than others, some take a personal interest in their students while others won’t talk about anything besides math. </p>
<p>There’s something to be said for choosing where you want to spend the next 5 years of your life.</p>
<p>Thank you B@r!um. So assuming there is a switch to another university after graduation, is there any way, other than summers, to reduce the 5 years? </p>
<p>Those free visits sound great! I wish some of them would provide this for undergraduates. lol Would love to hear your take on the different graduate, and undergraduate, programs you considered. Yes, 5 years is a long time.</p>
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Time to graduation in a PhD program is not determined by coursework but by progress on research. Some advisers let their students graduate early if the student wants to leave academia; but if you aspire an academic career, you want to spend as much time in the PhD program as you can. Many students voluntarily tack on additional years if they can get funding for them. Post-doc and tenure-track positions are very very very competitive and your odds of getting one of the better positions is directly linked to how much you’ve published and networked as a graduate student. Every additional year helps.</p>
<p>By the way, PhD students in math are generally expected to work in the summers as well. In my graduate program, taking a single summer off (in 5 years) is a big deal. Taking off more than one would be frowned upon.</p>
<p>Yeah, you are expected to work during the summers during a PhD. As far as I know, most PhD programs have you take courses for two years, with part time research during the the academic year and full time research during the summer, followed by 3-4 years of full time research. This might be different outside the US though, I’m not sure. </p>
<p>Actually, if someone could give me some more information about how it works in Canada (specifically University of Waterloo) I would appreciate it. I couldn’t find on their website how long a PhD typically takes.</p>