I’m thinking about applying to UK next year and I know for sure that I’ll major in mathematics. I was wondering if anybody knows about the strength of their math department, availability of graduate courses to undergraduates (I’d be entering with 30+ credits in mathematics as a freshman, so I’d want to begin taking graduate courses in freshman or early sophomore year), research opportunities, etc. In addition, would a student from UK who takes advantage of all opportunities be competitive for top graduate schools (think top 25 for mathematics)?
To get accurate answers to your questions, you may want to contact a math advisor. There are 4 different “options” in the math department. All of them seem to be similar, and allow enough room for a person coming in with credits to double major. There are also options of picking up one or more minors.
Depending on what you plan to do in the future (career path), an advisor may be able to explain some of the options for you. Some students who do not plan to teach seem to focus on Mathematical Economics. If you almost have the coursework for a major in mathematics, you may want to consider a different major as a primary, then do the math major as a second major. This would allow you to complete coursework in the other major with priority for those classes. My daughter did get closed out of a math class for the fall that she needs to continue on with other 2 course sequences. As she came in with credits, she will still have time to take that the following fall and still be on track to graduate on time, but a little disappointing.
Again, just one person’s thoughts and experience. Talking with someone at the University would give you the best and most accurate information.
First off, thanks for replying!
Secondly, I plan on focusing my major around pure mathematics with an intent to study it further in grad school and hopefully land a job in academia as a professor in a university.
Do you know where I could find the contact information for an advisor who could fill in the details?
My daughter is pure mathematics. She is not intending to teach at the college level. I keep telling her, jokingly, that she should be practicing her foreign language skills, so that she can say “would you like fries with that” in multiple languages. She has no idea what she wants to do when she graduates. I am glad that you have a direction.
Not positive about who to contact, but try this:
Information Requests, Contacts
Professor Peter Perry
Director of Graduate Studies
755 Patterson Office Tower
Department of Mathematics
University of Kentucky
Lexington, KY 40506-0027
Phone: 859 - 257 6791 or 800 - 357 1113 [toll free]
Fax: 859 - 257 4078
Email: MathDGS (at) uky (dot) edu
From prior experience, almost everyone at UKy goes out of their way to answer questions, or get you to the person who can answer them for you. Also, you should have a recruiter for your area that can help. There is a special recruiter for high achieving students that can also be accessed to get information. If you have not already started a “see blue” account/page, consider doing this. Once you have put in your interests, the page populates with information related to your interests. Very neat feature. If you don’t mind me asking, what area are you from?
Forgot to mention, you may want to check out the Graduate Mathematics page at UKy if you have not already done so.
http://math.as.uky.edu/grad
I’m from Northern Kentucky (just south of Cincinnati), which is why I’m curious about UK in particular.
I’ve checked out a lot from their graduate page, paying a lot of attention as to what courses are offered and what not. Also, there probably are recruiters around here frequently as I’ve seen many for other Kentucky colleges, although I’ve never payed much attention to them. I’ve never heard of any special recruiters before now, so I assumed asking questions particular to a specific department, and even more specifically to my situation would be fruitless… I’ll have to look more into that
Just to let you know, she was able to pick up the class that she was closed out of, so she will be able to take the sequence that she needs this year, at least the first class in the sequence of 2. Not sure if you cared or not, but thought I would let you know.
Congrats to her!
I would imagine for upper division math courses, there isn’t much demand, luckily for me
@NaperMom, do you think your daughter might want to become an actuary?
If I am correct, it is an upper division Math class that also is cross referenced in the Stats department. Her major, however, makes her take the Math section, not the Stats section. If you get into Honors, you will have priority registration, so this should not be an issue for you.
She did think about Actuarial Science for a while. I am not sure what made her change her mind. Taking so many tests might have been the culprit. We have discussed her taking the first few tests after completing the classes that most closely correspond to the test. Part of her issue is that she is rather young, and is still in that stage in life where she is just starting to become an adult and think about these things.
Since she has come back after completing freshman year, we have been doing all of the “yearly” things, like eye doctor, physical, etc. As this is the first time that she has been “an adult” during this process, she needs to sign forms without mom and make decisions (or ask me to help, as I am out in the waiting room). She has grown up so much during her first year at college, yet still does not realize all of the possibilites out there for her. If you have any information or personal experience that I could use to reintroduce the topic of being an actuary, please feel free to share.