PhD after 3-year BSc (Mathematics)?

Graduate School
1

<p>Hey guys</p>

<p>Im finished off my second year in University of Melbourne in Australia. My bachelors degree is 3 years long, although I have the choice to continue with a 4th year "Honours" program. However, I will most probably be going on a year-long exchange to Berkeley in Fall next year, and by the time I graduate from my 3-year degree I would have taken all of the essential Maths courses (Topology, Differental Geometry, Algebra 2, Analysis 2, set theory, number theory, complex analysis, combinatorics, etc.... )</p>

<p>Can I apply for a PhD in Mathematics in the US? Do they require me to have a 4-year bachelors degree? Will I be disadvantaged in terms of admission?</p>

<p>I am interested in Duke PhD, and if I manage to maintain my gpa in Berkeley, then maybe I would apply for Princeton, Stanford, etc..</p>

2

<p>Australian students who want to apply for graduate school admission in the US are normally required to have a 4-year honours degree.</p>

3

<p>But from what I've heard, students from the UK can enter a US PhD with just a 3-year bachelors. Isn't an Australian 3-year bachelors equivalent to that of the british?</p>

<p>Anyway, I will be taking advanced courses, ones that are offered in the 4th year honours program during my 3rd year, so I dont see the point of continueing with the honours year; I would then probably have to choose subjects irrelavant to my specialisation (Algebra/Geometry), just to complete the required credit points. Please advise. =)</p>

4

<p>The "honours" degree seems to be required for Australian applicants at the small sampling of graduate program pages I just looked at.</p>

<p>An example from U Washington: "Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa: Minimum qualifications: Bachelor’s degrees requiring at least four-years of university study, full time-study with a minimum of First Class or Second Class or Honours. Holders of bachelor’s degrees whose programs represent three years of study are not eligible for graduate admission."</p>

5

<p>International Degree Requirements: [url=<a href="http://gradadmissions.stanford.edu/quicklinks/international.html%5DStanford%5B/url"&gt;http://gradadmissions.stanford.edu/quicklinks/international.html]Stanford[/url&lt;/a&gt;], [url=<a href="http://www.gsas.harvard.edu/prospective_students/academic_requirements.php%5DHarvard%5B/url"&gt;http://www.gsas.harvard.edu/prospective_students/academic_requirements.php]Harvard[/url&lt;/a&gt;], [url=<a href="http://www.grad.berkeley.edu/admissions/admis_require.shtml#4_2%5DBerkeley%5B/url"&gt;http://www.grad.berkeley.edu/admissions/admis_require.shtml#4_2]Berkeley[/url&lt;/a&gt;], [url=<a href="http://www.gradschool.cornell.edu/index.php?p=6&l=A%5DCornell%5B/url"&gt;http://www.gradschool.cornell.edu/index.php?p=6&l=A]Cornell[/url&lt;/a&gt;], [url=<a href="http://www.gdnet.ucla.edu/gasaa/admissions/CRITERIA.HTM%5DUCLA%5B/url"&gt;http://www.gdnet.ucla.edu/gasaa/admissions/CRITERIA.HTM]UCLA[/url&lt;/a&gt;]&lt;/p>

<p>Not every site has it, but of those which do include information on international degree equivalences seem to agree that a 4-year degree is required from Australian candidates. Sorry! Good luck at Berkeley. :)</p>