Questions regarding undergrads taking grad classes

<p>Well at most top schools there are no terminal master’s in math so it’s not really possible to just be a grad student in math for 1 year.</p>

<p>Higher ranked programs are less likely to take their own bachelor’s students, since they always have a wide field of applicants to choose from. Exceptions of course occur, but it is a factor to consider. However, it sounds as if he will have a shot at getting into a strong program, even if it is not at his current school.</p>

<p>“Well at most top schools there are no terminal master’s in math so it’s not really possible to just be a grad student in math for 1 year.”</p>

<p>You can do this at Harvard, but you aren’t really a grad student in that fourth year. You’re an undergrad doing master’s work. You get both degrees at once. So while there is no freestanding terminal master’s degree program, advanced undergrads effectively get to do one.</p>

<p>If he wants to do a math phd, then taking graduate courses is absolutely the right strategy. It will build up his skills, and his letter writers on the faculty will be able to say much better things about him. Sounds like he knows what he’s doing.</p>

<p>OP,</p>

<p>If you are footing the bill, I might suggest you have a talk with your son about getting this information from his school. I don’t care who calls me a helicopter parent-if it involves my money, I think I have the right to be involved.</p>

<p>UMTYP and my son are both at MIT and both came in with a number of college classes. (I think UMTYP did a good deal more than my son) My son was able to transfer in all lower division math and will probably begin taking grad level math classes next year as a sophomore (though he said his first math class was listed as a grad class for some reason, but it’s an upper division class as far as I can tell).</p>

<p>My son didn’t get sophomore status because he was 1) lopsided (had lots of math and relatively few humanities) 2) didn’t score high enough on two AP exams (needed 5s, not 4s), and 3) was too lazy to place out of ASE exams in physics.</p>

<p>However, our costs were very low the first year and he really wants four years at MIT as an u/g, so it’s not a loss for him. </p>

<p>I think your son’s case illustrates a challenge: for kids who love a particular subject to the exclusion of other subjects, they are still left to fulfill required classes outside their major, so even if someone could grant a master’s or credit towards a PhD, he would still have a number of other courses to take during the next few years.</p>

<p>Does that make sense?</p>

<p>As sbjdorlo notes MIT will accept transfer credit for both lower and upper division math classes although my understanding is that MIT is unusual among elite schools school in doing that and the OP’s school is more typical in not accepting transfer credit. Even at schools like MIT where it is very possible to graduate early in 3 (or even 2) years it’s not exactly encouraged.</p>

<p>PS: sbjdorlo my understanding is that many upper division math classes are listed as graduate is so that graduate students from other departments can take them for credit. Those classes say something like (H except 18) which makes them more or less useless for actual math graduate students.</p>

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<p>I had a friend who was awarded an MA in math a year before he finished his general requirements and received his BA. This was at a (back then) top 5 math grad program. He was a cranky guy that last year writing humanities papers.</p>