MATH
Applications for the MATH Ph.D. program are only processed once a year for admission for the fall semester.
DECEMBER 10, 2025: Deadline for all applicants (Domestic & International) entering Fall 2026
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STAT & STAT-BB
Applications for the STAT Ph.D. program are only processed once a year for admission for the fall semester. Applications for the STAT M.A. program are encouraged for the fall semester. A limited amount of M.A. applications may be considered for the spring semester. Please contact the department prior to applying.
SEPTEMBER 10, 2025: M.A. Applications for International students entering Spring 2026
DECEMBER 10, 2025: M.A. Applications for Domestics students entering Spring 2026
JANUARY 9, 2026: Applications for all students entering Fall 2026
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If you are considering applying to our Mathematics graduate program, here are some links you may want to read. See general information for an introduction to our graduate programs. If you are interested in the interdisciplinary program in Applied Mathematics and Scientific Computation, please visit the AMSC website. If you are interested in the Statistics Program, visit the STAT website. The official graduate catalog descriptions of our three programs, including a list of faculty and admission requirements and deadlines, are given in sites for the three programs MATH, AMSC, and STAT. For more information, you may contact us at .
Our PhD students receive some form of financial aid, through fellowships, Teaching Assistantships, and Research Assistantships. The University also posts available graduate assistant positions, but most of our student support is administered by the mathematics department. Competition for this support is strong and we are able to fund only the best applicants. Students applying only for a master's degree will not qualify for financial aid and will have lower priority for admission. For information about financial aid administered by the Mathematics Department, send e-mail to with your questions or requests. Some financial aid administered through the department comes from Federal grants and is restricted to US citizens and permanent residents.
The University of Maryland's Graduate School accepts applications through its TerpEngage Graduate Admission Application system. Before completing the application, applicants are asked to check the Admissions Requirements site for specific instructions and additional requirements (select your program of interest).
As required by the Graduate School, all application materials are to be submitted electronically:
* Fee waivers may be available to international students who meet requirements. Waivers are limited. Please email . Domestic students are encouraged to use FreeApp Waiver Request.
The electronic submission of application materials helps expedite the review of an application. Completed applications are reviewed by an admissions committee in each graduate degree program. The recommendations of the committees are submitted to the Dean of the Graduate School, who will make the final admission decision. Students seeking to complete graduate work at the University of Maryland for degree purposes must be formally admitted to the Graduate School by the Dean.
The University of Maryland is dedicated to maintaining a vibrant international graduate student community. The office of International Students and Scholars Services (ISSS) is a valuable resource of information and assistance for prospective and current international students. International applicants are encouraged to explore the services they offer, and contact them with related questions.
The University of Maryland Graduate School offers admission to international students based on academic information; it is not a guarantee of attendance. Admitted international students will then receive instructions about obtaining the appropriate visa to study at the University of Maryland which will require submission of additional documents.
Please see the Graduate Admissions Process for International Applicants for more information.
It is required that all applicants from non- English speaking countries submit a TOEFL for admittance into the Graduate Math and Statistics program. Because our graduate students are supported by Teaching Assistantships, it is required that their English skills are higher than the minimum required to attend courses. This is a requirement for our Graduate Math Program, separate from the Graduate School Requirements. Unfortunately, there are no exceptions to this Graduate Math Program requirement.
*A list of English-Speaking Countries that are exempt from the TOEFL/IELTS/PTE can be found visiting this link: https://gradschool.umd.edu/admissions/english-language-proficiency-requirements
Please note the following SPEAKING scores.
Students will be exempt from speaking English support classes in one of two ways
A speaking sub-score of 24 (iBT TOEFL), 7.5 (IELTS), or 76 (PTE) on their admission English proficiency exam.
Exempt from submitting English proficiency exams for admission, based on Graduate School guidelines.
Speaking scores below 24 on TOEFL or below 7.5 on IELTS will require Teaching Assistants to enroll in an English Language course their first semester.
Please note the following WRITING scores:
Students will be exempt from writing English support classes if they score 24 or above on TOEFL or 7 or above on IELTS.
Writing scores below 24 on TOEFL or below 7 on IELTS will require all students (whether they are a TA or not) to enroll in an English Writing course (UMEI 007) that will not be covered by the department. As of 2023, the cost of this course is $3,083. More info on costs: https://marylandenglishinstitute.com/english-programs/umd-students/
Please note the following READING/LISTENING scores:
You will not be admitted to the program unless you have the reading score of 26 (TOEFL) or 7 (IELTS).
You will not be admitted to the program unless you have the listening score of 24 (TOEFL) or 7(IELTS).
Applicants are encouraged to contact for any technical issues. For questions related to the admissions process, prospective students may contact the Graduate School.
There are three graduate programs closely affiliated with the Department of Mathematics, namely Mathematics MATH, Applied Mathematics & Statistics and Scientific Computation AMSC, and Mathematical Statistics STAT. The Office of Graduate Studies provides administrative support for all three programs and the Associate Chair for Graduate Studies makes all decisions concerning the awarding and renewal of teaching assistantships. The Graduate Committee of the Department of Mathematics sets broad policies to achieve the basic goals of assuring an effective program providing students the maximum opportunity to earn advanced degrees and maintaining the standards of the degrees. The Committee also serves as an advisory body on admissions, curricula, and eligibility for graduate degrees.
Admission and degree requirements for the AMSC and STAT programs are set by independent committees and differ in some details from those for the MATH program. During the first year, a graduate student has the privilege of changing between MATH, AMSC, and STAT. After the first year an application must be submitted to the Graduate School.
Some general regulations of the Graduate School are listed on this webpage, as well as specific policies of the Department.
For more information, consult the following resources:
Most full-time doctoral students (entering with a bachelor's degree) are expected to graduate in six years or less, according to the following timetable. However, students are urged to aim to graduate in less than 6 years; financial support is not guaranteed in the sixth year.
For a detailed timetable regarding qualifying examinations, and candidacy, see Progress to Degree
Graduate students in CMNS doctoral programs normally may expect:
From their adviser (or, in some instances the program):
Department of Mathematics (AMSC/MATH/STAT) Statement of Expectations for Graduate Student Mentoring can be found here.
The Department Written Examination for the Ph.D and M.A. is administered in January and August of each year during the month preceding the first week of classes and is given in the following fields:
NOTE: MATH students do not take the Applied Stat exam, which is for STAT students. See the requirements for the PhD and MA.
M.A. students take the Ph.D. examination and are required to receive an "M.A. pass".
Each examination will last four hours and no two will be scheduled on consecutive days.
Each MATH student will be required to take two examinations.
Each STAT student must take probability, statistics, and one other part. Students taking the M.A. or Ph.D. in applied statistics may take the following three exams: applied statistics, mathematical statistics, and probability.
Each AMSC student takes examinations, chosen in consultation with the study advisory committee but only one or two are chosen from the list above; the others are in areas of application.
The syllabi below are current and reflect the latest thinking of the respective field committees.
Review of elementary group theory including Lagrange's theorem: symmetric groups and Cayley's theorem: normal subgroups, quotient groups and the homomorphism and isomorphism theorems; abelian and cyclic groups (one week).
Groups with operators, normal series, Jordan-Hölder theorem, solvable groups; unsolvability of Sn for n > 4.
Group actions; class formula; Sylow's theorems; solvability of p-groups.
Language of categories: objects, maps and functors; Hom; universal mapping properties used to define quotients, products, coproducts (direct sums) and free objects in categories of groups and abelian groups. Constructive existence proofs of the above objects, especially generators and relations in category of groups. Internal direct sums in abelian groups; primary decomposition of abelian torsion groups.
Definitions and examples; left, right and two-sided ideals; quotients, homomorphism and isomorphism theorems; products; examples should include matrix rings, group rings, and real quaternions. Simple rings: proof that a matrix ring over a division ring is simple. Definition and a few words about Artinian and Noetherian rings. Statement (no proof) of Wedderburn's theorem for simple Artinian rings. Hilbert Basis theorem.
Integral domains and fields; prime and maximal ideals-Zorn's lemma; operations on ideals; Chinese remainder theorems.
Localization: multiplicative sets; rings of quotients and quotient fields; local rings.
Factorization: P.I.D.'s UFD's; Euclidean rings; polynomial rings; Gauss's lemma. Proof that polynomial rings over UFD's are UFD's.
Definitions and example; exact sequences; exactness properties of HOM; quotients, products, direct sums (internal and external), examples of modules over matrix rings and group rings.
Free modules; invariance of rank over a commutative ring; non-invariance in general.
Finitely generated modules over P.I.D.; applications to canonical forms of matrices and to abelian groups.
Exterior algebra.
Projective and injective modules. Homology including the snake lemma. Statements (not proofs) of facts on derived functors including Tor and Ext.
Galois theory: The Galois correspondence; Galois groups of polynomials as permutation groups; cyclic extensions; roots of unity; ruler and compass constructions; solvability by radicals; norms and traces; computations of Galois groups.
Introduction to representations of finite groups over the complex numbers (as in Serre Part 1 Chapters 1,2,3, and the part of 5 dealing with finite groups).
The contents of Linear Algebra by K. Hoffman and R. Kunze, probably the most comprehensive and readable book on the subject.
As references for MATH 600-601, we recommend the following general treatises on algebra:
The written examination in Analysis consists of six questions roughly based on the material of MATH 630 and MATH 660 (three questions from each course).
Students are responsible for all the material on the exam syllabus, even if it was not covered in a particular semester's course. Much of the material on the exam syllabus is often covered in undergraduate analysis courses.
Review from Advanced Calculus
Real Analysis
References
[BeCz] J. Benedetto and W. Czaja, "Integration and Modern Analysis," Birkhauser, Boston, MA, 2009.
[F] P. M. Fitzpatrick, "Advanced Calculus," 2nd edition, American Math. Soc., 2009.
[FiRo] P. M. Fitzpatrick and H. Royden, "Real Analysis," 4th edition, Pearson, 2010.
General references
W. Rudin, Real and Complex Analysis, 3rd ed., McGraw-Hill, 1991
Syllabus for Complex ExamSyllabus for Complex Exam with suggestions for study in a pdf file.
Foundations: Probability spaces, axioms, conditional probability and independence, Bayes' Theorem.
Discrete random variables: combinatorial probability, discrete densities, Bernoulli trials, expectations and moments, Poisson Limit Theorem.
General Random Variables and Vectors: definitions, distribution functions, densities, moments, change-of-variable formulas, joint distributions, conditional distributions, mixed distributions, moment generating functions, and characteristic functions.
Limit Theorems of Probability: convolutions, concepts of convergence, laws of large numbers, Central Limit theorem.
Discrete-time discrete-state Markov chains: definitions, transition probabilities, classification of states, periodicity, ergodicity, limiting and stationary behavior, absorption probabilities, recurrence.
Continuous-time Markov chains: definitions, birth-and death processes, Kolmogorov forward and backward equations, compound Poisson process.
Branching processes; extinction probabilities.
PhD exam requirements:
STAT 700-701 (Revised Nov. 2023)
Sampling Distributions: standard distributions, functions of samples of normal variables, order statistics, conjugate families of priors.
Parameters and statistics: identifiability of parameters, sufficiency, completeness, minimality, Basu’s Theorem, Exponential family definitions and properties
Point Estimation: unbiasedness and consistency, methods of estimation including method of moments, maximum likelihood, Estimating Equations, UMVU estimators, Rao-Blackwell and Lehmann-Scheffe Theorems, efficiency, Fisher Information, Cramer-Rao lower bound
Algorithms for Estimation, including Newton-Raphson and EM Algorithm
Testing and Interval Estimation: Neyman-Pearson lemma, monotone likelihood ratio, UMP tests, likelihood ratio test, including multivariate normal, chi square tests, duality between testing and interval estimation.
Asymptotics: modes of convergence, Slutsky's theorem, multivariate central limit theorem, delta method, consistency and asymptotic behavior of estimators, including maximum likelihood and estimating-equation estimators. Asymptotic properties of likelihood-ratio and Rao-score tests.
Linear Models and Least Squares: general model, multivariate normal distribution, Gauss-Markov theorem, multiple regression, projection and prediction
Count Data: multinomial goodness of fit and chi-square tests.
Decision Theory: basic concepts, loss, risk, priors, admissibility and complete classes, Minimax principle, Bayes estimators and tests.
Non-Parametrics: quantiles, ranks, empirical distribution function
References:
2. General Linear Models. Matrix formulation multivariate normal distribution, geometric formulation, least squares, estimable functions. Confidence sets, tests of linear hypotheses under normality, connection with likelihood-based methods. Analysis of residuals, graphical diagnostics, assessment of model fit. Special regression models: polynomial regression and dummy variables. Generalized linear models (GLM).
3. Fixed Effect Analysis of Variance. Comparison of means and one way analysis of variance (ANOVA), full rank and reduced rank models, estimable functions and contrasts, multiple comparisons. Two way ANOVA, interaction, analysis of unbalanced layouts. Nested and crossed factors, incomplete designs.
4. Random Effects and mixed models. Definitions, ANOVA estimates in balanced models, distribution theory. Unbalanced random effect designs, maximum likelihood (ML) and restricted maximum likelihood (REML) estimates. Goodness of fit.
Students prepare for the geometry/topology exam by taking the first year topology sequence MATH 730, MATH 740.
Last updated 07/05/17
MWF | TTh | ||
9:30am | MATH 600 Haines AMSC 614 Nochetto MATH 642 Dolgopyat STAT 798G Yang | ||
10am | MATH 740 Melnick MATH 630 Czaja | ||
11am | MATH 712 Kueker MATH 668M Machedon STAT 705 Kedem | 11am | STAT 600 Cerrai MATH 606 Tamvakis MATH 630 Fitzpatrick MATH 648K Kaloshin |
12pm | AMSC 666 Cameron MATH 621 Ramachandran MATH 634 Warner | ||
12:30pm | MATH/AMSC 670 Jakobson MATH 718L Laskowski MATH 648B Benedetto (Frames and sampling: Theory and applications) MATH 748C Novikov (Modern Topology of Knots and Braids) | ||
1pm | MATH 608B Haines (Modular curves and arithmetic) |
January 2026 Qualifying Exams Schedule. All exams will be located in Kirwan Hall 3206.
Friday, January 16
Algebra 9:00am -1:00pm
Mathematical Statistics 9:00am -1:00pm
Tuesday, January 20
Analysis 9:00am -1:00pm
Applied Statistics 9:00am -1:00pm
Thursday, January 22
Probability 9:00am -1:00pm
Geometry 9:00am -1:00pm
Snow Date: Friday, January 23
Please note the following:
Please contact or if you have any questions.
The requirements below are for students in pure mathematics, not in statistics. For students in Statistics: Qualifying Exams must be passed in Statistics, Probability, and Applied Statistics.
1. MATH students must pass at least 2 exams from the following list:
*Algebra (Math 600, 601)
*Analysis (Math 630, 660)
Probability (Stat 600, 601)
Statistics (Stat 700, 701)
Geometry (Math 730, 740)
*One of the 2 exams should be Algebra OR Analysis
2. Each student must pass an equivalent of 8 courses via coursework or qualifying exams
Each qualifying exam counts for two courses, the exam and its corresponding courses can be seen above. However, no more than 4 courses (including those counted via passing qualifying exams) can come from the same list:
More information (including 2 examples) can be found here.
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Important note: The qualifying requirements for the Scientific Computation concentration of the AMSC program are different. In addition, students in the Applied Mathematics concentration of the AMSC program usually must take one or more exams outside of the mathematics department; see here for further information.
Fall 2025 Graduation Application
Monday, September 15
If you plan to graduate (or receive your Master's degree along the way to your PhD) this fall, please complete the Application for Graduation by September 15. The form takes only a minute to complete.
Back to School BINGO
Tuesday, September 23 at 3:00pm
STEM Library MPR
Join us for pizza and prizes in the STEM Library. We will be playing classic BINGO so you only need to bring your luck.
All MATH/AMSC/STAT students are invited.
Check your mailbox
The Graduate Office leaves treats in your mailbox periodically throughout the year. If you haven't already, please check your mail cubby in the mailroom for your back to school treat!
Class Registration Reminders
Auditing Courses
Audited courses do not count towards your status as a full-time student. For example, if you are taking 8 credits, but 3 of those credits come from an audited course, you are technically enrolled in 5 credits, which may or may not be enough to keep you as a full-time student.
Audited courses do count towards your tuition remission and mandatory fees. You can only take up to 10 credits with tuition remission. You cannot go over 10 credits, even if some credits are audited. Enrolling in 9 credits or more (even if some credits are audited) will result in mandatory fees of $727. However, enrolling in 8 credits or less will result in mandatory fees of $357.50.
Full- Time Status
To be a full-time student, you need 48 units. Please confirm you have 48 units on your schedule using the information below. Note: If you are a TA/RA/Grader, your assistantship is worth 24 units, therefore your course schedule only needs to carry 24 or more units.
Courses in the series 000-399 carry 2 units per credit hour.
Courses in the series: 400-499 carry 4 units per credit hour.
Courses in the series: 600-897 carry 6 units per credit hour.
Master's Research course: 799 carries 12 units per credit hour.
Pre-candidacy Doctoral Research courses: 898 carries 18 units per credit hour.
Doctoral Dissertation Research: 899 carries 18 units per credit hour. All doctoral candidates will be automatically registered for six (6) credit hours of 899; this defines all currently registered doctoral candidates as full-time.
Outside Courses: Not all classes outside the math department are covered by your tuition remission.Graduate Programs with Non-standard Tuition and Fees:
College of Information Studies
Office of Advanced Engineering Education
Office of Extended Studies – Professional Programs
Robert H. Smith School of Business
Registration Dates
Schedule adjustment period Sept 2, 2025 (Tues) - Sep 16, 2025 (Tues)
Last day to drop a course with 100% refund: September 8. After this date, only "even exchanges" may occur with no financial penalty until September 16. (i.e. drop a 3 credit course and add a 3 credit course within the same transaction)
Resource Reminders
All PhD students have access to the prospectus repository to upload and view peer's prospectus papers when applying for candidacy. If you have already advanced, it would be helpful to fellow students to upload your prospectus as they prepare for their own candidacy exams.
All students have access to the Math Job Page for internship, fellowship, and career opportunities. Please check periodically.
Find an Advisor Spreadsheet
This resource is designed to help you explore potential research advisors, whose research aligns with your interests. This spreadsheet includes information on faculty research areas, whether they are accepting students, their availability, their students' research, and more.
General overview of the MATH and STAT program policies (Includes information on obtaining an MA degree).