Unexpected Early Finish of Bachelor's--what should I do?

Graduate School
1

I am interested in applying to Ph.D programs, and I had it planned out to graduate in Spring 2017 and start a Ph.D program in Fall 2017.

But I can actually graduate THIS summer in August because of a new University policy that immediately goes into effect. I need only to take two more classes and I can take one each summer 1 and summer 2.

Because of the unforeseen change, I’m stuck with several commitments for the next year. I don’t feel like just sitting around and waiting for the next year, so I thought about maybe taking some graduate level courses. Here’s my concern: Would starting my Master’s hurt my prospects at getting funded for a Ph.D program next year?

In other words, are funded Ph.D programs usually only for first-time Ph.D students like most scholarships are for first-time freshmen? I wanted to try some Ph.D programs for Math to be more specific. I thought about doing Ivy League as complete and total reach options, but I was thinking about staying primarily in Texas or public universities.

Thanks!

2

Lots of people pay for a Master’s degree and then land fully funded Ph.D. programs. Don’t worry about that.

But I’ve got to ask:

  1. Why do you feel that you must graduate this summer instead of taking things a bit more slowly and finishing in December or next spring?
  2. What are the “several commitments” that make you fee that you must stay at your current U through next spring even though you could be done with classes at the end of the summer?
  3. If you are stuck in a lease until June 2017, what is wrong with getting a job to pay that rent, and giving yourself time to think through your grad school application list more carefully? The work experience could be very useful if you find that you don’t get into any funded grad programs just yet, and find out that instead you do need to be in the work force.
3

I have all of the same questions that @happymomof1 has. Plus some additional questions/comments:

  1. No, taking graduate-level classes won’t at all hurt your chances of getting a funded PhD. Getting a master’s won’t either.

  2. Why do you want a PhD in math? It’s not something to just sort of ‘try’ or kick around; it’s a very specific degree that is to be initiated with specific goals in mind. Most people get a PhD in math because they want to be a math professor. You can get a PhD in math and go into industry as a quant - particularly if you do applied math - but you don’t need one, and if you knew you wanted to go into industry I would instead recommend getting an MA in math and going to work afterwards.

  3. While I wouldn’t say that you should completely disregard location when selecting a PhD program, it shouldn’t be your primary concern unless you really want to go into industry (in that case, see #2). In academia, the reputation of your department and your mentor/advisor are really important for landing your first academic appointment. So you want to go to a top-ranked department, and the location of it matters less. The best program for the research you want to do and with the mentor that would be good for you may be somewhere you never really imagined living.

If you want to go into industry, it’s different though - you can do a lot of networking and interning during your graduate school years that make it easier to get a job in the local area, so if you knew that you wanted industry or were leaning towards it and still wanted to get a PhD despite not really needing one, I would say try to go to a good PhD program in a location that you’d want to live for at least a few years after graduate school. Of course, that’s not a hard and fast rule - you can move cross-country after a PhD if you go to a top one; I did - but it does make it easier to find a job if you’re at least in a city where you can do internships and network with folks in the field you’re interested in.

Also, forget about the Ivy League - it’s just an athletic conference. Lots of top programs in math are at non-Ivy schools like NYU, MIT, Stanford, Berkeley, Caltech, Penn State, Wisconsin, Michigan, etc. Furthermore, the best program for your interests may not be one of the Ivies.

With that said, though, both UT-Austin and Texas A&M have really good math PhD programs (top 25, at least; UT-Austin’s might be top 10-15). Rice also has a decent mid-ranked math PhD program. Baylor and University of Houston have mid-to-lower ranked programs.