Graduate

Why NMSU?

  • Very good smaller math department with active research and engaged teaching.
  • Courses take students from a moderate to advanced level — begin where you belong. 
  • Teaching assistantships for Master’s and Ph.D. provide income to live reasonably.
  • Enough teaching to get experience without being overworked.
  • Beautiful, interesting, inexpensive place to live with great weather.
  • Smaller, friendly department where you interact with your professors, classmates, and students. 
  • Our students get academic and research jobs!

General

We have a Master’s and Ph.D. program. There are common required courses in analysis, algebra, and linear algebra, and then students may focus more on a specific subject such as statistics, applied math, math education, logic and foundations, and so forth. A thesis is required for the Ph.D. and is an option for the Master’s

Application Process and Requirements for Admissions

*The application fee is automatically waived by the graduate school for one time only on your first application. Any other applications to the graduate program will require you to pay the fee.

Fees:
$50 for International Students after your first application

 

Incoming students are required to meet the following admission requirements:
  • A bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution of higher education with a 3.0 minimum GPA.
  • Official transcripts for each university attended (uploaded to the online admissions system).
  • Minimum three reference letters.
  • A personal statement or letter of interest covering academic background and career goals.
Not required:
  • Language scores.
  • Transcript evaluations.

University International Student Deadlines (by 11:59pm ET) - On-Campus Programs (if no updated dates, there is no deadline at the time that you are reading this):

Spring 2025

  • October 1st 2024

Fall 2025

  • March 15th 2025

 

*The Department of Mathematical Sciences does not require GRE scores for admission.

However, please note that the new online application system will allow students to upload GRE Scores if they have them. Students who have completed the GRE may still upload their scores to support their application. Such scores are not required for admission.

 

Assistantships

Most of our students receive support from the department through teaching assistantships, at both the Master’s and Ph.D. level. Key points are 
 
  • About $19,000 a year, possibility for extra in the summer
  • 2 years for Master’s and 4 years for Ph.D. (or 5 for a Ph.D. student without Master’s)
  • 20 hours per week (one 4-hour per week calc class of 40 students)
  • does not include tuition (about $6,000 per year)
  • some tuition waivers for stronger students

All applicants are automatically reviewed for an assistantship after you are accepted into the program.

When comparison shopping, Las Cruces is far cheaper than a place such as Atlanta, or Houston.  Cheap apartments, food, and little in transportation costs. The work load is also far less than many places — you get enough quality teaching experience to get a job, not so much that you can’t finish your thesis. Many places have double our teaching load. 
 

Courses

Our entry level Master’s courses are cross listed as undergraduate classes. They begin with modest assumptions on background and ability to do proof-based mathematics and build. Later courses are quite rigorous and substantial. Students begin where they are suited. A lot of direct interaction with your professor in a small class is the best way to learn. 
 

Jobs 

Many of our Master’s students either go on to our PhD program, some go to other PhD programs, and a smaller number go directly into teaching or industry jobs. Our PhD students tend to go on to academic jobs at smaller colleges and universities. A smaller number go on to research in government labs such as Sandia, or directly into industry positions. Of our 52 PhD graduates since 2006 we report the following

  • 41 have academic positions
  • 3 have positions at federal or university research labs
  • 3 have positions as software engineers or financial analysts
Among these are Assistant or Associate Professors at North Alabama, Texas A&M Corpus Christi, Jianxi, Guam, Wisconsin-Marinette, Akron, U. Jordan, U. Maine, Georgia College, U. Oklahoma, Saginaw Valley State, Khalifa, Metro State, the Hashemite University, and the Bejing Institute of Technology. Others work for Sandia Labs, the Naval Surface Warfare Center, In-depth Geophysical, and eBay. Click here for a complete listing of these PhD students and their positions. We hope to complete a similar survey of our Master’s graduates soon. 
 

Kist Fellowships

While our teaching assistantship is sufficient for a student to live in a reasonable way, we have a limited number of Kist Fellowships as an additional bonus for outstanding applicants. The fellowship pays the full tuition and fees of the student during the expected length of their program, provided the student maintains a 3.5 GPA and makes adequate progress towards their degree. For Master’s students this is for up to 2 years, and for Ph.D. students up to 4 years. A student may hold a Kist Fellowship and a teaching assistantship. There is no need to apply for this fellowship, all incoming students will automatically be considered.

For any other questions you may have, please contact Paloma Pavao at gradcomm@nmsu.edu