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The M.S. is designed primarily for students who seek broad and intensive preparation for teaching in a junior college or working in industry.

For admission into the M.S. program, applicants must have a bachelor’s degree from an approved institution and should have an undergraduate foundation in mathematics equivalent to that of a major in mathematics at the University of South Carolina, which at a minimum should include a course in abstract algebra (equivalent to MATH 546 ) or advanced calculus (equivalent to MATH 554 ). A minimum B average in all college-level math courses is required for full admission.

Degree Requirements

The M.S. degree requires a thesis and 30 approved semester hours of graduate course work, including satisfactory completion of MATH 700  and 703 , the three-semester-hour thesis course MATH 799 , and MATH 790 . MATH 790 is a one-semester-hour seminar designed for first-year graduate students. The courses in the student’s program should be numbered above 699. However, in special circumstances some 500-level courses may be approved for a student’s program if the courses supplement 700-level course work. In general, a student’s M.S. program should be fairly broad in scope and should include courses of both a pure and applied nature.

The thesis for this degree is generally a short monograph (to be bound and placed in the University library and in the department), the content of which is drawn from several research papers in an area of interest to the student.

Upon conclusion of the program, each M.S. degree candidate either undergoes an oral examination (which includes an oral presentation of the thesis) administered by a committee chaired by the student’s thesis advisor, or obtains a master’s pass on the Ph.D. admission-to-candidacy examination. Students who earn a master’s pass are invited to present the thesis in a colloquium address to the department.