General Information for MS Students

There are two MS degree tracks. The next three sections discuss the track taken by most MS students who are not planning to continue for a PhD. The Option B track is described later.

Timetable

1. You have been assigned a beginning advisor who can assist you with questions concerning your program, etc. You may change your advisor at any time.
2. After two semesters of graduate work, you should choose a project advisor . (If you begin graduate work in the fall, the summer after your first year is a good time to start on your project. Projects often take more than one semester to complete.) Your project advisor need not be the same faculty member who has been your advisor up to this point.
3. In consultation with your project advisor, choose two additional faculty members for your advisory committee . If you have a minor, one member of your committee must come from the minor department or program. Names and signatures of committee members are submitted on the Masters Plan of Graduate Work. This form is available in the Mathematics Graduate Program Office and fill-able form is available in the index of the Graduate School Administrative Handbook at http://www.ncsu.edu/grad/handbook/table-of-contents.html .
4. After choosing your advisory committee, you should complete a Plan of Graduate Work , and have it approved by your committee. You then submit your plan to the Mathematics Graduate Program Office. Before the plan is sent to the Graduate School, you must have signed and submitted a Patent Agreement form.
5. As soon as possible after you begin to work with your project advisor, you should submit to your advisory committee the proposal for your Master's project. This proposal is described in more detail below. The advisory committee must approve the proposal.
6. When all requirements except completion of the course work in your final semester are satisfied, you should schedule the Final Oral Examination with your advisory committee, and submit a Permit to Schedule Final Oral Examination form to the Mathematics Graduate Program Office. This must be done at least five weeks before the date of your exam. The Graduate Program Office will reserve a room for your exam. At the examination you make a presentation on your project (see below) and answer questions related to the project and the topics in your Plan of Work. To graduate in a given semester, you must pass the exam before the Graduate School deadline for that semester, approximately six weeks before graduation
7. Complete a Diploma Order Request from the Graduate Program Office at the beginning of the semester in which graduation is anticipated .

Master's Project Proposal

The proposal for your Master's project should establish for your advisory committee that the level of the project is appropriate for a Master's student. The following features should appear in the proposal:

1. Introduction: Describe the general setting of the project. For an applied project, describe the application; for a project within mathematics, describe how the project relates to a wider body of mathematics.
2. State precisely what the project is, and what you plan to do.
3. Show that the project involves substantial mathematics. For example, if you plan to describe a theorem and study how it applies to a problem, write about your plan. If you plan to study a mathematical model, describe what is being modeled, the model, and what you plan to do in your study: analysis, numerical analysis, computer experiments, etc. Applied projects can involve a subject outside mathematics, provided substantial mathematics is included in the project report.

Master's Project Report

The report is produced with guidance from the advisor. It is typically 10 - 20 pages long, and is organized in the same way a thesis or a published paper is organized. The first page should be a title page, giving the title of the project, the author, etc. There should be an introduction, describing the topic and the relationship with other parts of mathematics or science, and giving references. There should be one or more sections giving the treatment of the topic, and there should be a bibliography.

Option B Masters

The Option B Masters is an MS in mathematics but with different requirments. For the Option B Masters the student substitutes passing the mathematics department PhD qualifying examination for doing a project. The standards for passing the qualifying examination are identical for MS and PhD students. Option B students must meet all the course requirements of the mathematics masters program as described above. Option B Masters students do not, however, have to have a committee and there is no separate oral exam. Students file a request for the Option B with the Graduate Program Secretary and the request is processed when all requirements are completed. Independent project or masters project course hours cannot be counted toward the Option B Masters. Note that the taking of three qualifying sequences which is necessary for taking the qualifying examination is not required of the conventional MS.

Students who are classified as PhD students and have completed the Option B requirements, may get an Option B masters without switching to the Masters classification. They should do this as soon as they pass the qualifying examination. Students close to completing their PhD and students who already have a MS in mathematics or applied mathematics are not eligible for an Option B Masters.

Graduate school information on Option B programs in general may be found scattered in the infomation at

http://www.ncsu.edu/grad/handbook/sections/3.8-masters-summary.html#B

Ph.D. students interested in the Option B (enroute) masters should download the
"Change degree status or curriculum form" from
http://www.ncsu.edu/grad/faculty-and-staff/forms-list.html, fill out their part of the form, sign the form, and bring to Denise.

University Rules on Residence Requirements, Time Limits, and GPA

1. Continuous Enrollment Policy: You are required to maintain continuous registration, i.e., be enrolled each semester, excluding summer sessions, until you graduate. You may request a leave of absence for up to a year. Such requests must be made at least one month before the start of the leave of absence and must be approved by your advisory committee, the Mathematics Graduate Program Director, and the Graduate School. If you graduate in the second summer session, then you must be enrolled for either the first or second summer session.
2. Students engaged in a course of study leading to the master's degree are required to be in residence, pursuing graduate work, for a minimum of one full academic year or its equivalent.
3. All requirements for the master's degree must be completed within six calendar years, beginning on the date that the student first registers for courses carrying graduate credit applicable to the degree program.
4. A 3.0 Grade Point Average is required for graduation.

Support

If you are supported by a half-time teaching assistantship, a research assistantship, or a fellowship, normally the Mathematics Department commits itself to continue to support you in one of these categories. If you are supported by a lecture assistantship or one-third-time assistantship, normally the Mathematics Department commits itself to continue to support you in one of these categories. However, continued support is contingent upon:

• your remaining in good academic standing (see below), and
• your conscientious fulfillment of the duties of your teaching, grading, or research position.

Normally, MS students are not supported after their second year of graduate study in the Mathematics Department. Unsupported students are sometimes offered positions on an as-needed basis, with no commitment of further support.

Minimum Progress to Remain in Good Academic Standing

1. All students must maintain a Grade Point Average (GPA) of 3.0 or better.
2. You should have 18 credit hours (six courses) toward your degree by the end of your first year.

   The University requires that master's students who teach courses (as opposed to students who lead recitation sections, or otherwise assist with lecture courses) have 18 credit hours toward their degrees. In order to meet its teaching responsibilities, the Mathematics Department needs almost all teaching assistants beyond the first year to be able to teach courses; thus the 18-hour requirement is necessary. If you cannot meet the 18-hour requirement, you should consult one of the Graduate Program Directors as early as possible.

3. After three semesters, you should have made sufficient progress so that it is reasonable to assume that all requirements for the master's degree will be completed by the end of your second year.

Summer Support

Mathematics graduate student half-time TAs and RAs who are in good academic standing and have conscientiously fulfilled the duties of their position have first priority for summer teaching assistantships and grading positions. Within this group, first year students, students planning to take the PhD Written Qualifying Exam in August, and students planning to finish PhD dissertations or master's projects over the summer have top priority. Others are given priority based on seniority.

After this group, unsupported mathematics graduate students, supported mathematics graduate students who are not in good standing, and then TAs from other departments are considered. First year students who are U.S. citizens or permanent residents, but are not North Carolina residents, generally need to spend their first summer in North Carolina to establish residency.