Ph.D. Program
The Mathematics Department offers a selective and focused doctoral program for talented students specializing in three broad research areas: Geometry/Topology, Number Theory/ Representation Theory, and Algebraic Geometry.
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Applying to the Ph.D. Program
PrintApplication Requirements
Application Requirements
Applications received by January 20 will receive full consideration for admission and Teaching Assistantships.
A complete application includes:
- Application forms
- Official transcripts
- An abstract of mathematics courses taken at other institutions
- GRE scores (including the Mathematics subject test) -GRE scores are optional for the upcoming admission cycle due to COVID-19
- Three letters of recommendation, preferablyfrom undergraduate teachers of Mathematics
- Adetailed descriptionof coursework.
- Official TOEFL scores, for students whose native language is not English
- The application fee.
Some Advice
At a minimum, students should have had at least one year of Abstract Algebra and one year of Analysis (real and complex) in their undergraduate preparation. It is helpful to list the textbooks used for these courses. Since our research is centered around Number Theory/Representation Theory, Geometry/Topology/Dynamics, and Algebraic Geometry, our aim is to accept only those students with an interest in at least one of these areas. The Statement of Purpose is a good place to describe this.
Financial Aid
Financial Aid
We offerfinancial aidstipends and tuition remission for qualified students. It is anticipated that support will be provided for five years of study, given reasonable progress toward the degree and acceptable performance of TA/TF duties.
Teaching Fellowships
Teaching Fellowships
Fellowship Award Basics
Fellowship awardees are designated as a TA (Teaching Assistant) in the first year. Under normal circumstances, assumingreasonable progress towards the degree and acceptable performance as a TA, awardees are typically supported for subsequent years as TFs (Teaching Fellows). It is anticipated that support will continue through the fifth year of study. Each TA/TF award includes a complete tuition scholarship, plus stipend paid over the nine-month academic year, plus office space equipped with networked computer (shared with one other TA/TF).
Fellowship Availability
All Ph.D. applicants are considered for fellowships.
TA/TF Responsibilities
TAs usually work together with full-time faculty in large lecture classes and conduct recitation sections, problem sessions, and perhaps some tutoring. TFs usually are responsible for teaching onesection of a core-level Mathematics course in each semester. These activities require about 15 hours per week, above and beyond your attention to your own coursework.
TA/TF Scheduling
Generally, TA assignments in the fall semester of the first year are based on incoming students' course schedules. In subsequent semesters, scheduling preferences for the upcoming term are solicited from everyone involved. We try to accommodate everyone as best we can although some compromises are necessary each semester.
Teaching Excellence Awards
Teaching Fellows who achieve the greatest success as a TF will be considered for a Donald White Teaching Excellence Award, a cash prize given to outstanding graduate student teachers at Boston College.
Graduate Teaching Seminars
The department requires Teaching Assistants and Teaching Fellows to participate in a weekly seminar designed to help students develop and refine their classroom skills. A major component of this seminar is the use of case studies.
Appreciation
As a Teaching Assistant or Teaching Fellow in the Mathematics Department, you will receive extensive support from the department in your teaching endeavors. We recognize the tremendous job done by our TA/TFs; year after year they play an essential role in our undergraduate Core curriculum and bring an exciting energy to the fifth floor of Maloney Hall.
You will work in an environment where your contributions are valued by everyone around you, including other students, faculty, and staff. Regardless of your future career, your experience as a TA/TF will contribute to your mathematical, management, and communication skills, and you will enjoy the experience.
Mathematics in Boston
Mathematics in Boston
Boston is a world-renowned center for Mathematics and provides a vibrant intellectual climate in which graduate students thrive, with many outdoor and cultural opportunities in the beautiful New England area.
Boston College is a member of the Graduate Consortium, and οƵ mathematics graduate students may cross-register for one course each semester at Boston University, Brandeis, or Tufts.
Faculty Research Areas
Our internationally recognized faculty publish research in top journals. The department also sponsors the οƵ-MIT Number Theory Seminar, the Algebraic Geometry Northeastern Series, and the Hamilton Geometry and Topology Workshop at Trinity College.
Geometry/Topology
The research areas of our faculty inGeometry/Topologyinclude:
- Dynamics;
- Heegaard-Floer and Khovanov homology;
- Hyperbolic geometry;
- Kleinian groups;
- Knot theory;
- Spectral geometry; and
- Three-dimensional manifolds and their geometry.
Faculty interested in this research area
Number Theory/Representation Theory
The research areas of our faculty inNumber Theory/Representation Theoryinclude:
- Analytic number theory;
- Automorphic forms and representations;
- The cohomology of arithmetic groups;
- Galois representations;
- Geometric representation theory;
- The Langlands Conjectures;
- Multiple Dirichlet series;
- Representations of p-adic groups; and
- Shimura varieties.
Faculty interested in this research area
Algebraic Geometry
The research areas of our faculty inAlgebraic Geometryinclude::
- Algebraic geometry and dynamics;
- Birational geometry;
- Derived categories;
- Geometric representation theory;
- The geometry of moduli spaces; and
- Logarithmic geometry.