What is a Ph.D. in Mathematics worth?

Original post by mespannerhanz

wait until you get to C3/C4 before deciding if you really like maths!

The only time you can really know if you like maths or not is most of the way through your first year studying it as an undergraduate. :lol:

Reply 27

crunchychips

6

Original post by a.partridge

meh - the course is rigorous to allow you to prove yourself worthy to go onto any Msc or phd in the world, there's not much more you could want as an undergraduate - most learning comes from the books.

my friend has been accepted onto an oxford msc in maths with his bristol bsc - i think many oxford students would be quite pleased to be doing the oxford msc...

all i'm saying is the differences in the uni's (possibly separating cambridge) are so small that the student experience (what project you get, affinity with professors etc) is going to make more of a difference.

Of course Bristol and Bath (especially the former) are great universities for mathematics, and someone good in math will excel anywhere, and yes, people do go to for example Oxford for their PhDs after those universities. Nevertheless, that does mean that their courses are as good as COWI courses. Like you yourself indicated, it is more impressive if someone goes from Bristol to Oxford than the other way around :wink:

Reply 28

Original post by crunchychips

Of course Bristol and Bath (especially the former) are great universities for mathematics, and someone good in math will excel anywhere, and yes, people do go to for example Oxford for their PhDs after those universities. Nevertheless, that does mean that their courses are as good as COWI courses. Like you yourself indicated, it is more impressive if someone goes from Bristol to Oxford than the other way around :wink:

No it isn't, Oxbridge excel at undergraduate level - but they aren't necessarily the best for post-graduate. A significant amount of maths graduates, at least from Oxford, go onto doing their PhDs at other Universities for a doctoral supervisor whom specialises in whatever the topic of their doctorate is.

Reply 29

dugdugdug

Original post by crunchychips

Of course Bristol and Bath (especially the former) are great universities for mathematics, and someone good in math will excel anywhere, and yes, people do go to for example Oxford for their PhDs after those universities. Nevertheless, that does mean that their courses are as good as COWI courses. Like you yourself indicated, it is more impressive if someone goes from Bristol to Oxford than the other way around :wink:

I'm afraid I have to disagree with you on this.

When one does a postgraduate degree and I'm talking about a PhD, which is not taught, as opposed to an MSc, although the name of the institution is important, what should be the first choice is the supervisor of the chosen research area.

To the layman, doing a PhD at Oxford might be considered great but studying (and possibly later on writing a paper with) a world renowned specialist at Bristol, is considered a greater experience, especially if one chooses to pursue an academic career.

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 30

crunchychips

6

Sorry, the last sentence was meant to be a joke (hence the :wink:

). Nevertheless, the rest of my post still stands.

Reply 31

tazarooni89

20

Original post by Noble.

The only time you can really know if you like maths or not is most of the way through your first year studying it as an undergraduate. :lol:

I'd say probably not even then! I think it took me until maybe the first few weeks of my third year to fully realise that I don't like Maths and I'm no good at it :p:

Well, actually I like Maths in that I appreciate how elegant it is, and how it helps us to dig right to the very basics of everything we know that might seem obvious to us. But I just don't like doing it :s-smilie:

Reply 32

Original post by tazarooni89

I'd say probably not even then! I think it took me until maybe the first few weeks of my third year to fully realise that I don't like Maths and I'm no good at it :p:

Well, actually I like Maths in that I appreciate how elegant it is, and how it helps us to dig right to the very basics of everything we know that might seem obvious to us. But I just don't like doing it :s-smilie:

Now we await someone who says you don't know if you like maths or not until you have a PhD in it. :tongue:

Reply 33

jj193

Original post by shamika

What's the bit you disagree with? :confused:

That only a few people can comprehend the content of a typical Thesis

Reply 34

jj193

Original post by Noble.

The only time you can really know if you like maths or not is most of the way through your first year studying it as an undergraduate. :lol:

Not true whatsoever.

Reply 35

Original post by jj193

Not true whatsoever.

When do you think you can have a firm grasp of how much you enjoy the kind of mathematics you study as an undergraduate?

Reply 36

jj193

Original post by Noble.

When do you think you can have a firm grasp of how much you enjoy the kind of mathematics you study as an undergraduate?

When your studying as an undergraduate. Seriously, simply studying undergraduate is not enough. You should be doing as much maths as you can get your hands on, and that means reading around.

There are lots of mega clever people who have been well exposed to maths before uni. There are also a lot of people who come to uni and do maths ALL THE TIME.

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 37