### Financial Considerations

Enrolling in a PhD program will place certain financial constraints upon yourself. Consider:

• A typical graduate student in an US Math PhD will take 5-6 years to complete the course work and thesis.
• Math graduate student stipends range between, roughly, US$15K and US$35K a year depending on the resources of the department and if the student is able to obtain a fellowship. This range does not reflect local cost of living.
• A student may find himself unfunded, particularly if he takes more than 5 years to complete the degree. When considering different programs, inquire how many years of guaranteed funding the department can offer.
• Tuition is typically waived during the PhD program.
• There are no 401(k) or similar retirement savings program for graduate students, and aside from health insurance, there are usually no benefits.
• If a student elects to pursue an academic career, he is likely to have 2-4 years of postdoctoral training after completing his degree. While the salary will be higher, postdoc positions also frequently omit any retirement savings. A consequence of this is that even a successful academic may only beginning to accrue retirement savings after age 30.

### Post PhD Employment Considerations

Before applying to graduate school, it is important to ask "Where do I want to be after I complete my degree?" Possibilities include:

• Research oriented insitutions, such as the large state universities in the Big 10 and the Pac 12, and larger private universities.
• Teaching oriented institutions, such as private liberal arts colleges, community colleges, smaller private universities, and regional public universities.
• Government labs, such as Los Alamos
• Private industry, including financial services, IT, insurance, and consulting
Regardless of which is right for you, different PhD programs may be better equipped to send its graduates in particular directions.

Ultimately, Personal connections between faculty and alumni play an important role in job placement. Thus, in considering graduate programs, it is important inquire about the outcomes of their recent graduates.

### Picking a Program

Assuming you have been admitted to a few programs, and are comofrtable with the financial constraints, here are things to consider when deciding where to go.

• There should be several (2-3) faculty in the department who do the kind of research you like. The reason for this is that there are a variety of reasons a professor may not take you as a student. Reasons a professor may not take you as a student include:
• Training graduate students properly is time intensive and many professors only supervise up to a fixed number at any given time.
• A professor may not have grant money in order to fund a student.
• There may be a mismatch of personalities; this can go both ways.
• They should be able to offer you at least five years of guaranteed funding.
• The program should have a history of employment outcomes that are consistent with your own goals. For those seeking an academic career, particularly a research oriented academic career, investigate the outcomes of the past students of individual faculty members that you could be your advisors.
• Barring geographic restrictions, you should probably go to the best ranked program you are accepted to.