Guidelines for Doctoral Students

Choosing a thesis advisor is probably one of the most important decisions you make as a graduate student.  Here are a few pointers that might help you out.

When:  The choice of thesis advisor is expected to occur by the end of the spring semester of your first year.

How to Pick:  The first thing to consider is research area.  Choose an area that is interesting to you and one in which you do well.  In terms of interest, in the long run, you usually come to love the field you study so it probably does not matter too much which area you pick—mainly avoid areas you do not enjoy.  It is probably most important to pick a research area in which you have a lot of success.

Another thing to consider is personality, temperament, and working style.  Ask other students about the professor you are considering as a possible thesis advisor.  Listen to their Pizza Seminar talk, take a class from that professor, do a reading course, ask for some papers to read, or sit down and visit with them.  You will spend a lot of time with your advisor so make sure that sounds like something you would like to do. 

Procedure:  There is no formal procedure or form. Simply ask.  A bit more explicitly:  If you think you want to work with Professor X, ask Professor X if there is a time that you can meet together to discuss the possibility of becoming their graduate student.  If that sounds too intimidating, a nice way way of getting your foot in the door is to ask Professor X for a paper to read.

You should bear in mind that some professors already have graduate students and therefore may be unable to take on additional students at this time.  This is no slight to you, but simply a matter of making sure that they have enough time to devote to their current students.  It is also possible that various other extenuating circumstances might prevent a professor from accepting students at a particular time.  Again, this is no slight to you.

If you have a thesis advisor and wish to change to another one, that's fine! 

However, when you pick a thesis advisor, you and your advisor must assent that you have read the Mentor Agreement. Students initiate the electronic agreement HERE, and research advisors are sent an email to complete their portion.

Thesis advisors will submitt a yearly evaluation of their thesis student's progress.

Ph.D. students must pass (Pass, not Master’s Pass) a Qualifying Exam in two of the four year-long core areas (abstract algebra, applied mathematics, real variables, and topology). The Qualifying Exam is meant to certify competency over a whole year-long core area of mathematics.

Dates and for Qualifying Exams are:

• Qualifying exams will be given during the last full week in May with Applied being given on Tuesday, Algebra on Wednesday, Topology on Thursday, and Analysis on Friday.
• Make-up Qualifying exams will be given in December on the last day of fall finals.

The results of a Qualifying Exam are either Pass, Master’s Pass, or Fail. Students may retake a Qualifying Exam exactly once (and only once) at the convenience of the instructor.

Students must pass a Preliminary Examination administered by a Preliminary Exam Committee of at least three people headed and chosen by the student’s dissertation advisor. The Preliminary Exam is meant to certify beginning competency in the student’s area of specialization.

The format, requirements, and timing of the Preliminary Exam is determined by the student’s advisor and vary considerably from subfield to subfield. Typical formats include an oral exam, a written exam, a research proposal, or a paper presentation. 

The results of a Preliminary Exam are either Pass or Fail. If a student fails, the Preliminary Exam Committee has the option of allowing the student to retake that Preliminary Exam exactly once (and only once) at the Committee’s convenience. The Committee may choose not to exercise this option.

After a student successfully completes their Preliminary Exam, it is necessary to ask the Graduate Program Coordinator to go to OnBase and fill out the Results of Preliminary Exam and Admissions to Doctoral Candidacy forms. Please send them your student ID, the date and place of the exam, and the Preliminary Exam Committee composition. In addition, please ask your advisor to send them a note confirming that you passed. 

Note: the Application for Admission to Doctoral Candidacy form is required before you may take MTH 6V99 Dissertation hours. 

Students must write a dissertation under the direction of their thesis advisor.

Baylor has specific dissertation formatting guidelines that must be followed. These may be found on the Baylor Graduate School pages (http://www.baylor.edu/graduate/). However, the graduate students maintain a properly formatted TeX file that should make the necessary formatting straightforward.

Students should carefully check Baylor’s Graduate School Calendar to make sure that they meet all the deadlines for their current academic year. The Calendar may be found on the Baylor Graduate School pages (http://www.baylor.edu/graduate/). Some of these deadlines come very early.

Students must successfully give an oral defense of their dissertation. A Dissertation Committee will give a result of Pass or Fail.

The Committee is composed of at least four members of the Baylor Graduate Faculty: the thesis advisor who serves as the committee chairperson, at least two other Graduate Faculty members from Baylor’s Department of Mathematics, and a fourth “outside” member. The outside member must be a Graduate Faculty member at Baylor whose primary faculty appointment is from a department other than mathematics.

Candidates who fail this examination (and after at least four months) may give a second and final oral defense only upon the recommendation of the Dissertation Committee and the graduate director and also with the approval of the Graduate School.

At least two weeks before the thesis defense, it is necessary to ask the Graduate Program Coordinator to go to Graduate School forms and fill out the Announcement of Oral Examination. You will need to send them your student ID, anticipated graduation date, the date and location (room number) of the defense, and the Dissertation Committee composition. 

After a student successfully completes their Oral Examination, it is necessary to ask the Graduate Program Coordinator to go to OnBase and fill out the Results of Oral Exam form. Please send them your student ID, the date and place of the exam, and the Dissertation Committee composition. In addition, please ask your advisor to send them a note confirming that you passed. 

Students optionally (and usually) also bring copies of their dissertation signature page to their defense for their Committee to sign.

Students must schedule their exam and should carefully check Baylor’s Graduate School Calendar to make sure they meet all the deadlines for their current academic year. The Calendar may be found on the Baylor Graduate School pages (http://www.baylor.edu/graduate/). Some of these deadlines come very early. You need to typically start nearly 5 months before graduation.

Special notes on your thesis:

Students must include an Attributions page explaining the contribution of each author in the front matter: it suffices to write that all authors contributed equally.

For previously published work, the student must provide the University with a letter or email of copyright release from the journal or publisher. If publisher permissions are readily available on the journal’s website, a screenshot, and link to that information will suffice. This is standard and easily acquired from mathematics publishers.

For most students, year one is devoted to core classes and the choice of thesis advisor. The first summer results in passing two Qualifying Exams.

Year two focuses on finishing remaining core classes and starting to specialize in a particular area. The Preliminary Exam is usually completed by the end of the second semester.

Year three emphasizes the student’s area of research. 

The fourth and fifth years are devoted primarily to research, the writing of a dissertation, and, hopefully, to the publication of papers.

A student’s funding is dependent upon the completion of satisfactory progress towards a Ph.D. as well as satisfactory and timely completion of Departmental duties, including (as appropriate) Math Lab, grading, and teaching. Upon recommendation by the Graduate Committee, students not making satisfactory progress may have their funding removed.

Failure to make satisfactory progress may be demonstrated by any of the following:

• Failure to maintain a 3.0 GPA for more than one semester. (The Dean usually revokes funding if the GPA drops below for a single semester. The first time this happens, upon recommendation from the Graduate Committee, the GPD will petition the Dean for a one semester extension of funding for the student to bring their GPA up to 3.0.)
• Failure to take 9 credit hours per semester for the first two years (this can be waived with prior permission from the Graduate Director for special or unavoidable circumstances).
• Failure to find a thesis advisor by the end of the first semester of a student’s second year.
• Failure to pass two Qualifying Exams by the end of the second semester of a student’s second year.
• Failure to pass the Preliminary Exam by the start of the first semester of a student’s third year.
• Failure to complete assigned Departmental duties. These may include Math Lab, grading, teaching, or other required duties. 

Since Ph.D. research does not follow rigid time tables and since each professor has their own approach, a report of failure to make satisfactory progress may occur in other less well defined ways. In general, a student is expected to work diligently and consistently, to be in regular communication with their thesis advisor, and to make sufficient progress on their dissertation problem so that it is reasonable to expect that they will graduate by the end of their sixth year. Failure in any of these areas may result in a report of unsatisfactory progress. In such cases, the student will receive a letter stating the problems and will have one semester to make corrections. At the end of that semester, the Graduate Committee will make the final decision on whether or not to recommend funding for the student to the Graduate School.

Assuming satisfactory progress, students may receive up to six years of funding. Starting for students entering in 2024, a maximum of 5 years of support will be offered.

• Funding for the first four years is automatic.
• To receive a 5^th year of support, students must inform the Graduate Director of their intention to return for a 5^th year by December 1 of the student’s 4^th year.
• To receive a 6^th year of support, students must inform the Graduate Director of their intention to return for a 6^th year and secure approval from their thesis advisor by December 1 of the student’s 5^th year.
• No support is offered for a 7^th year.

If at all possible, please only take Summer I credits (no Summer II courses). This will help ensure that you are able to get your degree without a delay.

Students are expected to maintain appropriate levels of professional conduct. Violations will be brought before the Graduate Committee and may result in expulsion.

First year students typically do a combination of grading, staffing our Math Lab, and running homework review sessions.

From the second year on, students typically teach one undergraduate class per semester. Student teachers are assigned a faculty teaching mentor and are expected to work with that mentor and to follow that mentor’s teaching recommendations.

Completion of our SET seminar (Seminar for Excellence in Teaching) is required before students may begin teaching. SET is usually held near the end of the spring semester.

Note that graduate students may not give their class unproctored exams. In addition, instructions from your Course Coordinator supersede instructions from your Teaching Mentor.

Depending on oral communication skills in English, foreign students are typically required to take the Graduate School’s English for Academic Purposes (EAP) course.

To receive your summer stipend, it is expected that you are physically in Waco for the entirety of your assigned duties during summer 1 or summer 2 and do all assigned grading or Math Lab staffing. The only exception to this is if you find another graduate student here in Waco to fully cover your assigned grading or Math Lab staffing while gone, then it is acceptable for you to do some traveling during this period. It is your responsibility to make sure that your duties are performed without interruption and without inconvenience to the people for whom you grade or who run Math Lab. Additionally, we will try to work with you to give you your choice of summer 1 or summer 2, but your choice is not guaranteed. Please talk with us early if you have scheduling requirements.

For those new to the word, a colloquium is a math talk  geared to the general mathematical community—as opposed to a seminar talk which is usually much more technical and given to a specific specialized group of mathematicians.

Students are expected to attend most colloquia. Occasional or periodic absences are fine. Colloquia are an important and mandatory part of your graduate education. They provide a glimpse into what is going on in the research world of mathematics and it is part of your job to stay in touch with such things.

A graduate student has full-time status when they are registered for at least 9 hours of graduate credit each semester or if they are taking any number of MTH 6V99 hours (which requires passing your Preliminary Exam) or any number of MTH 6V00 (no Preliminary Exam needed) hours.

For most students, there is no penalty for not being full-time: you still receive your stipend and tuition remission when you are not full-time. However, sometimes not being full-time can affect things such as loan repayment, being covered by your parents’ insurance, the status of international students, some types of summer internships, and the like.

To be exempt from having FICA taxes withheld from your paystub, you must be enrolled in a minimum of 5 credit hours or at least one hour of MTH 6V99 or 6V00.

The University requires a background check to be completed before you can teach. You will get an email from HireRight to initiate this procedure. The University also requires online Title IX training and will contact you with the necessary information. Students must also register for and pass MTH 5100 in the spring of their first year before being allowed to teach.

At time of writing, your first paycheck will be on August 31. If you have an Enhancement Scholarship from the Graduate School, they will disperse it, I believe, a few days before classes begin.

The Department will pay for two copies of your thesis--one for you and one for the Graduate Lounge. Talk to the Graduate Program Coordinator for processing payment.

Two awards of up to $400 each are available each year. See the Graduate School page for details: https://www.baylor.edu/graduate/index.php?id=959180.

Students: please read this section long before your final year at Baylor!

If this is your last year, you need to start soon and apply to as many reasonable places as possible. It is highly recommend that you start the process in July!

Mostly you’ll want to talk to your advisor for advice in these matters, but here are some generalities:

• First of all, the deadline for applying to some post-doc & tenure-track positions for the following fall is as early as this September! You’ll need to start right away. 

2.)  If you want to get a good job, you need to write a good thesis. This typically takes years of sustained daily hard work. You need to start from the beginning working at least 40 hours a week. Find a way to schedule hours and hours of work on your thesis every day. Start from day one.

3.)  If you want to get a good job, you also need to find ways to demonstrate your commitment to and skill at teaching. Find programs to join or groups of people to help. Do something special or distinctive for your students. This is important and you need to start as soon as you begin teaching.

5.)  In case you haven’t heard the terms, a post-doc is a temporary research position (usually about 2 years) intended for new or recent PhD’s.  These are great opportunities to start branching out in new research directions and developing your own research program.  A tenure-track position is intended to be a permanent position (assuming you get tenure about 6 years later).  More prestigious universities typically do not hire new PhD’s for tenure-track positions and look for people with post-doc experience.  On the other hand, smaller colleges are usually looking to hire new PhD’s and don’t care about post-docs.

6.)  For your application, you’ll need to have a curriculum vita (resume), an AMScoversheet, a cover letter, about 3 letters of recommendation from professors commenting on your scholarship, a teaching letter of recommendation (probably 2 or more letters if you are applying to a teaching college), a research statement, and a teaching statement.  It is a good idea to get your advisor’s input early.

7.)  Here are some excellent resources that are worth studying:  https://www.ams.org/profession/employment-services/Frayer.pdf,   https://math.illinois.edu/system/files/inline-files/job-search-workshop-2015.pdf,   https://gradschool.cornell.edu/career-and-professional-development/pathways-to-success/prepare-for-your-career/take-action/, and https://galois.math.ucdavis.edu/doku.php?id=jobhunt.  

8.)  Most of these documents are now submitted electronically and the best place to start looking for employment information is http://www.ams.org/employment.  There are many useful links there and lots of great advice.  They also contain many non-academic job listings if your tastes run that way.

9.)  Here are some other useful links for job openings that you should check out: http://www.higheredjobs.com/faculty/search.cfm?JobCat=104 and http://chronicle.com/section/Home/5.

10.)  You’ll probably want to plan on attending the AMS join meeting in January and, if possible, giving some sort of talk. Make sure to apply for a grant at http://www.ams.org/programs/travel-grants/grad-students/emp-student-JMM. The deadline is usually in September. Again, start doing this before your last year.

Students who desire a M.S. degree must complete thirty-three semester hours of approved graduate courses, including MTH 5310, MTH 5323, MTH 5350, and MTH 5330. In addition, one comprehensive exam must be passed: either one Qualifying Exam (Pass or Master’s Pass as listed under the Doctor of Philosophy requirements) or a specially created general comprehensive exam given by the Department of Mathematics. See the official Baylor Graduate Catalog. Copies may be downloaded from the Baylor Graduate School pages (http://www.baylor.edu/graduate/).

For Ph.D. students, getting a M.S. is completely optional and not really recommended—assuming you get a Ph.D.

It will be necessary to give the Graduate Program Coordinator your Baylor ID and ask them to go to OnBase and fill out a Graduate School Petition stating that you have (at least Masters) Passed a Qualifying Exam and that the Graduate School should therefore clear the comprehensive exam requirement. You also need the Graduate Program Coordinator to fill out the Master's on the Way form.

As usual, check the dates carefully as some are very early.