There are many definitions of who is considered to be a non-traditional student. For example, in this study by the National Center for Education Statistics, a non-traditional student in the United States is a student who satisfies one of the following for any reason:
Delays enrollment (does not enter postsecondary education in the same calendar year that they finished high school);
Attends part time for at least part of the academic year;
Works full time (35 hours or more per week) while enrolled;
Is considered financially independent for purposes of determining eligibility for financial aid;
Has dependents other than a spouse (usually children, but sometimes others);
Is a single parent (either not married or married but separated and has dependents); or
Does not have a high school diploma (completed high school with a GED or other high school completion certificate or did not finish high school).
Naturally, the road towards graduate school in mathematics for a non-traditional student can be rather different from that of a more traditional student. Fortunately, this road is well-trodden by past and present non-traditional students at UVa, so that others can learn from their specific experiences.
For students interested in a mathematics graduate program with a strong analysis wing and a history of admitting non-traditional students, the following list of recommended schools and faculty has been compiled based on past experiences:
Carnegie Mellon University
Duke University (Jim Nolen, John Mattingly, Tarek Elgindi, Alexander Kiselev, Jianfeng Liu)
Georgia Institute of Technology
Louisiana State University (Stephen Shipman)
New York University
Pennsylvania State University
Purdue University (Antonio Sa Barreto, Plamen Stefanov)
Rutgers University (Yanyan Li, Avy Soffer)
University of Arizona (Chris Henderson, Shankar Venkataramani)
University of California, Irvine (Hamid Hezari, Katya Krupchyk)
University of California, Los Angeles (Inwon Kim, Michael Hitrik, Monica Visan, Wilfrid Gangbo)
University of California, San Diego (Peter Ebenfelt, Ming Xiao, Brandon Seward, Ioan Bejenaru, Andrej Zlatos)
University of Kansas
University of Maryland, College Park (Dmitry Dolgopyat, Wojciech Czaja, William Goldman, Yanir Rubinstein)
University of Minnesota
University of Texas at Austin
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Testimonials
As a transfer student coming from a community college, I arrived as a 3rd year. This makes a lot of the goal posts as a math major come rather quickly, since everything must be completed on a 2-year timeframe. I chose to make my timeline even more accelerated, in order to attempt the Distinguished Majors Program (DMP). I want to lay out some logistics before going over my specific experiences, because if you want to partake in the DMP then the deadlines are very strict. First, you will need to take 4840 in your first spring semester. Further, the DMP requires you to take nine 4000-level courses, and complex variables, two of which need to be done before you apply; this will likely be during your spring semester. I would recommend taking 3340, complex variables, and 4651, Advanced Linear Algebra, during the first semester. This leaves you with eight 4000 level courses and a thesis course each semester of your 4th year. Thus, you will need to take roughly three 4000 level courses in your each of your last three semesters. This is hard.
Now, as for my experience. I attempted to take one of those 4000-level courses in my first semester at UVA, Math 4310 (Introduction to Real Analysis), without having initially taken 3310 (Basic Real Analysis). That semester, while I also took 3352 Survey of Algebra and 4651Advanced Linear Algebra, was far harder than any of my semesters in community college. It was an incredibly tough welcome to UVA and was taxing on my mental health. However, an insane beginning like that forced me to become significantly better at math and made my experiences for the remaining three semesters much better. It set me up to be able to take graduate classes in my 4th year, as I had already completed the undergraduate algebra and analysis sequences. However, I would still recommend taking 3352 and 3310 instead as a more “normal” introduction to advanced mathematics, whereby you can build up your proof skills with less pressure to produce high level work. As a transfer, I got two great pieces of advice early on.
The first was to get to know your professors. Go to office hours regardless of whether or not you have specific questions on homework. You can always ask about interesting remarks from class, or just something curious which appeared in your own exploration of mathematics. At the end of the day, you will need three letters of recommendation at the start of your 4th year, for graduate applications. Those programs will want letters from faculty who taught you proof-based mathematics, so you probably will be unable to use the letter writers from your transfer application. The relationships built during office hours are also where you will also be able to find opportunities for things like reading courses and independent studies. It was also in these office hours where I started to bond with my classmates and began to find a community in the department. I am incredibly grateful for the advice I got from faculty at this time, and a lot of what I used to position myself for graduate school came from conversations during those office hours. These conversations garnered the second piece of advice.
Faculty at UVA and other schools, read as people on graduate admission committees, know that things are harder for transfer students. Most students spread out the hardest courses over the math major, to ensure they do not have to take any of the roughest ones concurrently. Unfortunately, we only have 1 or 2 chances at most to take each 4000+ plus class. Because of that limitation, we usually end up taking multiple extremely hard courses in the same semester. I have kept this in the back of my mind as a glimmer of hope whenever taking 3+ upper-level courses started to feel overwhelming. Everything I have said so far leans towards one kernel of truth about being a transfer student. From the moment I started at UVA, I centered my decisions around the goal of going to graduate school. At the time of this writing, I am considering multiple offers from doctoral programs, so things seem to have worked out. In case you have questions about any specific steps I took or experience I had, my email is available under the "mentors" section of this website.
One last tidbit. UVA can often feel unwelcoming to transfer students outside of the math department, and is even structured against us. If you are feeling this way, then know that if you manage to find another transfer, they will understand. More importantly, there is nothing which labels you as unusual to the other students in the math program. Math is a hard, collaborative exercise, and often more fun with others. So, find community in the department and it will alleviate many of the burdens from outside of it.
--Nat Fink-Humes, April 2024