I've decided I'd like to get a Math PhD. I'm in my late 50's, my original degrees are in Music, I work in web marketing. My oldest daughter recently graduated with a BS in math, and I find that I miss chatting with her & her friends on the subject of math - they're teaching now, and that's a whole different subject. The purpose is to enjoy myself - I like my current job, but wouldn't mind adding some part time math teaching, in the distant future, as a possibility - but not a goal. I'll need a math undergrad degree, which seems to be easily available. But above that, I'm stumped. Any ideas? Thanks.
Try looking at some of the South African options. University of South Africa University of Pretoria University of Cape Town
I totally agree -- for your purposes the University of South Africa (UNISA) sounds ideal. I'd contact Michael Esselen of IACI, which is UNISA's agent for North America. He can probably help you find out what you'd need to do as prerequisite for a PhD in Math from there. Who knows, you may not need a whole new Bachelor's degree if you take courses that cover certain subjects. http://www.iaci-canada.com http://www.unisa.ac.za Alternatively, if you already have a really strong Math background, consider just getting a second Bachelor's from Excelsior College. You could take the GRE Subject Exam for Math, and if you score in the 80th percentile or better, they'll accept it as thirty credits of Math transfer credit. In that case, you'd have little more to do than to apply to Excelsior, send an official transcript for your old Bachelor's, send them the test result for the GRE Subject Exam, and graduate. (I think there's one required course now, but that's not that big a deal.) Even if you don't score in the 80th percentile, they have a sliding scale where you get credit depending on your score. More information: http://bain4weeks.com/2ndDegree.html Good luck! -=Steve=-
If you simply want to enjoy yourself, and possibly teach part-time, you might want to check out the M.S. in Mathematics - Mathematics Education offered by Montana State University. It certainly fits the bill for teaching, and could also pave the way for a doctoral program later on. It does involve a campus visit, but I could think of worse places to be than Montana in the summer!
Going along with what Bruce wrote, you could look into... University of Idaho - M.A. in Teaching Mathematics Western Governors University - M.A. in Mathematics Education Nova Southeastern University - M.S. in Mathematics Education - Ed.S. in Mathematics Education Nova Southeastern University - M.S. in Mathematics The main problem with math education programs is it won't necessarily give you the proper prerequisites for a doctorate in "true" mathematics. It would, however, be suitable for a doctorate in mathematics education.
If you are going the Math Education route, I think you will find that an undergrad math degree is not required for a Masters program (due to the more general education focus). From there, you could always progress to the Phd if you liked the math. Here's some other links you may find interesting... http://distance-ed.math.tamu.edu/ http://www.outreach.uidaho.edu/eo/ http://www.online.uillinois.edu/ Greg
sciencetoy, If you decide upon a pure or applied math program, you might inquire if a math undergrad degree is absolutely required or if instead they would prefer you take a number of undergrad classes - calc/diff q, linear algebra, complex analysis, maybe some proofs and writing - to demonstrate competancy. They might want to see some procedural programming - C++ or something. Addressing their requirements specifically instead of seeking another bachelor might save a bit of time and money. You should take a look at the GRE subject guide for math, which summarizes what one is expected to know upon applying for a grad program. I wish you the very best on this endeavor. I'm beginning to approach the place you've arrived at, and might attempt something similar once I have this accounting credential out of the way. Please let us all know your progress. Mark
You might also try some Australian options Central Queensland University www.cqu.edu.au University of Melbourne www.unimelb.edu.au University of New England www.une.edu.au
My idea is to work on a BS in math, and then decide if a PhD is really what you want. In general, I would say that going from a degree in music to a PhD in math starting in your late 50's is a very tall order - for anyone. Here's a link to some PhD prelim exams at Berkeley. New grad students are required to pass these within their first 3 months as grad students, so people taking these are essentially new grad students with newly minted undergrad degrees in math. http://math.berkeley.edu/index.php?module=documents&JAS_DocumentManager_op=viewDocument&JAS_Document_id=6 Grad degrees in math teaching will not get you into any pure math PhD programs - not a one. There are a couple of DL math masters programs out there - both in applied math. One is at Columbia, but you'll need to remortgage your house for that one (about $3500 per class), and the other is at Univ. of Wash., Seattle. Complete those, and you might be able to get into a PhD program, but even that would be a stretch, because neither is really research-based, but more "taught" masters, as they would say in the UK.
Sciencetoy, Given your job in web marketing and your interest in Math, you may want to consider : http://www.ccsu.edu/datamining/master.html I would consider it applied math (which I always found easier and more interesting than pure theory) and allows conditional enrollment. And heck, it's just coooool.... Greg
Going along with Greg's post, you also may want to consider a degree in operations research. Personally, I found OR to be very cool.
