Ask HN: High-Quality Online Degree for Mathematics? Hello Hackers, I am looking for suggestions on online mathematics degree options (something similar to OMSCS from Georgia Tech). I have background in CS but have always wanted a degree in Math. Cannot leave my job and study - have mouths to feed. I can self study but I find myself switching my topics of study too often. Following a strict regimen of syllabus will discipline me to complete what I start. |
You'd pay the same tuition to go to a local school P/T though, total cost to complete is around $4k USD per year plus whatever you have to pay to a local testing center (here it was $60 per exam). Another way is just work through a rigorous introductory text like Concrete Math by Knuth and hire local math grad students to tutor you (or for them to come up with their own curriculum) but since it would be nice to spend all this time and gain actual credentials I'd be interested in distance math degrees too if anybody knows of others, University of London only has graduate level distance math degrees.
As a person that has two math degrees and knows someone that received their PhD in a CS/Math/Logic area (i.e. PL) I couldn't +1 this recommendation enough. That person is now a professor at a college in the UK but studied while elsewhere in the EU.
The OP stated:
>I am looking for suggestions on online mathematics degree options
The Open University is a very valid choice for this.
The reliance on written materials with much less face-to-face teaching (compared with a traditional university) was to me a distinct advantage as it gave me more control over the pace of the course.
How it will be for total degree? According this [0], it will be £17,568. That is 16lacs INR, quite expensive.
[0] - http://www.openuniversity.edu/courses/qualifications/q36#fee...
But no...
It's notable that it's insecure, http-only...
However, being a computer scientist I think a different approach to mathematics can be more enjoyable and also much more useful for many theoretical and practical developments that are yet to come. The downside is that materials are a lot less cohesive (any other references appreciated!). I'm talking about an approach with a focus on the foundations of mathematics, emphasizing logic, category theory and type theory.
Some links:
http://www.paultaylor.eu/~pt/prafm/
https://ncatlab.org/nlab/show/computational+trinitarianism
https://softwarefoundations.cis.upenn.edu/
The ideal approach for a self learner, which would simulate the university experience, would be doing as many problems in Schaum's outlines for math subjects and supplementing the info with textbooks/online resources.
If you already have a bachelor's degree, then I would do online lower div courses, often available via community college (Virginia has the whole lower div sequence online), then I would do the University of London graduate diploma, run by the London school of economics.[1] The courses are basically equivalent to upper div math / stats / early grad school classes.
If you don't have a bachelor's degree, UoL don't have a degree with just math. They used to just have just a "math and economics degree", but have recently launched a "data science and business analytics" bsc [2] which looks like it has very little non-mathematical content (certainly less than a US math degree that has gen ed requirements)
I did a non-mathematical undergrad a long time ago, then did the lower div math courses online via community college. Currently doing an MS in math and stats in person at my local state school, but also enrolled in the london graduate math diploma this year to go over some things in more detail, and to help me review things before comprehensive exams next year :)
Message me if you want more info, happy to help!
[1] https://london.ac.uk/courses/mathematics
[2] https://london.ac.uk/data-science-and-business-analytics
Also about 5x cheaper than the equivalent in the UK.
UNISA accreditation, seems they let their DETC (US National) accreditation lapse in 2004 but they're still accredited under commonwealth/UN IHU https://iaci-canada.com/accreditation which they claim qualifies as recognized by the US Dept. of Education though I have no idea how accreditation in the US works, so I would look into this more.
Yeah the main website sucks but they use Moodle to manage courses and it’s okay.
if you just want to learn a bit on your free time, buying books is much cheaper. studying math for a degree is more than 40 hours a week. i can give a few suggestions if you like.
Two book suggestions:
Strichartz - The way of analysis. MUCH more user friendly than the standard analysis texts. The book is filled with long paragraphs if english sentences explaining what your are doing, and why you are doing it (if you can imagine a mathematics book committing that sin!).
Pressley - Elementary Differential Geometry. The appeal of this book is that it teaches only the more concrete classical formulation of the theory, so you don't have to confront tensors and n-dimensional abstractions at first, and also that it provides outlined solutions to every problem in the text!
I went to Southern New Hampshire University and got my BA in Math w/ concentration in Applied Math. I started grad school at GA Tech for an MS in Operations Research via their distance learning program. I also got into USC and Kansas State.
I learned about this other degree after I was done though so you have at least two accredited options. It is slim pickings though: https://www.tesu.edu/heavin/ba/mathematics
California Virtual Campus:
Related:
Not sure they online technology is up to date.
[0] - https://www.appliedmathonline.uw.edu/costs-financial-aid/
With the exception of 2 teaching classes, you'd be mostly taking "real math" classes, so it's an intriguing alternative.
Don't know the OP's exact level or prereqs (he mentioned in another post he had a rough go with both apostol & spivak) but there seem to be several classes that would match his needs/curiousities. The classes might not be at your particular level, but since mixing/matching seems possible I think it would cover a lot of ground.
I have a Math BS, but I really wish I'd learned the material more comprehensively (I learned enough to get through problem sets and exams, but I don't feel that I really 'got it'). Paying for another degree is silly at this stage in life, but I'd happily pay a tutor to help me understand the material that 20-yr old me didn't grok the first time.
Tangentially related... I've been having really good luck lately via teaching myself via YouTube videos. By observing an example, I learn 10x faster than trying to follow a written exercise that gives me a bunch of material I'm not (yet) interested in.
This past weekend, I wanted to understand the basics of how one inserts data into a 2-3 tree. This video, along with the audio, taught me everything I wanted to know...
Edit: Just checked and UOP doesn't seem to offer a math degree at all, so that doesn't help me.
Note, however, that you won't get e.g. OPT from an online degree.
I know this bc my gf works there. I don’t care about a certificate so “audit » (i.e. no grading of exams,no certificate) for free. If you don’t need the degree or college credit you can do that.
Also I forgot to mention that the government annonced a raise for foreign student fees, so I would not stay as cheap as it is (400-600€).
If you're already proficient at mathematics then it's good to get a diploma to state as much. But if you're looking to learn then it will be of little help.
Having looked through the courses offered, I have to say that I am quite impressed. They are offering several interesting courses in Applied Math such as Game Theory, Optimization, and Statistical Inference. Overall it looks like a solid Applied Maths degree.
Edit: Oops, I think I was only looking at the first year syllabus of that course. The second year does have an "abstract mathematics" topic although it's not very specific on what further areas of mathematics might be included.
If people care about a degree and don't care about accreditation, you might as well just purchase one from a degree mill; but, yes, lots of people do care about accreditation. (And those that don't seem to care about accreditation as such often only don't because they are more selective, and disregard every degree not from a sufficiently elite subset of accredited schools, and treat other accredited schools as well as all unaccredited schools as worthless.)
> Nobody’s ever asked me.
Did they ever ask you where the degree was from?
However, it still matters outside the context of trying to get a job. If for some reason you want to transfer to a different school, if you don't have a regionally accredited degree many universities won't accept any of your credits.
Accreditation is kind of a mess in the US. Regional is the golden standard. National is kind of a joke and if your school is nationally accredited it might not be good enough to transfer to a better school (really depends on the school some of them will take your credits).
The worst part is that many networks of universities create their own accreditation organizations with names that sound similar to the real ones.
From my experience, regional accredited schools can still be absolute shit, but for some reason its the most respected credential a school can have.
Like the other comments say as well... it’s basically what qualifies a “real” degree.
You are hereby granted a PhD in biomedical engineering.
You are also granted a Master's in Accounting.
And a Bachelor's in Love Studies.
Done and done. Please type out and print your own Diplomas.
Regardless, both are slow, both are http-only.
It's funny this isn't more common, at least in Germany during diploma studies it was very normal and accepted to only go occasionally to the courses. The exercise review sessions were really important though.
I am located in Europe and there are quite some difference about who accredits institutions compared to the US.
Local critics say that the process is expensive, bureaucratic, inefficient, a danger to academic autonomy and slow.
That said, regardless of the process, the distribution of knowledge is easier than any time before. That students in the US need to take huge loans has to be a testament of giant organizational failure.
how do I find more info about this?
This is false because many fields do care very much. E.g. medicine (and not just mds), law, the patent bar, and many engineering fields care about accreditation. Even degrees from highly acclaimed universities aren't enough if the degree isn't accredted by the right body (eg ABET for the patent bar).
This is also not relevant because, in practice, places with good reputations are typically accredited.
I do think there are people that don't care, but I suspect they also don't care about the degree as well. They are more concerned about the real world performance of the individual. I think you'd be hard pressed to find someone in the above mentioned fields like that.
I also think that a Math degree falls into both of those "ideals", but more so on the side of accreditation is important.
The second year has more analysis, a second linear algebra class, optimisation etc. Overall, completion of this would get you to the level of someone who has completed a bachelor's in math, I've taken analysis, algebra, upper div linear algebra at a state school in the US, and the diploma level is similar. It is NOT an MS (and doesn't claim to be) - it's meant to be for people who want to study some of the core content of a bachelor's in math, either for personal interest, or as preparation for an MS in math, economics etc.
But yes, there are a lot of jobs out there that even Stanford CS graduates aren't qualified for.
Note: the patent bar's eligibility rules have special exemptions for CS degrees that are not ABET accredited but do satisfy other criteria, so many Stanford CS graduates will automatically qualify for the patent bar based upon those alternative standards. But that doesn't mean the patent bar doesn't care about accreditation.
And it's worth noting that any institution with a half-decent reputation has some form of accreditation. Again, this was the second point of my post -- accreditation is actually does do a very good job at over-approximating the set of educational institutions whose degrees mean something.