Prerequisite courses for pure math masters programs

[joebob9]

I’m a junior at a very small American liberal arts college that offers zero upper-division math courses. I have a hope of going into math research as a career, and so I want to find a path into a competitive PhD program. It seems like one of my only options is to enter a master’s program to do the studying and research I can’t do now. I was wondering how strong their requirements tend to be for prerequisite courses, since I have done a lot of study own and will have covered the requisite topics, but without any transcript to show for it.

[wihjenfc]

Master programs are less competitive than PhD programs. What courses have you taken? If you have taken the standard undergraduate courses (e.g. basic abstract algebra, real analysis + maybe a few more specialized ones like number theory or differential geometry or probability etc.), then you should be ready for master programs. No one will assume that an entering master student has taken any advanced courses. You can start by taking the basic graduate level courses, such as measure theory, Galois theory, topology, etc. They might sound a bit scary, but don't worry, they are not hard as long as you are interested in the subject. If you have studied some of these materials on your own, then that's more than enough. In most schools, official registration prerequisite shouldn't be a significant problem. You can always talk to the professor or the director of graduate studies.

[joebob9]

That’s good to know, that official registration won’t be a big problem. I hope that’s true for me as well, since I’ve covered much of that stuff through independent study and will cover more, but I don’t have credit for most of it.
Thanks for the info.

[wihjenfc]

That’s good to know, that official registration won’t be a big problem. I hope that’s true for me as well, since I’ve covered much of that stuff through independent study and will cover more, but I don’t have credit for most of it.
Thanks for the info.

If you have studied the graduate-level materials on your own, then that's more than enough. Even if you didn't meet the registration prerequisite, you can always talk to the instructor, show them that you know the stuff and that you are ready to take their class. Taking advanced courses and knowing the professors well will also help you get into a good PhD program.