Admissions
The graduate program in mathematics provides students with an outstanding education in math, research, and teaching. Our faculty include world-renowned researchers that run leading first-rate research groups covering a wide array of mathematical specialties.
Program Highlights
- The Department of Mathematics has a distinguished international faculty, including multiple International Congress of Mathematicians speakers.
- The department has a variety of research groups: geometric group theory, geometry/topology, approximation theory, number theory, non-commutative geometry, operator algebras, gravitation and waves, mathematical biology, partial differential equations, and graph theory.
- The stimulating research environment is supported by an ongoing program that attracts visiting scholars from institutions around the world and hosts several major conferences a year, including the Shanks Conferences.
- The Department of Mathematics is large enough to support a wide range of courses, but small enough for students to receive individual attention from faculty members.
- We have multi-tier research groups, where faculty, postdocs and graduate students work closely together.
- Our department is very collegial and supportive.
- Graduate students are given one year of training as tutors. After that period, they generally serve as TAs and eventually instructors in calculus classes.
- Our graduate students are successful in securing jobs.
- Nashville offers the amenities of a large city and the friendliness of a small town
Applying to the Program
The application cycle for Fall 2026 matriculation is now open.
Applications should be made online and can be accessed through Vanderbilt’s Graduate School. Your application will simultaneously be sent to the Department of Mathematics. The deadline for submitting your application is December 1st. The recruitment committee will start evaluating the applications shortly after.
Below is a list of required information and materials you will need to complete your application. You may begin an application at any time and fill in the missing information when it becomes available. More information about each item bellow can be found on the Graduate School Website (https://gradschool.vanderbilt.edu/application-requirements)
- Letters of recommendation (minimum of three letters required)
- Transcripts
- CV/Resume
- GRE Mathematics Subject Test: Optional, but we highly recommend that you take the test and submit the score (self-reported/unofficial copies are considered during the evaluation).
- Statement of purpose
- A TOEFL or IELTS score is required of all applicants who have not received a degree from an English-speaking university. (The minimum acceptable score is 89 on TOEFL and 7.0 on IELTS.) Read more details about the English language proficiency requirement.
- The GRE General Test is not considered when the applications are evaluated.
We look forward to reading your application!
Application fees and waivers
Applications to our graduate program ordinarily require an application fee. Some fee waivers are available to U.S. citizens/permanent residents via the Graduate School directly. The math department also has a limited number of additional fee waivers available upon request. Please fill out this redcap form to request a waiver: https://redcap.vumc.org/surveys/?s=T3XHTTL9YMHJCL8T. We will assume if you are asking for a fee waiver from the department that you are not eligible for the fee waiver offered by the Graduate School or have been denied that waiver. The math department graduate admission committee will consider the waiver requests after all the information from the applicants is uploaded online. Please note that paid application fees are non-refundable.
Note: Please do not send tax return documents or any other documents showing sensitive or confidential personal information such as your social security number.
Application Outcome
Admitted applicants will be notified via email and letter, while those who are not admitted will see their status updated on their online account. Some decisions will be communicated early in the Spring semester, but others may be delayed until after April 15th. This is because the committee must wait for responses from first-round offers before considering applications from the waitlist.
Frequently Asked Questions
Please see our answers to some of the most frequently asked questions by prospective graduate students.
The GRE Mathematics Subject Test is optional, but it is highly recommended that you take and submit the test score. Unofficial copies are considered in evaluating your application. There is no minimum acceptable score for the GRE Subject Test.
No. The GRE General Test is neither required nor going to be part of the evaluation of your application.
There is not one single criteria that is most important in deciding among our applicants, but transcripts (courses taken and grades received), letters of recommendation, personal statements and GRE Subject score are all heavily weighted.
No. We can only evaluate applications after we have received all of the requested information, including letters of recommendation and transcripts, as well as the completed application materials of all the other candidates. The admission decisions are done by the graduate recruitment committee and not by individual professors.
The deadline for submitting the application is December 1st. The committee will start evaluating the applications shortly after. You need to submit the application in order to be considered, even if you are waiting for a decision regarding the fee waiver (see admissions for more information).
No. All successful applicants are offered Graduate Teaching Assistantships that are supplemented by a full University Tuition Scholarship (which includes a service-free award that pays all of the tuition costs and student health insurance coverage). Graduate Teaching Assistantships also include a stipend. See Aid and Awards for more information.
No. Teaching assistantships are only offered to students admitted to the Ph.D. program.
We do not have an average GPA for our successful applicants since they come from all over the world, from many different GPA systems, and from institutions with different course requirements.
University policy requires a minimum score of 570 on the paper-based test or an 89 on the internet-based test. See the How to Apply information from the Graduate School for more details.
All international students who have not received a degree from an English-speaking university must take the TOEFL exam.
TOEFL is the preferred language proficiency test. The Graduate School recently began accepting the IELTS scores in lieu of TOEFL. A score of at least 7.0 is desirable. See the Graduate Studies Handbook for more information.
We will consider applications with self-reported scores. However, all successful applicants must submit official scores before they can be formally admitted.
We do not require official transcripts unless an offer of admission is made and accepted by you. At that time, official transcripts should be made available.
See our teaching assistant requirements.
Over the last eight years we have had incoming classes ranging in size from five to eight graduate students. All applicants are given equal consideration regardless of their nationality.
See Application Assistance within the Graduate School.
No. The recruitment in the program is done once a year, and the successful applicants are expected to enter the program in the Fall of the following academic year.
Once your application has been submitted, you can log in to view your Application Status page. Use the application checklist to verify which application requirements have been met and which are still outstanding.
There are no mandatory classes, but taking more upper-level math classes (including graduate-level classes) will increase your chances of acceptance.
Vanderbilt University Graduate School policies for deferral and reapplication apply to the Ph.D. program. Please look at Application Assistance with any further questions.
Contact
For further information, please contact: mathgradadmissions@vanderbilt.edu