This handbook was written to give you an idea of what it's like to be a math graduate student at UCSD. It contains information about the people (grad students, staff, faculty), Department policies, exams, coursework, funding, and campus life.

     The UCSD Math Department currently has 100 PhD students and 34 MS students. About 20% of the PhD students are women. The Fall 2011 incoming class is unusually large, consisting of 21 PhD, 6 MA, and 22 MS students. The Department has 50 permanent faculty members, 7 of whom are female. On average over the last five years, we have graduated 12 new PhDs per year. A large percentage of our PhD students complete the program within five years. Most go on to successful careers in academia, government, or industry, with about 75% choosing academic positions.

     Our department is very strong in most areas of pure and applied mathematics. A Chronicle of Higher Education report ranked the UCSD Math Department #2 in faculty productivity among all math departments in the country, behind only Princeton University. The 2010 US News and World Report rankings list the UCSD Math Graduate program as #8 among the nation's public universities. The 2010 National Research Council R-rankings list our Math PhD program as #13 among all universities in the nation, public and private.

     We close with a few words about UCSD. The university is situated on 12,000 acres of La Jolla coastland with a lovely view of the Pacific ocean. The average high/low temperatures are 78/67 in August, and 66/49 in January. UCSD has roughly 24,000 undergraduate students and 6,000 grad/med students. Although it has only been in existence since 1960, UCSD has already emerged as one of the outstanding universities in the country. In 2011, US News and World Report ranked UCSD #7 among the nation's public universities. UCSD ranks #7 among all universities in the country both in federal funding and in National Academy of Sciences membership.