WELCOME TO PROSPECTIVE UNDERGRADUATES
Stony Brook offers undergraduates interested in mathematics a special opportunity. Its Department of Applied Mathematics and Statistics is unique among leading research universities in providing a single unified academic home for applied mathematics, statistics and operations research. The Stony Brook Department of Mathematics offers a major focusing in core areas of mathematics, such as geometry and algebra. The Applied Math major is a professional B.S. program that prepares graduates for quantitative careers in business with a toolkit of applicable mathematical techniques and problem-solving strategies. A recent survey of future earnings of different college majors puts Applied Mathematics near the very top, behind only a few engineering disciplines, with the average salary of mid-career applied mathematics graduates slightly over $100,000.” www.payscale.com/best-colleges/degrees.asp. See the profiles of some recent graduates to get an idea of the types of employment our graduates obtain.
The Applied Math major is one of the largest scientific majors at Stony Brook. Stony Brook graduates 110-125 Applied Math B.S.'s year. Only Computer Science, Biochemistry and Biology have more B.S. graduates. Combined with the smaller Mathematics major, about 7% of Stony Brook Bachelor's degrees are in mathematics, the highest percentage in mathematics of any U.S. public university.
The faculty and advanced graduate students who teach Applied Math undergraduate courses all have extensive experience in applied research collaborations that allows them to weave references to important real-world applications into their teaching. The Stony Brook Applied Mathematics and Statistics major has attracted transfer students from elite institutions such as Princeton, Yale and Bryn Mawr who were unhappy with aspects of applied mathematics instruction at their home institutions.
The heart of the requirements of the Applied Math major are eight upper-division courses, two specified and six electives. For details, see Applied Math Major Requirements . Applied Math majors also need to satisfy the Diversified Education and General Graduation Requirements of B.S. students in the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences.
Course Offierings: For a list of the Applied Math undergraduate course offering, see AMS courses .
Actuarial Studies: One of the most popular careers for Applied Math majors is in actuary. Many of the Applied Math courses cover material on the actuarial exams and there is an additional review course for the first actuarial exam. Altogether, students can pass up to five actuarial exams based on their coursework. For more information, see Actuarial Training . There is an active student club that interested students may want to join, the Organization of Actuarial Students (club email address: oas@ic.stonybrook.edu). Stony Brook actuarial graduates are well regarded in the insurance industry. For example, Travelers/St. Paul Insurance recently organized an actuarial case study competition. Stony Brook was one of the three institutions invited to compete in the Northeast.
Transfer and AP credit: Stony Brook University accepts, for general University transfer credit, any course from an accredited college or university that counts towards graduation at that institution. The Applied Mathematics and Statistics Department is quite liberal in accepting mathematics courses taken at other institutions if the level of the course and overall syllabus are similar to a Stony Brook Applied Math course, equivalency credit will be given. AP Calculus AB or BC and AP Statistics grades of 3 or higher earn college equivalency credit.
For further information and answers to your questions, please contact the Applied Math Undergraduate Program Director, Professor Alan Tucker (tucker@ams.stonybrook.edu; 631-632-8365).