The flexibility of this program, with its numerous options, permits selection of courses ranging from pure theory, with the idea of building a foundation for further studies at the advanced level, to applied subjects, with mathematical modeling and the solution of real world problems. 

In particular, Rensselaer's Department of Mathematical Sciences is one of the few in the country with a strong faculty orientation toward applications of mathematics. 

This emphasis is reflected in the many undergraduate courses dealing with areas of mathematical applications, and in the applied flavor with which department faculty typically teach undergraduate courses.