A student who majors in mathematics at Wellesley College is prepared for a variety of career paths, whether graduate school in mathematics or a related field like economics or biostatistics, as well as a career in education, medicine, finance and engineering. As technology grows ever more universal, quantitative skills become increasingly valuable. Moreover, the critical thinking and logical reasoning skills developed in the pursuit of a major in mathematics are excellent preparation for fields as diverse as law, publishing, management consulting and software development.
Wellesley's Mathematics Department consists of 15 faculty members with a broad range of research interests in pure and applied mathematics. We offer personal attention in advising and in small classes for all our students. Our majors, which number 25-30 per academic year, benefit from a well-developed curriculum that is both rigorous and inclusive. They have been highly successful securing positions in research, finance, and education. We currently have alumnae in mathematics graduate programs at Boston College, Boston University, Cornell University, UC Santa Barbara, UC Berkeley, University of Connecticut, Rutgers University, Arizona State University, Duke University, University of Hawaii, University of Illinois, University of Texas, University of Virginia, and University of Michigan, among others.
We offer a wide range of courses, covering topics ranging from the fundamental questions considered in subjects such as Number Theory (Math 223) and Real Analysis (Math 302), to the applications of mathematical knowledge in the real world, such as Differential Equations (Math 210) and Probability & Statistics (Math 220). Our current curriculum includes advanced courses for students interested in graduate studies, including Advanced Graph Theory (Math 325), Differential Geometry (Math 312), Advanced Topics in Analysis (Math 303), and Advanced Topics in Algebra (Math 306).
Inside and outside of the classroom, we encourage students to see and participate in the exciting and challenging world of current mathematics research. Students have ample opportunities to learn about groundbreaking mathematics at our student seminar and colloquium series. Many of our undergraduates participate in extra-Wellesley programs as the Budapest Semester in Mathematics, Research Experience for Undergraduates and summer research on our own campus. In the past years they have succeeded in securing excellent positions in graduate programs as well as the education and the financial sectors.