Students are expected to take the Qualifying Exam, take Math 300: Teaching Undergraduate Mathematics, and if they need to teach in the second year for funding, complete the teaching apprenticeship.

Students must enroll in four courses per term.

By the end of the second year students are expected to have passed the Qualifying Exam and the language exam and to have completed the minor thesis. Students with eight courses (not including TIME) may apply for the continuing Master's degree.

Every student is required to have two semesters of classroom teaching experience. Students must do the teaching apprenticeship before they may begin teaching. Students are encouraged to begin teaching early in the program. While some students are very comfortable in the classroom, others take more time to find their stride. Both the department and the Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning (Science Center 318) offer pedagogical and professional development.

Students are expected to finish the program in four or five years.

Students who do not finish the dissertation by the fifth year may be required to file for non-residence status or withdraw from the program to finish the dissertation elsewhere. When the student has finished writing, and with the approval of his or her advisor and the director of graduate studies, the student will be readmitted for the term in which he or she plans to defend the dissertation.

With the permissions of both the advisor and director of graduate studies, a student may be granted a sixth year. The student will not receive financial support from the department in the form of a stipend for teaching or research assistantship for the sixth year. The department will pay the facilities and health insurance fees for the fall term only. If the student does not finish for the March degree, the student will be responsible for paying the facilities fees in the spring term. The fees will be added to the student's term bill, and the student will be expected to pay these fees.