Recruit Our Students
Mathematicians are an asset to any organisation
Mathematicians have a way of approaching problems with logic and rigour which is highly valuable in the workplace. Our students are no different. With such a wide variety of research-led teaching, each of our students leave us with a slightly different set of quantitative skills.
On this page, you will find brief guidance on the different types of student in our department, and a breakdown of different recruitment opportunities.
Should you be interested in working more closely with the department to recruit our students, please do not hesitate to contact James Harris, our Industry Engagement Officer, by emailing @email.
Understanding Oxford Mathematics students
We have approximately 1500 students between all our undergraduate and postgraduate mathematics degree programmes. More information on the courses we offer, if required, can be found on our Study Here and Current Students pages.
Undergraduate students
We have approximately 950 students across our three- and four-year undergraduate courses (including joint courses with Philosophy, Computer Science, and Statistics).
The Oxford academic year is split into three intensive eight-week terms: Michaelmas (Oct-Dec), Hilary (Jan-Mar), and Trinity (Apr-Jun). During Michaelmas and Hilary term, students in all four year groups attend lectures in the department. First- and second-year students have tutorials in their colleges, and third- and fourth-year students have classes in the department.
Our students have very limited opportunity to gain work experience in term time due to their academic commitments. Students may take on work in the vacations between terms. The Christmas and Easter vacations tend to be busy with revision, so most students look to gain work experience over the summer in the form of an internship.
It is worth noting that our first- and second-year undergraduate students tend to have exams the week immediately after the end of Trinity term (Week 9 in Oxford parlance), so they would only be able to start work from the following week (Week 10).
Postgraduate (taught) students
We have approximately 250 taught postgraduate students split across the following courses:
- MSc in Mathematical and Computational Finance [10 months];
- MSc in Mathematical and Theoretical Physics [10 months];
- MSc in Mathematical Modelling and Scientific Computing [12 months];
- MSc in Mathematical Sciences [10 months];
- MSc in Mathematics and the Foundations of Computer Science [12 months].
The 10-month MSc courses roughly follow the three term structure of the undergraduate programme (see above), though often students on these courses have academic commitments in the two weeks before and after each term. Summer internships starting in the second week of July would be suitable for these students.
Additionally, students studying for an MSc in Mathematical and Computational Finance are able to undertake a work placement (Apr-Jul).
Students on the 12-month MSc courses tend to finish their studies around mid-September.
Postgraduate (research) students
We have approximately 300 DPhil (PhD) and MRes students in the department. They work full-time on a research project aligned with one of our research groups.
Unlike the undergraduate and taught masters' courses, there is no one fixed timeline for when our research students finish their studies. Students will typically start looking for jobs alongside writing their thesis.
Graduate research students are also encouraged to gain work experience during their studies, and are able to undertake short internships in their holidays. Longer internships would also be possible, provided the student follows the guidance on the MPLS website.
Opportunities to engage with our students
We welcome organisations to come and meet our students. Click on the tiles at the top of this page to find out more about organising a recruitment event in our department [Linked page to be published soon], and to discover specific opportunities for engaging with students studying for an MSc in Mathematical and Computational Finance.
Due to limited capacity, we are unable to routinely share details of vacancies with our students, or share details of events hosted outside of the Mathematical Institute. We recommend sharing such opportunities via the Oxford University Careers Service.
If you would like to talk through possibilities for engaging with our students, reach out to James Harris at @email.