by our College Data Analytics Team
Unbiased Factual Guarantee
85Colleges in the United States
5,862Master's Degrees
$80,567Avg Early-Career SalaryIf you plan on getting your master's degree in applied mathematics, you won't be alone since the degree program is ranked #35 in the country in terms of popularity. So, you have a fair amount of options to choose from when looking for a school.
For its 2024 ranking, College Factual looked at 85 schools in the United States to determine which ones were the best for applied mathematics students pursuing a master's degree. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 5,862 master's degrees in applied mathematics during the 2020-2021 academic year.
What's on this page: * Our Methodology
- Best Master’s Degree Schools List
Choosing a Great Applied Mathematics School for Your Master's Degree
Your choice of applied mathematics for getting your master's degree school matters. This section explores some of the factors we include in our ranking and how much they vary depending on the school you select. Below we explain some of the most important factors to consider before making your choice:
Overall Quality Is a Must
The overall quality of a master's degree school is important to ensure a quality education, not just how well they do in a particular major. To take this into account we include a school's overall Best Colleges for a Master's Degree ranking which itself looks at a combination of different factors like degree completion, educational resources, student body caliber and post-graduation earnings for the school as a whole.
Average Early-Career Salaries
Average early-career salary of those graduating with their master's degree is one indicator we use in our analysis to find the schools that offer the highest-quality education. After all, your master's degree won't mean much if it doesn't help you find a job that will help you earn a living.
Other Factors We Consider
The metrics below are just some of the other metrics that we use to determine our rankings.
- Major Focus - How many resources a school devotes to applied mathematics students as compared to other majors.
- Major Demand - The number of applied mathematics students who choose to seek a master's degree at the school.
- Educational Resources - How many resources are allocated to students. These resources may include educational expenditures per student, number of students per instructor, and graduation rate among other things.
- Student Debt - How much debt applied mathematics students go into to obtain their master's degree and how well they are able to pay back that debt.
- Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized applied mathematics related body.
Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for applied mathematics students working on their master's degree.
One Size Does Not Fit All
Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we've developed the Best Applied Mathematics Master's Degree Schools ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.
Best Schools for Master’s Students to Study Applied Mathematics in the United States
Below you'll see a list of the best colleges and universities for pursuing a master's degree in applied mathematics. Only those schools that rank in the top 15% of all the schools we analyze get awarded with a place on this list.
12 Top Schools for a Master's in Applied Math
1
University of Chicago
Chicago, IL
294Annual Graduates
$107,203Median Starting SalaryUniversity of Chicago is one of the finest schools in the country for getting a master's degree in applied mathematics. UChicago is a large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Chicago.
Applied Mathematics master's degree recipients from University of Chicago get an earnings boost of around $26,636 over the typical income of applied mathematics graduates.
More information about a master’s in applied mathematics from University of Chicago2
Johns Hopkins University
Baltimore, MD
101Annual Graduates
$105,818Median Starting SalaryEvery student pursuing a degree in a master's degree in applied mathematics needs to take a look at Johns Hopkins University. Located in the large city of Baltimore, Johns Hopkins is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.
Master's recipients from the applied mathematics major at Johns Hopkins University get $25,251 above the average college grad in this field shortly after graduation.
More information about a master’s in applied mathematics from Johns Hopkins University3
Washington University in St Louis
Saint Louis, MO
102Annual Graduates
Washington University in St Louis is a great decision for individuals interested in a master's degree in applied mathematics. WUSTL is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the large suburb of Saint Louis.More information about a master’s in applied mathematics from Washington University in St Louis
4
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Cambridge, MA
75Annual Graduates
Massachusetts Institute of Technology is one of the finest schools in the United States for getting a master's degree in applied mathematics. MIT is a fairly large private not-for-profit school located in the city of Cambridge.More information about a master’s in applied mathematics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology
5
University of Notre Dame
Notre Dame, IN
71Annual Graduates
Notre Dame is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the suburb of Notre Dame.More information about a master’s in applied mathematics from University of Notre Dame
6
Harvard University
Cambridge, MA
6Annual Graduates
Located in the medium-sized city of Cambridge, Harvard is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.More information about a master’s in applied mathematics from Harvard University
7 University of Southern California 44Annual Graduates Located in the city of Los Angeles, USC is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population.More information about a master’s in applied mathematics from University of Southern California 8 Brown University 12Annual Graduates Brown is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the midsize city of Providence.More information about a master’s in applied mathematics from Brown University 9 Vanderbilt University 146Annual Graduates Located in the large city of Nashville, Vanderbilt is a private not-for-profit university with a large student population. Applied Mathematics master's degree recipients from Vanderbilt University get an earnings boost of around $8,686 above the typical earnings of applied mathematics graduates. 10 New York University 230Annual Graduates NYU is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the city of New York.More information about a master’s in applied mathematics from New York University
Los Angeles, CA
Providence, RI
Nashville, TN
New York, NY
11
Southern Methodist University
Dallas, TX
85Annual Graduates
SMU is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the large suburb of Dallas.More information about a master’s in applied mathematics from Southern Methodist University
12 Northwestern University 22Annual Graduates Located in the small city of Evanston, Northwestern is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.More information about a master’s in applied mathematics from Northwestern University
Evanston, IL
Honorable Mentions
Here are some additional great schools for Applied Mathematics students that almost earned our Best Applied Mathematics Master's Degree Schools award.Rank College Location 13 Cornell University Ithaca, NY 14 University of Washington - Seattle Campus Seattle, WA 15 University of Miami Coral Gables, FL 16 Columbia University in the City of New York New York, NY 17 Ohio State University - Main Campus Columbus, OH 18 University of Maryland - College Park College Park, MD 19 Boston College Chestnut Hill, MA 20 George Washington University Washington, DC 21 University of Connecticut Storrs, CT
Applied Mathematics by Region
View the Best Applied Mathematics Master's Degree Schools for a specific region near you.Region Southeast New England Rocky Mountains Plains States Middle Atlantic Far Western US Southwest Other U.S. Territories Great Lakes
Other Rankings
View All Rankings >
One of 4 majors within the area of study, Applied Mathematics has other similar majors worth exploring.
Applied Math Focus Areas
| Major | Annual Graduates |
|---|---|
| Financial Mathematics | 4,149 |
| General Applied Mathematics | 1,033 |
| 662 | |
| Computational Mathematics | 9 |
| Other Applied Mathematics | 9 |
Most Popular Majors Related to Applied Math
| Related Major | Annual Graduates |
|---|---|
| Statistics | 3,901 |
| Mathematics | 2,533 |
| Applied Statistics | 312 |
| Other Statistics | 50 |
