Mathematics/Mathematics and Statistics

Mathematics at Oxford is one of the most intellectually demanding and rewarding degrees available anywhere in the world. The discipline is the language in which the laws of nature are written, the foundation of modern technology and economics, and a body of abstract thought of remarkable beauty and depth. At the level that Oxford reaches, mathematics is not a collection of techniques to be applied but a creative discipline in which imagination, rigour and the capacity for sustained abstract reasoning are all essential.

The Oxford course allows students to take either the pure Mathematics degree or the Mathematics and Statistics degree, with the choice made during the programme.

Across four full-time years you will work across pure mathematics, including analysis, algebra, topology and number theory, alongside applied and computational mathematics, and, if you choose the statistics pathway, probability theory, statistical inference and their applications. The tutorial system at Oxford means you will work in very small groups with some of the leading mathematicians in the world, receiving close attention to your mathematical thinking and argument that no lecture course can replicate. The breadth and depth of the curriculum, and the speed at which it advances, places substantial demands on students, and those who meet those demands emerge with mathematical abilities that are among the most versatile and valued of any degree subject.

Oxford mathematics graduates go on to careers in finance and investment banking, management consulting, technology and software engineering, the civil service, academic research, data science and a wide range of other fields where the capacity for rigorous quantitative reasoning is valued. Many continue to doctoral study in mathematics or related disciplines. The statistics pathway opens additional doors in actuarial work, biostatistics, data science and statistical research.

Few degrees are as consistently recognised by employers as a marker of exceptional analytical ability.