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Meet former students

Read what former students think about the Master's Programmes in Mathematics, and find out more about possible careers for graduates from our Master's Programmes.

Ofir Ammar. Data analyst for Ernst & Young.

Ofir Ammar, 27 years, from Tel Aviv, Israel. After finishing his Master’s Degree in Mathematics, Ofir now works as a Data Analyst for Ernst & Young, in Zürich, Switzerland.

Why did you choose to apply to Stockholm University?

I wanted to study in Europe and found out about this new joint Master's Programme at Stockholm university and KTH.

Are you satisfied with the programme?

There is a great variety of courses, including reading courses that are offered for interested students.

The communication with the academic staff was open, especially since the teachers were available and eager to help us. In fact, you can get a lot of help. The mathematical environment in Stockholm also contains Institut Mittag Leffler, where students can attend seminars.

I made a lot of friends during the first course, which was a tough one, with homework every week, where you had to work together.

It has been an adventure – not only academically!

What do you do as a Data analyst?

What we do basically is to investigate financial frauds within enormous data sets. Different positions of data analysts are doing slightly different things - but we investigate economical frauds.

The work is mathematical because the work requires quite a lot of logical thinking. We do think often about subsets, matching and quite a lot of "basic logic". Moreover, we do some coding.

What does a normal day at work look like?

It's quite a 9-18 work where we sit in front of the computer, we work on different projects. We ran a massive amount of SQL queries in order to find irregular patterns. We try to filter out the relevant data out of a huge data set (and filtering can be quite tricky sometimes..). We have meetings quite often, regarding the projects we work on - what kind of data are we interested in, how we can approach to retrieve it, client meetings, etc.

Lisa Nicklasson. Ph.D student at the Department of Mathematics, Stockholm University.

Lisa Nicklasson, 27 years, from Stockholm. After Master studies in Mathematics, she is now a Ph.D Student in Mathematics at Stockholm University.

Why did you choose to take a master's degree in mathematics at Stockholm University?

I did my Bachelor's degree in mathematics at Stockholm University, and was very pleased with the education. Since I wanted to continue in Mathematics, it was natural to proceed to master level in Stockholm.

Which area did you specialize in?

During the Bachelor education, I found algebra to be the most fun topic. Therefore I choose to specialize in algebra during the Master's education, but I also took courses within other areas.

Why did you decide to apply for the PhD programme?

I wanted to do research in mathematics, so the logical next step was to apply for a PhD position. It was tough competition to get this position, both from Swedish and international applicants.

In what way have your master-level studies prepared you for the PhD studies?

In my research, directed towards commutative algebra, I have had good use of the courses from the Master's education. I have had particular use of the course in Mathematical communication and the work with the Master's thesis, since I got to try to do research and write scientific texts in mathematics.

Do you have any advize for prospective or current students?

Of course you should apply to our Master's Programmes if you're interested in deeper studies in Mathematics! During the Programme, it is wise to think of which topic you wish to write your thesis in, and make contact early with potential supervisors. Your mentor will also help you with that.