Moses Bashir
When Moses Bashir entered Barnard in 2020, he knew he wanted to study math, but felt uncertain of which of the many tracks within mathematics to go down. Moreso, transitioning to college-level mathematics daunted him; he worried how he would measure up to his peers, or if he was ‘smart enough.’
For context, the mathematics department, like the field of mathematics broadly, has many pathways. There’s the “mathematics” track—what most people typically think of when they picture a math major—which is the study of math for maths sake. Then there's applied mathematics, which shows the utilizations of higher level math to solve real-world problems in various fields. But at Barnard, there’s also four additional tracks that integrate other related fields: Math Sciences (interdisciplinary approach to applications of math in computer science and statistics), Math Stats (math, statistics), Math Computer Science (math, computer science), and Math Econ (math, econ). For students who want to explore multiple empirical disciplines, they can find a home within the mathematics department.
At first, Moses had his eyes on the mathematics “pure math” major. Professor McDuff’s Introduction to Higher Mathematics class was the first time he remembered reading a math textbook back to front, and completing almost all the problems inside. It reassured his drive to pursue math. He recalls many conversations with Prof. McDuff as his advisor, answering questions beyond schedule planning, but about a pathway through the field, his interest in graduate level studies and ways for him to achieve those goals.
He took a statistics class one summer that sparked an interest in a more applied pathway, so he decided to major in mathematical sciences. After that first statistics class, he found a niche in probability theory, an interdisciplinary field of math and statistics that studies random distributions.
He took his undergraduate seminar class with Professor Knizel (a mandatory senior requirement for any math major) where he got to study number theory applications to random matrix theory. He remembers having a sense of freedom in choosing this topic, unburdened by a disbelief in himself, to which he credits the support of Prof. Knizel. By his senior year at Barnard, he realized that even if it took him more time than the people around him, he could do it and it was worth it because it was something he really enjoyed.
Barnard's people and support helped Moses realize that the different pathways within the math department were instrumental to helping him explore the field and figure out his discipline. He is currently at Columbia pursuing a Master’s in Statistics, with the intention of applying to PhD programs in mathematics. Moses describes his pathway as nonlinear, “most people go from their math undergrad to their math PhD and that's it.” He has found Beyond Barnard to be a major support in navigating the nonlinear path. He’s been brainstorming with them about strategic class planning and revising his essays. From taking the lowest level of mathematics offered in his high school, to applying for PhDs in math the route was anything but clear, but he says “I think it made the most sense for me…I just needed extra time … to practice math and get on a higher level.”