Dragonfinity Posted February 2, 2006 Share Posted February 2, 2006 Ok, so maybe I am jumping the gun. I am a 1st year math ph.d. student, and I didn't pass my comps. I get 2 more tries, but I am worried. I have straight A's, and friends of mine who come to me for help have passed. I am not such a good test taker. Anyway, if I don't pass the comps at my present school, they said they will graduate me with a Master's and help me find a good job. However, I just want the ph.d., I could care less about the job (at least not until I have that degree). Some of my friends completed their master's before entering our ph.d. program, so they had 2 years on me (no wonder they passed the first time). Does anyone know if there are schools that will take a chance on a good student who couldn't pass his comps at a different school? Thanks. C Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mathman Posted February 2, 2006 Share Posted February 2, 2006 I hate to sound discouraging, but it doesn't seem likely. The application process, ideally, is designed to favor those who are most capable of success at the PhD level. Having already struggled, albiet only on the exams, your application would probably throw up red flags. There may be hope if one or more of your professors truly believes you are capable of passing (as well as having a good reason to tell an adcom). Again, however, depending on how competitive your field is, this seems unlikely. Now worries though! You still have two tries, and you can pass them. Buckle down, practice, and just believe in yourself. You'll get there. Roger Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stringyone Posted February 2, 2006 Share Posted February 2, 2006 Cool another math grad! You are jumping the gun a bit. BTW are you talking about quals or prelims? But... Steven Krantz wrote a Mathematician's Survival Guide. He addressed this very issue in his book. So I guess people switch schools because of comps frequently. I'm at a large state school. Math students switch between my school and another large state school all the time. One person came here (from the other school) because of research and another left (for the other school) because of family issues. But everyone else switched because they were about to lose their funding because of comps. However, one prof once told me that not passing your comps says nothing about your abilities. It only says that you should try a different approach to studying next time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dragonfinity Posted February 2, 2006 Author Share Posted February 2, 2006 I guess I'm talking about qualifying exams. We first have 2 written comprehensive exams: Algebra and Analysis. Then you choose an advisor and a field and prepare for you oral comprehensive. Then you write and defend your dissertation. Has anyone actually transferred for this reason? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stringyone Posted February 3, 2006 Share Posted February 3, 2006 Has anyone actually transferred for this reason? To summarize my last post, yes. Anyway... alot of people don't pass their quals the first (or second) time around. The exams are completely different from most UG exams and there is an art to taking them. So if you haven't had the appropriate test taking training, then it will be difficult to pass. I didn't pass my Analysis exam the first time I took it. I thought that knowing the material would be enough but I later realized that I have to also understand how to write up my solutions for an exam like this. The second time, I focused more on the testing aspect of my prep and got a near perfect score. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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