Pure Mathematics PhD admission results

[zw849]

For those waiting on UCSD, there have been some acceptances and rejections already, check this out http://www.thegradcafe.com/survey/in...ath*&t=m&pp=25

[Ginku]

I think there is undue weight given to the GRE Subject Test. Most Departments have a culture where everything else is seen as subjective. To be sure, recommendations are probably more important but as it works out its very hard to distinguish w/ them because everyone has good recommendations.

Remember it is compulsory for the committee to rank applicants. Since almost everyone has a GPA in excess of 3.7 and great recommendations it usually comes down to the Math GRE. ETS is a pure monopoly due to network effects. They should at least hold the test more often so that one day's bad luck doesn't cost us one year.

[fuwing2007]

yes........ginku is right.

Only one test in a year is really non-sense. It affects lnternational students in particular. If I do the test badly, I will not have to wait for the next year's one, but also postpone the application, my study and my career one year later.

One point I wonder is that, will it be an advantage if the school's faculties know the applicant's recommender(s)?

[buckyball]

I totally agree with Ginku too. I think, when the other measures of applicants' quality are not really practical to evaluate applicants, the committee might have to look at GRE Math score.

[fuwing2007]

Who have news on Boston, Michigan, Northeastern, Notre Dame, Washington and Toronto?

For Michigan, they already sent out some admissions. But I haven't got any, neither acceptance nor rejection.

For Notre Dame, around one month ago I asked about if my application is complete and when decisions will be made. They said the first round will be on 22 Feb. Again I haven't heard anything yet.

For Toronto, I even don't know when will they make a decision. Who knows about Canadian university?

[deadskunk]

Originally Posted by fuwing2007

One point I wonder is that, will it be an advantage if the school's faculties know the applicant's recommender(s)?

That definitely helps. They don't necessarily have to know the recommender personally (which is not to say that the personal connection wouldn't help), it's best to have letters from people whose mathematical work is well-known. In particular, asking a postdoc or assistant professor for a letter isn't usually a good idea.

[happyentropy]

When I was taking the GRE I was told that as long as its over 80% no one cares, and that by far the most important aspect of the application is the recommendation letters. I was also advised to get letters from "famous" profs rather than from postdocs. From what I heard these letters are supposed to say "happyentropy is better than A,B,C and almost as good as X,Y,Z" where A,B,C,X,Y,Z are students the prof has worked with in the past who have gone to comparable grad and/or became respected mathematicians...
Most domestic applicants to top programs get letters like this either from profs at their undergrad school or ones who supervised their REU's.
In particular it helps if your recommender actually personally contacts your potential advisors at the schools you're applying to (I think that and good grades were the only things going for me when I applied...).
If you're an international applicant from a school/country with faculty who are not known in the US it is more difficult, and their probably have to rely more heavily on your GRE math subject scores (for example at Michigan State the admissions chair said that the minimal expected GRE is 45% for domestic and 80%(!) for international applicants).

[happyentropy]

*sorry double post*

[mathgrad]

I guess that's true,Happyentropy.But aren't there also a larger number of fellowships for domestic applicants?I saw a large list of possible fellowships for US citizens/permanent residents in all the applicantion forms.I don't know how many people are selected for those,but it seems that funding oppotunities are also limited for international applicants.This,combined with the reason you gave(it's natural to be skeptical about an applicant from an unknown university) are perhaps the main reasons why the admission process is much more selective for international applicants.Also,most countries don't have that many research opportunities for undergrads like the US.

[zw849]

From an international point of view:
I think it's good that the GRE math subject scores is taken as a objective measure of the applicant. Now, it's true that is expected that foreigners get higher scores in the test and that's an extra burden domestics don't have. For example, you may have a strong international applicant with excellent letters of rec and all, but when it comes down to the admissions committee, they evaluate domestic students with excellent rec letters from 'famous' professors who have connections with faculty and so on, and those international students don't have those references. Another aspect to consider here is the high grade inflation in the US, with the consequence of students having perfect GPA's, and that's rarely seen outside.
Summarizing:
*domestic students with good (not top) gre scores, perfect GPA's, excellent rec letters from known people and often research experience and
*internationals with top scores, excellent rec letters from unknown people, not so perfect GPA, who may not have had the opportunity to do research, but their intrinsic abilities are no lower than that of domestic students.

Now, do you guess who has the most chances to get in a top (say top ten) school?
That's something to think about.