RiverMyst

Haha I hope this is a sign that admissions will not be as competitive as it was last year.

Anyone else taking the GRE Math this upcoming October???

Some schools already have their online application system open right now, others open them in October. By October, every application should be up and running.

Yes I am curious about how the ETS reports multiple test taking of the GRE and the GRE subject exam. Do they send all scores? Do they just send that you took it 3 times, but here was your highest score?

Question about letter of recommendation: If I have worked with a very well known physics professor on a theoretical physics reading (involving algebra and physics) and I worked with a young math professor (I mean really young, no publications, no PhD students, etc.) and I worked on a problem in differential geometry and general relativity (not an open problem), who should I ask for a recommendation? I can't ask them both as my other two recommenders are a well known professor that I am working on a publishable paper and a world famous geometry professor. They clearly are not going to get bumped. But given that I am applying for math phd admissions, should I go with the young math professor? The physics professor is well known in the math community as he organizes a huge math-physics workshop in the summer at my school. Many of the regular participants of this summer workshop are extremely well known mathematicians (Ron Donagi, Sheldon Katz, John Morgan, David Morrison). Both will probably write me nice letters. How much nicer the other one will be, I'm not sure.

Never too early to start this thread, seems appropriate as the Fall semester is starting up for most students. So where are you guys applying to? I applied last Winter, didn't get any PhD admits, so I'm going all out as this will probably be my last attempt at grad school. From my experience last year, it seems that my GRE Math scores held me back. I was waitlisted at two schools I would've loved to attended and my scores were atrocious. So review or study for the damn exam! It can be beat.

I am wondering if I should just get a math masters and try to get a job in industry to try to get my PhD. Here is my situation. I recently graduated, and I applied to grad schools last winter. I got waitlisted at UCSD and at Rutgers, primarily because I did not do well on the GRE Math subject exam. Well over the summer and into this Fall, I will be doing 3 research projects, 2 with big name professors as I have also been studying for the GRE Math diligently. I definitely think I can get a respectable score on the GRE Math (like a 70+ percentile score, my score last year was below 50%) and my letters of recommendation will be a lot better. I expect to have a publication where I worked side by side with one of my professors by the time grad school apps are due. Overall, I expect to have a way better grad school application this year than I had last year. I had a 3.8 overall GPA at an institution that has sent kids to Berkeley, Texas, Harvard, UCLA for math phd. So given that my profile is going to be a lot better, what schools should I apply to? I mean I had an OK profile last year and got waitlisted at 2 schools that I would be happy if I get into, UC San Diego and Rutgers. I figured I am going to apply to a lot of the midrange schools (like #15-#30 range) and a few of the top level schools (3 or 4 top 10s). I have a standing admissions offer for Fall 2009 at NYU for their masters program. My plan is to apply to all "good" programs, no safety schools because I'd rather go to NYU and get a masters and start working than go to a safety school and have a tough time finding a job in academia. So if I can get into a school like Northwestern, UIUC, Duke, UPENN, etc. I'll turn down my NYU math admissions. If I don't, I can just go to NYU, and I'll probably just take a bunch of financial math courses and try to get a job on Wall Street for a few years. What do you guys think? I know someone is going to say apply to a safety school, but I went to a school that is in the mid 20s rank, and almost all the professors were from Harvard, MIT, Chicago, Berkeley, Stanford, etc. I didn't see anyone from UCSB, UC-Santa Cruz, you know what I mean? I have looked up faculty and their research interests at almost all the top 50 schools, I would say most of them came from top flight programs. If I don't have a chance at academia, I would rather just try to get a good paying job and pay off my masters debt. Also, are there any math phd students on the forums? It seems that grad school is 50+ hours a week, now does this include TA and courses? Or is this 50 just studying? Because than that can easily become an 80 hour a week.

I can tell you for a fact that NYU's program is much better. NYU probably has the top program in the game. Columbia's program has a bad rep in that it does not have a great job placement rate, which is the whole point of a professional masters degree program.

Here is my profile: GPA: 3.8, Major GPA: 3.9 from a top 30 math/physics institution GRE Math: 570 (35%) Letters: - One letter from a professor that I worked with for 3 semesters and was currently working an on unsolved problem with in his field. This professor is extremely well known in his field. - One letter from a very young professor that I did a semester long independent study with on general relativity. - One letter from a well known applied math professor that I took 3 courses with and got 3 A's. I applied to only top schools because all my professors thought I was a shoe in to one of the top schools. MIT, Harvard, Stanford, Berkeley, Chicago, Columbia, NYU, Cornell, UCSD, Rutgers, UPENN, Texas and I applied to CUNY grad but I do not plan on going there. Here is my analysis of my profile: The fact that I was waitlisted at UCSD and Rutgers even with a complete crap GRE score gives me some hope. I feel like if I can get a competitive GRE score and do 2 really good semester long independent studies in the fall, I can get into Columbia. Am I a raving lunatic? This is going to be my last try to get into grad school. After this, I have no idea what I will be doing and that's 3 years of sacrifice, isolating myself down the drain. I'm hoping to have this profile by January 2009: GPA - is going to be the same GRE - 90+% Letters: - letter from the same professor that I was working on the problem with; but by this time I will have a preprint/submission for publication - letter from a big time geometry professor - letter from a big time physics professor I think if I come back for another semester, I'm going to do 2 or 3 research projects and not take any graduate courses, I simply cannot afford to, for various reasons. Believe me, I've looked into every possibility. I think doing 2-3 research projects is the best situation, it would be nice to take graduate courses, but this is how it is.

The bottom line with NYU is hat if you do well in your course work and pass the preliminary examination with an A, you will be favorably considered for PhD admission. However, that says nothing about funding. I called NYU and it does not seem like the easiest thing in the world to get funding. I spoke with a professor for almost an hour about getting funding and it is not totally merit based and also consider that you will be in competition with the undergraduates applying to NYU. Also NYU does have some really good geometers, but they have none of the mathematical physics I want. I don't want to do fluid dynamics or that kind of applied math. The only thing tempting me to go to NYU is that I can probably just take a bunch of their math finance courses and get a great job after my Masters.

Hi guys, I'm hoping you can give me some advice on my situation. I got rejected from all my schools (PhD in pure math) but I got accepted into NYU Masters of Mathematics program. So I have a choice between the following two options: 1) Stay a 5th year at my current undergrad institution. I want to study geometry and mathematical physics at grad school. So if I come back for a 5th year, I have an independent study with a big time physics professor at my school (a top 30 school according to rankings) and I'm in the process of securing an independent study with a big time geometry professor at my school along with taking a math grad course and if not I have an independent study lined up with a younger professor that I already studied with. If I do really well in all these independent studies (probably no chance for publications), do well in the grad course and retake my GRE's (i got a really bad GRE Math subject score) this would be my graduate profile: Overall GPA: ~ 3.8 from a top 30 math/physics institution Major GPA: ~ 3.9 Letters: - one letter of recommendation from a professor i've worked with for 2 years and will have a publication with by January (which is when applications are due) and is very well known in his field - one letter of recommendation from a really really well known physics professor - one letter of recommendation from a really well known geometry professor or the professor that i previously worked with GRE: hopefully an 85+% score Along with have taken and done well in a grad course. 2) Go to NYU Masters - Either try to get into the PhD program and get funding and stay at NYU - Get my Masters and try to go elsewhere. - I WILL retake the GRE Math even if I decide to go to the NYU Masters program - An important note, it is not the easiest thing to get funded at NYU, as most of you know! Now my question is, barring expenses because the NYU Masters is CLEARLY more expensive, which is the best option to get into one of these schools: (These are the grad schools I plan on applying to) 3 dream schools: - MIT - Columbia - Princeton 4 Reaches: - Northwestern - UPENN - Brown/UCLA - Rutgers 2 Safety Schools - UCSB - CUNY/CMU I think 2 independent studies and 2 grad courses would be a lot (especially since I'll be commuting). So I think 2 really good independent studies and a grad course is ideal.

I is true because f(x) is continuous on a compact set, hence it is totally bounded below and above. II is true because it is the definition of epsilon-delta continuity. III is FALSE. Here is why. f(x) is continuous on a compact set hence it is uniformly continuous. However, it is well known that uniform continuity does not imply Lipschitz continuity, which is condition III, i.e. f(x) = sqrt(x)