anonecon

Does this need to be a scan of an official? Or can it be completely unofficial? Thanks!

Why hasn't anyone mentioned Harvard?

Anyone who tells you that Adcoms are going to know the specific course naming and numbering is wrong:

Lies, damn lies. Chapter 2 is easily the books strongest and most important chapter. It lays the foundation for truly grasping everything that follows. Read chapter 2, breathe chapter 2, live chapter 2. I recommend skimming the Problems at the end of the chapter for questions that interest you and trying them yourself. If you can't solve them, look for a solution manual online.

Learnstream Rudinium This is even better. You can skim through theorems and definitions as well as choose to view a lecture starting at the point when that theorem or definition is discussed.

Find a set of good online lectures. Youtube, for example, has these (which look to be pretty good): And Walter Rudin's Mathematical Analysis.

Nobody is going to lie to you if you just ask them straight out.

You're not important enough for anyone on the admissions committee to remember you or care. If you're really worried about it, put a small note in your SOP about how taking the time to work in industry really helped you develop research ideas and allowed you to be certain that you wanted to devote your life to research. Don't mention declining their offer in the past.

For example: Ask them in person. Then, after they cut you off, say: "Thank you! I am thinking of applying to X,Y, and Z. Are there any other programs you recommend adding? And, are there any programs that to which you would not feel comfortable giving me your enthusiastic endorsement. I will certainly understand if this is the case." (You can also send this via email later, if you're uncomfortable with such conversations in person). Two things are particularly nice about this approach. (1) It gives the hesitant writer a way out. I suspect sometimes professors agree instinctively to avoid awkwardness and then immediately realize that they have made a mistake. This gives them a chance to back out in a non-awkward fashion. (2) It helps professors who would be willing to recommend you to "any program except the top X programs" write you the strongest letter possible. I imagine one challenge that writers run into is that they have applicants apply that they feel belong at X rank school but who apply to a number of programs better ranked than X and are then struggling to write a letter that is good enough to get the applicant into X but not so good as to over-place the applicant and make them look bad. If they know they are only recommending you to programs they think you would succeed at, they are less likely to say very positive things about you because there is no fear that they will be responsible for over-placing you. I can't, of course, verify that professors think this way. But it's the way that I would think if I were a professor writing recommendations. Also, Chateau, your letter writers cut you off because they clearly all planned to write that you can walk on water.

My advice: Be straightforward and ask your letter writer if they are willing to write you a compelling letter for X, Y, and Z - level grad programs. Also, you don't need to take classes with professors to have them write letters for you. As long as your job was not literally data entry, they can certainly say enough about you.

Now kiss.

I think you're supposed to fill in the proof part ;-).

Very sad.

You keep it to yourself unless you think that you're such a superstar that you can be successful in the academic world while making enemies. If you do intend to publish a correction, you try not to word it as a correction. Instead, you "modify" their model to "account for other important factors." Or something like that which won't make you enemies.

Honestly, I would find a different program. Assuming this is not a misunderstanding, it seems unethical. But if you want to stay, Humanomics is right. Act swiftly in (1) directly addressing the new coordinator and (2) the old coordinator. Be polite but firm in that you expect the graduate school to honor what it told you during its admit day. If you can, have as many students as possible send similar emails to demonstrate that you really were promised something. Either way, though, you should be looking to see if other programs will take you. If you and your cohort really want the program to listen, the best action is to turn around and tell the program that if they do not honor their agreement, you will be leaving for another program.