*Concerns of Young Mathematicians* || Issues of concern to mathematicians at the beginning of their careers

The Young Mathematicians' Network
Serving the Community of Young Mathematicians

Sections:

Front Page Career Diaries Editors Work and Family Life Grad Life Job Search Misc Paths to Math Research Teaching Undergrad Life Events Frequently Asked Questions News

Personal Statements and grad school appilcations

Undergrad Life

By kroth
Posted Tue Feb 24, 2004 at 08:40:47 AM PDT

There is an article on the Chronicle to higher education website describing the odd process that is writing a personal statement for your graduate applications.

Post a Comment

Here is the link,
The story is by someone applying to humanities graduate school, but some of the lessons apply. Although I must wonder is the essay that important for math grad school? My idea has always been the letters of reccomendation are the most important, but I have no idea if this is correct.
Has anyone served on an admission committee for math grad school and want to let us know?

< Mathematics Newsgroups | Analysis Qualifying Exams >

Personal Statements and grad school appilcations | 1 comment (1 topical, 0 hidden)

[new] Personal Statements (5.00 / 2) (#1)
by Anonymous Hero on Wed Mar 03, 2004 at 07:41:16 PM PDT

Having read a lot of these statements, and having helped my advisees to write them, here is my general advice on the subject. When I'm deciding whether to admit a student or not, the personal statement is helpful in understanding the motivation. If it comes across that the student is applying to mathematics graduate school only because he couldn't find a job in industry, then I'm not going to be interested in admitting that student. This happens quite often. Another common mistake is the completely over the top statement in which the applicant expresses his incredible devotion to the faculty in our outstanding mathematics department and promises to work 200 hours per week for the next ten years so as to complete a prize winning dissertation. Actually, any statement that makes me think that the student is telling me something that the student doesn't believe is likely to result in my no vote. On the other hand, if the statement shows that the student is serious about graduate school and has realistic expectations, then I'm much more likely to vote to admit that student. So, my advice is: Tell the truth about why you want to graduate school and what you expect to learn and do as a graduate student. If you haven't thought carefully about this before then you should do so now before you take the big step of starting graduate school.

Personal Statements and grad school appilcations | 1 comment (1 topical, 0 hidden)

Menu

create account
FAQ
Search
Recent Comments

Login

Make a new account

Username:

Password:

Related Links

link
Also by kroth

All trademarks and copyrights on this page are owned by their respective companies. Comments are owned by the Poster. The Rest

create account | faq | search