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second degree? Grad Life

By BFD
Posted Wed Sep 28, 2005 at 10:05:44 AM PDT
I would like to apply to an applied math phd program in the near future but I am worried about my grades. I received C's in about 7 of my math courses. I had outside factors that ultimately hindered my ability to study. Unfortunately this situation could not be corrected until later. In hindsight I made a mistake in my undergraduate career by not taking a leave of absence. I want to remedy this situation. So I am seriously considering obtaining another undergraduate degree in mathematics to further improve my chances for acceptance to graduate school (I received a BA in Economics/Mathematics in 2003). Is this overkill or should I just retake those classes and just apply? Any advice is much appreciated

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second degree? | 2 comments (2 topical, 0 hidden)
[new] retake the courses not the whole BA (5.00 / 1) (#2)
by sormani on Sun Oct 23, 2005 at 08:46:59 PM PDT

I doubt you learned the material in the courses if you earned a C.  You are unlikely to succeed in graduate school without A level knowledge in these subjects.

However, you do not have to repeat the Bachelors.  You just need to get admitted to a good undergraduate institution with a graduate math program as an adult student or some other more individual status.  Then retake the exact set of courses: 4 math courses per semester should get this done in a year unless the courses are sequential, in which case you need more time.  

The reason this needs to be done at a good undergraduate institution is because you are going to be asking for letters of recommendation.

At CUNY we get many students doing this every year, mostly students who are planning graduate school in a field which requires more math than they took when they first got their bachelors but a few who took the coursework a long time ago or didn't do well in it.  These are some of our best students and we are happy to recommend them to graduate programs based on their coursewok even though their Bachelors is from another institution.



[new] depends on how much you learned (none / 0) (#1)
by kroth on Sat Oct 01, 2005 at 01:25:13 PM PDT

If you actually learned a fair bit of the math you needed in those courses despite your grades, you may want to consider getting a masters in math instead.  It would probably be best to do this at a school without a PhD program since some schools with a PhD program only give a masters as sort of a conselation prize degree.  Some of them may let you retake those undergrad courses first.  

If you don't feel you learned enough in your undergrad courses, I'd say just retake the courses.  It has been a few years since you finished your BA and you should be able to explain to any graduate school why your original undergrad grades don't reflect well.  Make sure that you cultivate a set of professors who will make good references as well.  Know also that the Budapest Semesters in Math program will take a recent graduate and you could retake most upper level classes there, I went after my bachelors and learned some great math.



second degree? | 2 comments (2 topical, 0 hidden)
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