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PhD in Math Programs- ultra-competitive?
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Grad Life
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By vizioneer
Posted Sat Jul 22, 2006 at 07:03:17 PM PDT
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So I've been looking at programs, admittedly upper-ranked (some middle), and it looks like there's about a 10% acceptance rate going on.
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It seems that a lot of that is due to the no. of funded spots and the no. of applicants. 250 applicants and 20-25 funded spots seems to be a common ratio. The average profile of an admitted student seems to be upper 3's GPA, 80+% GRE Math, 760+ quantitative on the GRE General, good recommendations, and of course some research experience helps (although some have said not necessary for admission).
So what's going on here? Are there that many math zealots at the PhD program gates? Does anyone other than a rabid math student stand a chance?
I guess I'm writing from the viewpoint of having been a bit of an undergrad slacker, who's gone on to a 40ish ranked grad program and earned an MA recently, and who now wants to get into a really good program for a PhD. Some schools I like are AZ, Notre Dame, Emory, Washington Univ. St. Louis, Davis, UT, WA, JHU, MD College Park, etc.
I've queried some of the program's directors, and suprisingly received pretty positive feedback about my background. But, having talked to say others (grad secretaries e.g.), and gotten the average snapshot of an admitted student, I think my chances are not so great.
For my undergrad, it is a C GPA. For my MA, it's a 3.4 GPA. I am studying for the GRE Math now and hope to pull an 85+%. Hopefully this will alleviate the undergrad GPA. I was working full-time in management while doing my MA, and hence it took an extra couple of years to finish. In my grad level core courses I earned B's and B-'s. I have a few A's though. And pretty good recommendations as well. I really came in deficient (obvious from my undergrad GPA) but was told to take grad-level cores right away. Towards the end of my MA, since I was just working on my final project, I decided to take undergrad algebra and analysis and I earned A's and a recommendation from the professor, who got his PhD from Cambridge and is quite published but probably not so active nowadays.
So that's a bit of a snapshot of me- a mixed bag for sure. I am a Native American and I do know there are fellowships open to minorities, but I don't know how much this would help an admission decision. Certainly programs like Iowa are very geared towards this.
Going and taking a year of algebra and analysis at the school I'd want to get into is definitely a way to get in as well, but would be expensive out of pocket and I'd have to work quite a bit to pay rent. Also, despite being told it'd be a way to get in, what if for some reason I didn't get in? LOL.
Anyway, I'm rambling now. I guess I should just maximize my application portfolio and let the chips fall where they may.
So, am I up the proverbial sh*t creek, or is there a chance I could actually get into a good program? I've considered also applying to MS in Applied Math programs for starts, since there are some neat areas such as combinatorial optimization, and math biology (topology and DNA/protein). |
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