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Admissions profile: What are my chances?

Posted: Sat Oct 19, 2013 3:32 pm
by avemarya
So I just took the Subject test, and am due for the regular GRE on November 2.

I honestly don't know what to expect, but it felt brutal. I answered 46 out of the 66 questions on the test, maybe 1 or 2 guesses, but even then it still felt rushed, so I was likely to make more mistakes, and I feel like my chances at getting at a good program are somewhat small.

Here are my demographics:

Schools: obscure liberal arts college, not known for math
majors: math and a subject completely unrelated to math
GPA: 4.0 (general and math)
position in class: not certain in terms of math, most likely top (but it's not saying much since our department is really small)
type of student: domestic Hispanic female


GRE: have not taken yet but scored 170 and 154 on quantitative and qualitative, respectively, on a practice test.
subject test: see above. I am expecting something like mid-60s percentile.

Program applying: mathematical logic or foundations

research experience: nothing except for in an in-school seminar
pertinent activities: college math tutor, private math tutor, attended a combinatorics/ graph theory conference.
awards: two school-wide academic awards, several academic scholarships and grants.

miscellaneous information:
As mentioned above, the math department in my college is really small, amounting to only three full time professors. There aren't too many research opportunities, and course options aren't as extensive (most of them also tend more towards applied math). Since I am a double major (my other major being theology), I could not go much beyond the core requirements for graduation, and schedule conflicts made it impossible for me to take certain classes that most here, I presume, have taken. So far I have taken/am taking abstract algebra, a general discrete mathematics course, differential equations, an advanced Calc course (includes PDEs and Fourier analysis), probability and statistics I and II, numerical analysis. I will be taking real analysis and possibly a linear programming class next semester. I have not taken complex analysis (schedule conflict) and combinatorics as a class has not been offered here. I was unable to do any REUs over the summer mostly because I worked full time to pay for tuition.

My hope pretty much lies on LORs and my GPA, as well as a good personal statement, but since math is not the strongest major in my rather obscure university, it does not seem like they will be as impressive to those looking over the application. Also, all the colleges I am looking at require at least 3 letters, which means I have to get an LOR from all of my professors in the department, including one with which I have not as well associated (I did very well in her classes, but our correspondence has not extended much outside the classroom setting, and at certain times I would sleep during the class since I had 6 am custodial work-shifts).

Schools I am considering right now include:
Univ. Florida, (more safety, and bc I live in Florida)
Univ. Colorado-Boulder
IU-bloomington
Notre Dame (my current top choice)
Washington Univ.-St Louis
Rutgers

also considering but don't think I have much of a change getting into:
University or Illinois-Urbana Champaign
Carnegie Mellon

What are my chances with any of these? Are there any other schools I should consider based on the field I am hoping to study?
Should I consider mostly schools in the 30-50 range, or can I shoot any higher? Because of financial constraints, I'm pretty much not going to a program unless I get a full ride and some sort of stipend/ TA. I don't want to be in any more debt than I am in right now and come from a more humble background, economically speaking. Location is also important due to personal circumstances, so (with one exception) I'm pretty much limiting my options to the East side of the US of A, preferably the mid-west or Florida.

Re: Admissions profile: What are my chances?

Posted: Wed Oct 30, 2013 5:57 am
by koala1992
I think you should apply to some Top 20 Universities :lol: