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engineering research for math phd????????

Posted: Mon Mar 24, 2014 4:44 pm
by banisafar
Hi,
Im a masters student (GPA 3.8) at a big ten school in applied math, with my undergraduate degree in math and physiology. I plan on reapplying to PhD programs in the fall.

Thanks to my physiology background I have an offer from a bioengineering lab to do research with this summer (in hopes of a publication). Also Im also trying to pass the numerical qual (advisor says it looks good) and study for the subject GRE this summer. These two tasks will be time consuming enough and I'm scared of halfassing research/qual/GRE instead of doing well on the qual/GRE

My main issue is I don't know if being able to do engineering research shows universities I'm capable of doing mathematics research. The only reason i want to stick with it is because I have not done an REU programs and that no research is a red flag on my application.


I'll be grateful to hear back any advice.

Re: engineering research for math phd????????

Posted: Mon Mar 24, 2014 4:44 pm
by banisafar
that's supposed to read 3.eight, not 3.smileyface

Re: engineering research for math phd????????

Posted: Tue Mar 25, 2014 2:10 pm
by lVlathI3oy
You can get into applied math programs without having done any research or REUs at all. I didn't do a shred of research and still got into top applied math programs with a similar GPA. If you want to do applied math then the bioengineering lab sounds like an interesting/unique aspect to your application that maybe the admissions people will like?

You said you're not sure how to budget your time for research/qual/mGRE. One thing you could do is work on them at different times. E.g. sign up for the April math GRE and study like mad now for it, then after that cram for the numerical qual, then devote your whole summer to research. Then there's no overlap. Just a thought ;)