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Background, low score, thoughts?

Posted: Mon Oct 27, 2014 8:36 pm
by polymer
I thought I could realistically get into was University of Washington, assuming a decent score.

My score was 600, I was shocked, in practice I had gotten scores in the lowish 700 range.

I had worked for a year after school, decided I did want to go grad school, and am currently taking topology and graduate Real Analysis at the university of Oregon(as a community member) to keep my mind sharp, and improve my qualifications. If I do the work, I am confident I'll get A's in both courses.

I was originally a physics major, and slowly migrated into math (got both majors), my background is more scientific. I worked for an Economics lab freshman year, and didn't like it. Then I worked for a bio-physics lab for a summer and also didn't like it. I wasn't mature enough to do good work even though I didn't enjoy the work.

I tried to work on a undergraduate thesis, and worked with a professor for almost two years, but I never really came up with anything (wanted to prove something original *eye roll*). At any rate, the second year(senior year), I was ruined by an algebra course, got 2 C-'s, and it messed me up for a one term differential geometry course, I got a C in that as well. Doing so poorly in that algebra course is what convinced me to not try for graduate school.

However, I took a graduate complex analysis course just before the previous summer, and got an A. I know the professor well, and he's convinced I can do well in graduate school (He thought I'd do well at NYU :( ).

How does this story sound? Weird? Reasonable? I'd like to get in a "top fifty" program in applied mathematics. Or at least, I'm pretty sure I'm more interested in interdisciplinary work. But from a more theoretical direction.

Anybody have any thoughts? What are reasonable goals given the above information? Anything else worth mentioning?