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Some moved comments from the profiles and results topic

Posted: Sun Oct 25, 2015 9:56 pm
by Grant
Today (Jan 19, 2016) I moved some comments from the 2016 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results topic into this new, separate topic.

I think the thinking is to keep the profile and results topic focused on profiles and results and not to have those topics be a place for back and fourth discussions about things like someone's chances. I went ahead and peeled off some posts from that profiles and results topic and placed it into this new topic. Let me know if I peeled off too many comments.

Re: 2016 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results

Posted: Sun Oct 25, 2015 9:56 pm
by anwins
Hi mmo5130, is the Applied Math PhD in U.Chicago you listed under the Department of Statistics? It seems that U.Chicago's Department of Math only has the Pure Math program.

Re: 2016 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results

Posted: Thu Nov 05, 2015 11:21 pm
by mmo5130
anwins wrote:Hi mmo5130, is the Applied Math PhD in U.Chicago you listed under the Department of Statistics? It seems that U.Chicago's Department of Math only has the Pure Math program.
Yes, that's correct. U. Chicago lumps computation, statistics, and applied math under the Stat department.

Re: 2016 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results

Posted: Fri Nov 06, 2015 12:07 pm
by arima
mmo5130 wrote:
anwins wrote:Hi mmo5130, is the Applied Math PhD in U.Chicago you listed under the Department of Statistics? It seems that U.Chicago's Department of Math only has the Pure Math program.
Yes, that's correct. U. Chicago lumps computation, statistics, and applied math under the Stat department.
The applied math you are referring to at U of Chicago is NOT applied math as found in programs like Brown, NYU, etc. In the end, it is statistics as the end game. The department uses applied math and computation under the cover of a "center" for statistics questions. So, recognize that it is a statistics degree not an applied math degree, very different. Given your clear interests in programs like Brown and NYU given your weather-related interests, it seems like a waste to apply to Chicago's program which is nothing like those applied math programs.

Re: 2016 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results

Posted: Fri Nov 06, 2015 10:46 pm
by mmo5130
arima wrote:
mmo5130 wrote:
anwins wrote:Hi mmo5130, is the Applied Math PhD in U.Chicago you listed under the Department of Statistics? It seems that U.Chicago's Department of Math only has the Pure Math program.
Yes, that's correct. U. Chicago lumps computation, statistics, and applied math under the Stat department.
The applied math you are referring to at U of Chicago is NOT applied math as found in programs like Brown, NYU, etc. In the end, it is statistics as the end game. The department uses applied math and computation under the cover of a "center" for statistics questions. So, recognize that it is a statistics degree not an applied math degree, very different. Given your clear interests in programs like Brown and NYU given your weather-related interests, it seems like a waste to apply to Chicago's program which is nothing like those applied math programs.
You know, you might be right on that. Certainly saves me the trouble of writing up another application. Thank you!

Re: 2016 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results

Posted: Wed Nov 18, 2015 4:11 am
by AMGMScrub
Questions:
1. I have no clue where I stand. I am not sure if the universities I have denoted 'Reach' and 'Safe' are really so for my profile. Also, am I being too optimistic or pessimistic?
2. I do not have a very strong math background on paper (all UG math courses missing). In light of this, should I send my not-so-good GRE Math score when I have the option not to?
3. Should I also apply to lower universities?
4. Please suggest any other university I should look at?
Thank you for any suggestions.
Perhaps you should start a new thread on this forum, so people can answer your question. I rather not clutter the profiles section with small conversations.

Re: 2016 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results

Posted: Fri Nov 20, 2015 11:48 am
by Mathwhiz25
Mezox wrote:Third year's the charm?

Undergrad Institution: Fairly big university
Major(s): Mathematics
Minor(s):
GPA: Pretty close to maximum but we only have two pass grades at my school.
Type of Student: International EU Male

GRE Revised General Test:
Q: 170 (98%)
V: 157 (74%)
W: 4.5 (80%)
GRE Subject Test in Mathematics:
M: 900 (97%)

TOEFL Score: 115

I am jealous of your math subject test score. I wish I could get that.
Program Applying: Pure Math (PhD)

Research Experience:
Awards/Honors/Recognitions:
Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Worked as a math tutor for 2 years
Any Miscellaneous Points that Might Help: Been studying a bit faster so I have a master's degree at age twenty-one.
Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter:

Applying to Where:
Will update.

Re: 2016 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results

Posted: Sat Dec 05, 2015 12:07 pm
by foedan
^ dude your profile looks pretty flawless to me. I'm quite surprised you're not shooting for top-10 places.

Re: 2016 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results

Posted: Wed Dec 23, 2015 4:01 pm
by ghjk
beethoven wrote:Undergrad Institution: University of Ottawa, Canada
Major(s): Math
Minor(s): Computer Science
GPA: 9.8/10
Type of Student: Canadian White Male

GRE Revised General Test:
Q: 170 (98%)
V: 165 (95%)
W: 4.5 (80%)
GRE Subject Test in Mathematics:
M: 830 (85%)

Program Applying: Pure Math and probability

Research Experience: Four years of research in bioinformatics with a prof at my undergrad institution. Summer research projects in topology and probability at UBC during the last two summers. Co-author on three publications, one conference presentation.
Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Several departmental awards for high grades in math courses. Summer research scholarships
Pertinent Activities or Jobs: TA for 4 tutorial sections over the past 2 years

Applying to Where:
Harvard
Princeton
MIT
Columbia
NYU Courant
Stanford
Berkeley
UCLA
Caltech
Oxford - Math and CS
Cambridge - Tripos part III
Toronto
McGill
UBC

Strong profile. May you please share with me which journals did you publish? You can PM me if you don't want to share this info publicly.

Re: 2016 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results

Posted: Sun Dec 27, 2015 1:34 pm
by mmo5130
arima wrote:
mmo5130 wrote:
anwins wrote:Hi mmo5130, is the Applied Math PhD in U.Chicago you listed under the Department of Statistics? It seems that U.Chicago's Department of Math only has the Pure Math program.
Yes, that's correct. U. Chicago lumps computation, statistics, and applied math under the Stat department.
The applied math you are referring to at U of Chicago is NOT applied math as found in programs like Brown, NYU, etc. In the end, it is statistics as the end game. The department uses applied math and computation under the cover of a "center" for statistics questions. So, recognize that it is a statistics degree not an applied math degree, very different. Given your clear interests in programs like Brown and NYU given your weather-related interests, it seems like a waste to apply to Chicago's program which is nothing like those applied math programs.
It turns out Duke was a better fit anyway, so I decided not to apply to U of Chicago. Thanks again!

Re: 2016 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results

Posted: Tue Dec 29, 2015 2:32 am
by mathTaughtMeHumility
Barkleycool wrote:GRE Revised General Test:
Q: 151 (50%)
V: 170 (98%)
W: 4.0 (56%)
GRE Subject Test in Mathematics:
M: 850 (88%)
I think you've switched your quantitative and verbal scores.

Re: 2016 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results

Posted: Mon Jan 04, 2016 11:13 pm
by ghjk
Fw1812 wrote:Undergrad Institution: Johns Hopkins University
Major(s): Math/Music
Graduate Institution: Rutgers University (MS Math)
GPA: 3.95/4.00
Type of Student: Domestic white male

GRE Revised General Test:
Q: 168 (95%)
V: 165 (95%)
W: 4.0 (56%)
GRE Subject Test in Mathematics:
M: 890 (94%)

Program Applying: Pure Math

Research Experience: Six months researching and writing a paper that will be published in a journal this month
Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Four years of tutoring, two years as TA/Part-time lecturer
Any Miscellaneous Points that Might Help: Probably not

Applying to Where: (Color use here is welcome)
MIT - Applied
Princeton - Applied
Yale - Applied
Cornell - Applied
Brown - Applied
Oxford - Pending
Vanderbilt - Applied
UCSD - Applied
UT-Austin - Applied
University of Virginia - Pending
Rutgers - Pending
A (very) strong profile for domestic pool! If you can share how great your LORs would be, your research interest, the venue where your work is published, the important grad courses in pure math that you took at Rutgers with the grades, I can give out my estimates for some of the school above. Princeton and MIT are still hard for you to get in (and Brown + UT-Austin if your area is PDE/Numerical Analysis), but it all depends how good your LORs is, unless the journal where your work is published is well-known. Best of luck my friend! Well done:)

Re: 2016 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results

Posted: Wed Jan 13, 2016 8:01 pm
by ghjk
felani wrote:Undergrad Institution: top 15 private
Major(s): Mathematics
Minor(s): N/A
GPA: 3.85 (Math GPA: 3.96)
Type of Student: domestic white male

GRE Revised General Test:
Q: 167 (94%)
V: 161 (87%)
W: 4.0 (56%)
GRE Subject Test in Mathematics:
M: 810 (82%)

Program Applying: Pure Math Ph.D. programs

Research Experience: One REU. Presented our results at YMC at Ohio State, nothing published (yet)
Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Quite a few departmental awards for academic achievement and teaching excellence, Phi Beta Kappa
Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Lots of tutoring experience, TA for undergrad calculus courses, math club president
Any Miscellaneous Points that Might Help: One letter writer is fairly well known; taken a few graduate courses; currently working on a senior thesis

Applying to Where:
Columbia -
Maryland -
Michigan -
Minnesota -
MIT -
Ohio State - Admitted 1/12
Penn -
Penn State -
Stanford -
Texas -
UCLA -
Solid profile, although you will have a tough time for getting into Columbia, MIT, Stanford. High chance at UCLA/Michigan/Maryland, due to your good GRE Math score + REU. Which grad math courses did you take? And what is the subfield of pure math you plan to pursue?

Re: 2016 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results

Posted: Sun Jan 17, 2016 1:13 am
by ghjk
Exactimum wrote:Undergrad Institution: NJIT (small public tech school #103 for math)
Major(s): Computational Mathematics and Computer Science
Minor(s):
GPA: 4.00
Type of Student: Domestic, White, Male

GRE Revised General Test:
Q: 168 (95%)
V: 163 (92%)
W: 4.5 (80%)
GRE Subject Test in Mathematics:
M: 780 (76%)

Program Applying: Ph.D. Applied Math (or computational if offered)

Research Experience: Year long computational math REU at my school. One national conference presentation, no publications.
Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Lots of scholarships from the math department at my school. Couple awards for academic performance.
Pertinent Activities or Jobs: 2 semesters grading theoretical CS courses. 1 year Internship in computational finance.
Any Miscellaneous Points that Might Help: 2 grad classes in math modeling and financial simulations.

Applying to Where:
NYU -
CalTech -
MIT -
Princeton -
Brown -
UCLA -
Minnesota -
Cornell -
Berkeley -
Georgia Tech -
Maryland -
Michigan -
Washington -
UCSD -
Duke -
Purdue -
RPI - Admitted 1/13
All the top schools in your list, including Maryland, UCLA, Duke, Minnesota and Washington, would be quite a crapshot:) I think you have a relatively good chance at Purdue, a 50/50 at UCSD, and the rest might require a miracle. It's all due to your Math GRE, as well as your zero-publication record. Congrats on your recent admit at RPI!

Re: 2016 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results

Posted: Sun Jan 17, 2016 5:07 am
by latsyrc1123
ghjk wrote:
Exactimum wrote:Undergrad Institution: NJIT (small public tech school #103 for math)
Major(s): Computational Mathematics and Computer Science
Minor(s):
GPA: 4.00
Type of Student: Domestic, White, Male

GRE Revised General Test:
Q: 168 (95%)
V: 163 (92%)
W: 4.5 (80%)
GRE Subject Test in Mathematics:
M: 780 (76%)

Program Applying: Ph.D. Applied Math (or computational if offered)

Research Experience: Year long computational math REU at my school. One national conference presentation, no publications.
Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Lots of scholarships from the math department at my school. Couple awards for academic performance.
Pertinent Activities or Jobs: 2 semesters grading theoretical CS courses. 1 year Internship in computational finance.
Any Miscellaneous Points that Might Help: 2 grad classes in math modeling and financial simulations.

Applying to Where:
NYU -
CalTech -
MIT -
Princeton -
Brown -
UCLA -
Minnesota -
Cornell -
Berkeley -
Georgia Tech -
Maryland -
Michigan -
Washington -
UCSD -
Duke -
Purdue -
RPI - Admitted 1/13
All the top schools in your list, including Maryland, UCLA, Duke, Minnesota and Washington, would be quite a crapshot:) I think you have a relatively good chance at Purdue, a 50/50 at UCSD, and the rest might require a miracle. It's all due to your Math GRE, as well as your zero-publication record. Congrats on your recent admit at RPI!
I am not sure why you are posting similar pessimistic comments to many profiles here. Miracle?? The person a few posts above this already got into UCLA with very similar Math GRE score and "zero-publication record". That must have been a miracle too, eh?

Re: 2016 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results

Posted: Sun Jan 17, 2016 3:00 pm
by arima
I was thinking the same. What is with the pessimistic comments then a smiley face after crapshot?

Re: 2016 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results

Posted: Sun Jan 17, 2016 3:21 pm
by mathmonkey
Don't some masters students get promoted to Ph.D candidacy. Maybe he's saying that he's been a graduate student for two years and has recently been promoted to Ph.D status. I'm not sure if this is what's actually happening, but its one possible interpretation.

Re: 2016 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results

Posted: Sun Jan 17, 2016 4:26 pm
by ghjk
latsyrc1123 wrote:
ghjk wrote:
Exactimum wrote:Undergrad Institution: NJIT (small public tech school #103 for math)
Major(s): Computational Mathematics and Computer Science
Minor(s):
GPA: 4.00
Type of Student: Domestic, White, Male

GRE Revised General Test:
Q: 168 (95%)
V: 163 (92%)
W: 4.5 (80%)
GRE Subject Test in Mathematics:
M: 780 (76%)

Program Applying: Ph.D. Applied Math (or computational if offered)

Research Experience: Year long computational math REU at my school. One national conference presentation, no publications.
Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Lots of scholarships from the math department at my school. Couple awards for academic performance.
Pertinent Activities or Jobs: 2 semesters grading theoretical CS courses. 1 year Internship in computational finance.
Any Miscellaneous Points that Might Help: 2 grad classes in math modeling and financial simulations.

Applying to Where:
NYU -
CalTech -
MIT -
Princeton -
Brown -
UCLA -
Minnesota -
Cornell -
Berkeley -
Georgia Tech -
Maryland -
Michigan -
Washington -
UCSD -
Duke -
Purdue -
RPI - Admitted 1/13
All the top schools in your list, including Maryland, UCLA, Duke, Minnesota and Washington, would be quite a crapshot:) I think you have a relatively good chance at Purdue, a 50/50 at UCSD, and the rest might require a miracle. It's all due to your Math GRE, as well as your zero-publication record. Congrats on your recent admit at RPI!
I am not sure why you are posting similar pessimistic comments to many profiles here. Miracle?? The person a few posts above this already got into UCLA with very similar Math GRE score and "zero-publication record". That must have been a miracle too, eh?
Sorry I didn't mean to offense anyone. If you don't like it, I would delete my post above. But I did say "felani" had a HIGH chance of getting into UCLA, U.Michigan, etc, didn't I?

Re: 2016 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results

Posted: Sun Jan 17, 2016 4:28 pm
by ghjk
arima wrote:I was thinking the same. What is with the pessimistic comments then a smiley face after crapshot? Not cool.

But can we take ghjk seriously? ghjk writes on December 18, 2015 the following:

"Hi everyone, I'm a 2nd-year MS student in Applied Mathematics at an average, unknown state school. As I'm planning for which classes to take the next semester, I would love to hear your feedback about my selection. The reason is because I'm almost completing the M.S program (this one is probably my second-to-last semester) before I apply to PhD programs in Operation Research/Financial Math/Applied Math...."

On January 15, 2016, ghjk writes:

"I'm currently filling out an application for a summer school program. On the application, there is this question: Are you an Advanced Graduate Student or Postdoctoral Scholar? I'm not sure what is "Advanced Graduate Student," but my status is the 2nd-year PhD student who just completed the last 2 preliminary exams (and probably passed all of them). I still have an oral qualifying exam and thesis defense to go, so should I discount myself as an Advanced Graduate Student?"

So, in the course of 30 days or so, ghjk goes from being 2nd year MS student to becoming a 2nd year PhD student who completed prelims? I don't know what multiple personality game ghjk is playing but it is definitely not normal.
Okay, the fact is that I'm a PhD student on paper, but I plan to switch to another field, so I'm always treating myself as a MS student, since I would apply to another program after meeting the MS-degree requirement. Please help other people by deleting all of these posts:p

Re: 2016 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results

Posted: Sun Jan 17, 2016 6:57 pm
by Fw1812
ghjk wrote:Sorry I didn't mean to offense anyone. If you don't like it, I would delete my post above. But I did say "felani" had a HIGH chance of getting into UCLA, U.Michigan, etc, didn't I?
@ghjk I don't mean this as an attack and certainly don't mean to pile on, but can you tell us how you're qualified to say someone's chances? We know you're a grad student, but do you have intimate knowledge of what these schools want in a candidate?
Again, not attacking, just think it would help everyone find your opinions more helpful/predictive if they knew more about your background. After all, if you have family who work in the process or something, then your thoughts obviously have some substance.

Re: 2016 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results

Posted: Sun Jan 17, 2016 8:47 pm
by ghjk
Fw1812 wrote:
ghjk wrote:Sorry I didn't mean to offense anyone. If you don't like it, I would delete my post above. But I did say "felani" had a HIGH chance of getting into UCLA, U.Michigan, etc, didn't I?
@ghjk I don't mean this as an attack and certainly don't mean to pile on, but can you tell us how you're qualified to say someone's chances? We know you're a grad student, but do you have intimate knowledge of what these schools want in a candidate?
Again, not attacking, just think it would help everyone find your opinions more helpful/predictive if they knew more about your background. After all, if you have family who work in the process or something, then your thoughts obviously have some substance.
No I don't have any family members who do that kind of job. It all comes from my personal experience. Btw, I don't really mind if everyone doesn't take my words seriously (that is part of life), and there is no such thing as "qualification to SAY something...." I can say anything, but it's really up to other people to listen to me or not. But I'd love to see how well my prediction matches up with the results of the people that I accidentally made comments on, so please let me know (private PM is fine). Do you mind posting your profile so that we have one more data point, Fw1812?

Re: 2016 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results

Posted: Sun Jan 17, 2016 9:31 pm
by Fw1812
ghjk wrote:
Fw1812 wrote:
ghjk wrote:Sorry I didn't mean to offense anyone. If you don't like it, I would delete my post above. But I did say "felani" had a HIGH chance of getting into UCLA, U.Michigan, etc, didn't I?
@ghjk I don't mean this as an attack and certainly don't mean to pile on, but can you tell us how you're qualified to say someone's chances? We know you're a grad student, but do you have intimate knowledge of what these schools want in a candidate?
Again, not attacking, just think it would help everyone find your opinions more helpful/predictive if they knew more about your background. After all, if you have family who work in the process or something, then your thoughts obviously have some substance.
No I don't have any family members who do that kind of job. It all comes from my personal experience. Btw, I don't really mind if everyone doesn't take my words seriously (that is part of life), and there is no such thing as "qualification to SAY something...." I can say anything, but it's really up to other people to listen to me or not. But I'd love to see how well my prediction matches up with the results of the people that I accidentally made comments on, so please let me know (private PM is fine). Do you mind posting your profile so that we have one more data point, Fw1812?
Sure, ghjk, my profile's already on here on the first page.
Of course you don't need a qualification to say anything, I'm just asking if there's any special reasons that make your insight particularly...insightful haha.
You obviously have a wealth of experience with this stuff if you've done it one or two times in the past, and if you've heard particular things about the schools and their admission committees (even just from who you've seen get in/rejected in the past), that would make your opinion pretty powerful and something I'd really like to listen to.
If you're just basing your opinion off the name of the school (which I'm sure you're not), that's cool too, but I'll probably take your opinion with more of a grain of salt.
Just more background with your comments would be great (i.e. instead of "you have a high chance of getting into UCLA," something like "you have a high chance of getting into UCLA because I know they like [blank] and I know [blank] people who got in with profiles similar to yours)

Re: 2016 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results

Posted: Mon Jan 18, 2016 8:55 pm
by mathmonkey
Nice. You have a pretty strong profile. It looks like you have a pretty good shot at most of the schools on your list. I know someone with similar stats that got into MIT for applied math.

Re: Some moved comments from the profiles and results topic

Posted: Tue Jan 19, 2016 7:32 pm
by Grant
Grant wrote:Today (Jan 19, 2016) I moved some comments from the 2016 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results topic into this new, separate topic.

I think the thinking is to keep the profile and results topic focused on profiles and results and not to have those topics be a place for back and fourth discussions about things like someone's chances. I went ahead and peeled off some posts from that profiles and results topic and placed it into this new topic. Let me know if I peeled off too many comments.

Re: Some moved comments from the profiles and results topic

Posted: Wed Jan 20, 2016 4:46 am
by Ivanjam
Grant wrote:Today (Jan 19, 2016) I moved some comments from the 2016 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results topic into this new, separate topic.

I think the thinking is to keep the profile and results topic focused on profiles and results and not to have those topics be a place for back and fourth discussions about things like someone's chances. I went ahead and peeled off some posts from that profiles and results topic and placed it into this new topic. Let me know if I peeled off too many comments.
Admin, I was wondering if it were possible to have comments (i.e., any post with quoted text) collapsed by default in that thread? Or maybe have a show/hide comments toggle? The reason for my query is that, while the bulk of (especially negative) comments detract from the actual admissions data, some comments are indeed insightful, but their relevance would be lost if divorced from the original post.

Re: Some moved comments from the profiles and results topic

Posted: Tue Jan 26, 2016 1:48 am
by Grant
Ivanjam wrote:
Grant wrote:Today (Jan 19, 2016) I moved some comments from the 2016 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results topic into this new, separate topic.

I think the thinking is to keep the profile and results topic focused on profiles and results and not to have those topics be a place for back and fourth discussions about things like someone's chances. I went ahead and peeled off some posts from that profiles and results topic and placed it into this new topic. Let me know if I peeled off too many comments.
Admin, I was wondering if it were possible to have comments (i.e., any post with quoted text) collapsed by default in that thread? Or maybe have a show/hide comments toggle? The reason for my query is that, while the bulk of (especially negative) comments detract from the actual admissions data, some comments are indeed insightful, but their relevance would be lost if divorced from the original post.
Having special collapsed or toggled quote system for that specific topic would be nice, but it would be a lot of work to build, test, and keep track of when upgrading. Moving some of the insightful comments back in would be the preferred approach for me. Could you identify which comments you think would benefit the profiles and results topic. For example, the following 4 posts seem like good candidates to move back into the profiles and results topic.

http://www.mathematicsgre.com/viewtopic ... 695#p13695
http://www.mathematicsgre.com/viewtopic ... 727#p13727
http://www.mathematicsgre.com/viewtopic ... 728#p13728
http://www.mathematicsgre.com/viewtopic ... 729#p13729