Ask for Universities recommendations

Forum for the GRE subject test in mathematics.
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chauchitrung1996
Posts: 13
Joined: Fri May 11, 2018 4:28 am

Ask for Universities recommendations

Post by chauchitrung1996 » Wed Jul 18, 2018 1:07 pm

College: remarkable in Vietnam, unremarkable worldwide :)). I could be Top 1, though.
Gender: Male
Nationality: Vietnamese

IELTS: 8.0 (R:8.5, L:7.5, S:7.0, W:8.0)
TOEFL: will take soon, not expect that it would be as high as IELTS, though.
GRE General
- Quantitive: 170
- Verbal: 144 (23rd percentile, hope it would not be a disadvantage)
- Writing: 4.0
GRE Subject Math: 840 (85th percentile)
GPA: 3.88/4
Major: Mathematics of course.

Currently interested in: Theoretical Algebra in general, commutative algebra and homological algebra in particular.
I use the word "currently" because I hold a belief that if you are good at something, you would love it. I hate Ext,Tor's guts at first :), but now I love using them.

Letters of recommendation: all three from my department.
Research experience: a seminar that discuss many topics in commutative algebra, a thesis based on what I acquired in that seminar and some unremarkable group projects.

Graduate courses: some courses in commutative algebra and homological algebra.
Scholarships: roughly 3000 USD in 4 years (maybe will use them all in this application :)).
Math competition: some olympid medals in my country, not worth mentioning.

Jobs and Activities: tutor Abstract and Linear Algebra in my first and second year. Currently an IELTS tutor (would it help?)

I consider myself as a sarcastically funny guy (American way), which could be observed in this post :). I hope you guys do not mind.

Can you recommend me some universities that I may reach (this is the main part of the post)? I am totally a newcomer, so I do not have a great idea which school would accept me. Thank you very much.
Last edited by chauchitrung1996 on Sat Jul 21, 2018 12:08 pm, edited 1 time in total.

hido
Posts: 10
Joined: Sat Jul 07, 2018 1:49 pm

Re: Ask for Universities recommendations

Post by hido » Thu Jul 19, 2018 8:31 pm

I'm an international student, and this PDF helped me understand how the admission process in the US works.

https://cs.stanford.edu/people/rkarthik/DAGAP.pdf

This is for the CS program at Stanford, but I believe that a lot of things that are mentioned in this are true in Math.

A few thoughts...

* It is possible that the admission committee knows your school, but I wouldn't count on that. There are so many good schools in the world, they can't keep track of all of them.
* Maybe you should retake the GRE. DAGAP has a very thorough, detailed explanation on how GRE scores are used.
* Graduate courses - Some advanced undergraduate students in the US take classes for graduates students before they graduate, and that's what people write.
* As for schools, I'd check the US News ranking and how other people did last year on this website.

chauchitrung1996
Posts: 13
Joined: Fri May 11, 2018 4:28 am

Re: Ask for Universities recommendations

Post by chauchitrung1996 » Fri Jul 20, 2018 9:32 am

hido wrote:I'm an international student, and this PDF helped me understand how the admission process in the US works.

https://cs.stanford.edu/people/rkarthik/DAGAP.pdf

This is for the CS program at Stanford, but I believe that a lot of things that are mentioned in this are true in Math.

A few thoughts...

* It is possible that the admission committee knows your school, but I wouldn't count on that. There are so many good schools in the world, they can't keep track of all of them.
* Maybe you should retake the GRE. DAGAP has a very thorough, detailed explanation on how GRE scores are used.
* Graduate courses - Some advanced undergraduate students in the US take classes for graduates students before they graduate, and that's what people write.
* As for schools, I'd check the US News ranking and how other people did last year on this website.
Thank you for the file. I will read it thoroughly.

I thought the same thing about graduate courses, but is it worth mentioning? I mean since I am an undergraduate, the courses are not official for me and I did not take the exams in each course. It is the same reason for the fact that I cannot put them in my CV.

Regarding the universities, I did check the ranking but do not know which I can reach with this mediocre profile. Moreover, it would be great if people sharing the same academic interest recommend me some universities or professors who work in this area

namvuong
Posts: 12
Joined: Thu Jul 19, 2018 12:36 pm

Re: Ask for Universities recommendations

Post by namvuong » Sat Jul 21, 2018 2:29 pm

chauchitrung1996 wrote:College: remarkable in Vietnam, unremarkable worldwide :)). I could be Top 1, though.
Gender: Male
Nationality: Vietnamese

IELTS: 8.0 (R:8.5, L:7.5, S:7.0, W:8.0)
TOEFL: will take soon, not expect that it would be as high as IELTS, though.
GRE General
- Quantitive: 170
- Verbal: 144 (23rd percentile, hope it would not be a disadvantage)
- Writing: 4.0
GRE Subject Math: 840 (85th percentile)
GPA: 3.88/4
Major: Mathematics of course.

Currently interested in: Theoretical Algebra in general, commutative algebra and homological algebra in particular.
I use the word "currently" because I hold a belief that if you are good at something, you would love it. I hate Ext,Tor's guts at first :), but now I love using them.

Letters of recommendation: all three from my department.
Research experience: a seminar that discuss many topics in commutative algebra, a thesis based on what I acquired in that seminar and some unremarkable group projects.

Graduate courses: some courses in commutative algebra and homological algebra.
Scholarships: roughly 3000 USD in 4 years (maybe will use them all in this application :)).
Math competition: some olympid medals in my country, not worth mentioning.

Jobs and Activities: tutor Abstract and Linear Algebra in my first and second year. Currently an IELTS tutor (would it help?)

I consider myself as a sarcastically funny guy (American way), which could be observed in this post :). I hope you guys do not mind.

Can you recommend me some universities that I may reach (this is the main part of the post)? I am totally a newcomer, so I do not have a great idea which school would accept me. Thank you very much.
My supervisor says Top 1 in a university means a lot. So I guess with this quite good profile, you can reach top 20 (if your LoRs are good). One of my senior went to a top 30 university with the remarkable things are strong LoRs and great GPA.

nothing
Posts: 58
Joined: Sun Mar 26, 2017 1:58 am

Re: Ask for Universities recommendations

Post by nothing » Sun Jul 22, 2018 1:45 pm

It really depends on the name of the school. If you are from SPHN or KHTN HN then it does count a lot since the reputation of these schools are high. For KHTN SG, not many people have heard of its name so i doubt if it would help. I know someone who is "top 1" from your university but didn't get into any top 30 schools.

chauchitrung1996
Posts: 13
Joined: Fri May 11, 2018 4:28 am

Re: Ask for Universities recommendations

Post by chauchitrung1996 » Sun Jul 22, 2018 1:55 pm

nothing wrote:It really depends on the name of the school. If you are from SPHN or KHTN HN then it does count a lot since the reputation of these schools are high. For KHTN SG, not many people have heard of its name so i doubt if it would help. I know someone who is "top 1" from your university but didn't get into any top 30 schools.
I am from the not famous university in your answer, unfortunately :)). Can you recommend some universities which are strong in algebra and my profile may be accepted to?

nothing
Posts: 58
Joined: Sun Mar 26, 2017 1:58 am

Re: Ask for Universities recommendations

Post by nothing » Sun Jul 22, 2018 2:05 pm

You are from KHTN SG, aren't you ? I think UGA is a perfect fit if you are interested in algebra.

chauchitrung1996
Posts: 13
Joined: Fri May 11, 2018 4:28 am

Re: Ask for Universities recommendations

Post by chauchitrung1996 » Sun Jul 22, 2018 9:25 pm

nothing wrote:You are from KHTN SG, aren't you ? I think UGA is a perfect fit if you are interested in algebra.
Yes I am. So do you mean any university with similar rank can admit me? But they may be not strong in algebra?

djysyed
Posts: 359
Joined: Sat Oct 28, 2017 9:59 pm

Re: Ask for Universities recommendations

Post by djysyed » Mon Jul 23, 2018 12:53 pm

chauchitrung1996 wrote:
nothing wrote:It really depends on the name of the school. If you are from SPHN or KHTN HN then it does count a lot since the reputation of these schools are high. For KHTN SG, not many people have heard of its name so i doubt if it would help. I know someone who is "top 1" from your university but didn't get into any top 30 schools.
I am from the not famous university in your answer, unfortunately :)). Can you recommend some universities which are strong in algebra and my profile may be accepted to?
University of Illinois at Chicago



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