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Ask for Universities recommendations

Posted: Wed Jul 18, 2018 1:07 pm
by chauchitrung1996
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.

Re: Ask for Universities recommendations

Posted: Thu Jul 19, 2018 8:31 pm
by hido
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.

Re: Ask for Universities recommendations

Posted: Fri Jul 20, 2018 9:32 am
by chauchitrung1996
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

Re: Ask for Universities recommendations

Posted: Sat Jul 21, 2018 2:29 pm
by namvuong
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.

Re: Ask for Universities recommendations

Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2018 1:45 pm
by nothing
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.

Re: Ask for Universities recommendations

Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2018 1:55 pm
by chauchitrung1996
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?

Re: Ask for Universities recommendations

Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2018 2:05 pm
by nothing
You are from KHTN SG, aren't you ? I think UGA is a perfect fit if you are interested in algebra.

Re: Ask for Universities recommendations

Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2018 9:25 pm
by chauchitrung1996
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?

Re: Ask for Universities recommendations

Posted: Mon Jul 23, 2018 12:53 pm
by djysyed
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