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Do I have chances to get accepted into top Math school?

Posted: Tue Oct 02, 2012 3:31 pm
by student27
I will be happy to hear an advise from graduate students. I am an international student (Europe) and I want to do a Phd in mathematics in the US. I have pretty a wide research experience, including two published papers, 4 submitted papers and 3 papers in preparation, and I will finish my Master (second degree) in couple of months. My 3 recommendation letters will be consisted of 2 letters from professors with whom I conducted a lot of research and another professor with whom I took several classes and got 100 in all of them. I also have I high GPA (95/100 which is summa cum lauda in my university). The problem is my GRE scores. Since I did my Calculus/differential equation/etc classes 5 years ago, the GRE subject test was pretty hard for me. Since a lot of years have passed from the time I took the relevant classes, I got only 750 on the GRE subject math test. My GRE general scores are 155V and 168Q, and my TOEFL is 105. I talked with several professors that suggested me to apply to top 10 graduate schools, and I even visited in several of them, and have 2 professors from a top 10 school that said that they encourage me to apply and that they will be happy to see me in their school. However, these professor didn't know my GRE scores. So now I don't sure what to do. I'm afraid that my GRE and GRE subject score are just not competitive enough for top 10 school. I will be happy to hear any thoughts regarding my situation.

Re: Do I have chances to get accepted into top Math school?

Posted: Tue Oct 02, 2012 10:10 pm
by kuz
It depends on the university. I had a pretty similar background (though fewer publications) and got 770 on the GRE subject test, and still got accepted by Princeton (though only waitlisted by Stanford), as they seem to care more about your research experience and aptitude than your GRE results. If you're worried, just cast a wide net and apply to lots of schools - the fact that you'll have a Masters degree will mean you have a good chance with most of them (though it does kinda depend on the university you're from). But your GRE score is still quite decent and shouldn't really drag you down much, if at all.

Re: Do I have chances to get accepted into top Math school?

Posted: Tue Oct 02, 2012 10:51 pm
by vonLipwig
While I agree that you should apply to some universities that are not in the top tier as well, that research experience is extremely good. Very few applicants have a paper published, let alone two, even at the absolute top schools.

Re: Do I have chances to get accepted into top Math school?

Posted: Sat Oct 06, 2012 10:21 am
by Legendre
Don't worry, it looks like you have a great profile. What is the percentile of your maths subject test? If it is above 60% I think you will have no problems.

I think so because I got interviewed by an ivy league university without taking the subject test, AND with no publications. :oops:

Re: Do I have chances to get accepted into top Math school?

Posted: Sat Apr 13, 2013 1:11 pm
by elektron1999
Please keep in mind that you are foreign.
Probably the other people who gave you advice in this post told you that your profile looks good (which it does)
but they did not keep in mind that standards of admission are MUCH HARDER for foreign students, especially if you studied your undergrad outside the US.

I think you still got chances, but take the GRE subject again, and get 80+
Also, apply to large programs, because they have more spots to offer. Applying to schools that only offer about 10 spots or less is usually a bad idea.

Good Luck!

Re: Do I have chances to get accepted into top Math school?

Posted: Sat Apr 13, 2013 6:31 pm
by colldood
elektron1999 wrote:Please keep in mind that you are foreign.
Probably the other people who gave you advice in this post told you that your profile looks good (which it does)
but they did not keep in mind that standards of admission are MUCH HARDER for foreign students, especially if you studied your undergrad outside the US.

I think you still got chances, but take the GRE subject again, and get 80+
Also, apply to large programs, because they have more spots to offer. Applying to schools that only offer about 10 spots or less is usually a bad idea.

Good Luck!
What motivation do private schools have to be biased against foreign students? Apart from perhaps lack of familiarity with their institution, but suppose it's a reasonably well known university? Is this a known fact for private institutions or simply a guess?

Re: Do I have chances to get accepted into top Math school?

Posted: Sun Apr 14, 2013 5:42 pm
by kuz
elektron1999 wrote:Please keep in mind that you are foreign.
Probably the other people who gave you advice in this post told you that your profile looks good (which it does)
but they did not keep in mind that standards of admission are MUCH HARDER for foreign students, especially if you studied your undergrad outside the US.

I think you still got chances, but take the GRE subject again, and get 80+
Also, apply to large programs, because they have more spots to offer. Applying to schools that only offer about 10 spots or less is usually a bad idea.

Good Luck!
I'm a foreign student who got into an Ivy school with a GRE below 80 :wink: In fact, it's harder to get in to a good public school (e.g. Berkeley) as an international student due to funding reasons. For private schools it's less of an issue.