graduate-applications

[sterile bone]

I had no problem applying. That's very weird. You should.email.the support maybe

[noble cloak]

Ok

[candid quarry]

Oh northeastern 💀 I didn't know that existed, I'm applying to northwestern

[tepid forum]

we're reaching new records for professor response time

under 2 minutes just now from a cold email

[noble cloak]

is it good?

i got best paper award from a conference held at their uni so im wondering if it would be a good idea to apply there as a safety

[hearty radish]

Northwestern is good for math yeah

[noble cloak]

this was at northeastern

tho im applying for computer science so ig its different anyways

[quick ruin]

Yeah I did that. Kinda strange

Was hoping maybe it would be magically fixed this morning but yeah, still getting this

Who knows, perhaps I am just cursed

[noble cloak]

does it hurt if we say "prefer not to answer" under demographic information (gender, race, etc)

[hearty radish]

No

[noble cloak]

ok thnx

[hearty radish]

It may have weird side effects like my school doesn’t have a gender listed for me, but this might not be universal

[noble cloak]

wdym?

do u mean that u applied with "prefer not to say" but then your gender was not listed?

[hearty radish]

Yes

[noble cloak]

i would rather write "research papers" 😂

[noble cloak]

oh hmm.. im sorry for that

[tepid forum]

its just data collection

that qn doesn't really mean anything

[noble cloak]

hmm ok

thnx

[hearty radish]

It’s fine, it’s better that way anyway bc the only thing listed are my pronouns

[noble cloak]

im a bit worried because i have a serious headache, havent slept yesterday cuz i had two tests today. but i gotta pull an all nighter and rush an SoP somehow.
just got result for another course and didnt score as much as i wanted and will get a GPA drop

[noble cloak]

hmm good

[tepid forum]

why do you need to do another all-nighter

i'm not your dad but you should be looking after that brain lmao

[noble cloak]

sad to see my idol prof is not in the list of "tick the researchers that align with your research interests"

[noble cloak]

cuz the test was easy but i had to understand/memorize everything. also, had two tests with barely any break in between

i get your point tho

[tacit lark]

Why would you have to rush an SoP?

Youve had sm time to do it. Did you seriously wait until the last day🤣?

[sterile bone]

Oh, I might know what's going on! They switched application portals for this semester (I had a similae thing)

I think you're using the old.portal

You'll have to redo your.application I think

https://enroll.northeastern.edu/apply/

Try this link

I think you'll be fine if you explain this difficult y

[noble cloak]

what is a major GPA? many universities are asking me for this but i only have one common GPA for all my courses including minor, free electives, and general education requirements on my transcript

[noble cloak]

i really didnt tbh. had exams, uni graded projects, conference papers, etc. these 2-3 months have been a swamp

[noble cloak]

mostly the fact that most unis require SoP till 15th. this is the only odd uni im applying to that requires it on the first

[noble cloak]

should i just average the grades of all the courses mandatory under my major/electives i have taken under the major?

[quaint girder]

To which schools other than x are you applying to?

How do uou answer those wtf

with truth or omit truth

[noble cloak]

wdym?

the major GPA?

[noble cloak]

idk man quite a few likely

i legit went through the QS top100 list and also a few other safeties/universities i was interested in, all of them had deadlines around 15th Dec or later, with few exceptions

[noble cloak]

id like to say the truth but im not even sure what that would be 😂

since we dont get an "official" major GPA. tho it would likely be higher than my actual GPA

[quick ruin]

I’m pretty sure I’m using the correct one but I’ll double check. I had successfully selected the right program before but for some reason it isn’t working now

[noble cloak]

btw, what is the difference between CV and Resume?

I heard CV is longer but not sure

[quaint girder]

@noble cloak There is that question on an application im doing lol

I wasn’t necessarily asking you

[noble cloak]

oh ok im sorry

[quaint girder]

no apologies

[noble cloak]

the same question as mine? Major GPA?

[quaint girder]

no

[quaint girder]

this

[sterile bone]

The question "to which other schools are you applying to"

[quaint girder]

Im only going to give schools im applying to in the area

[noble cloak]

lol. unis are fucked up

they would require u to be in the dark about your own LoRs but will pry about every single information that should otherwise remain private

[tacit lark]

I think its reasonable to “be in the dark” about your own LoR.

The question about what other unis youre applying to is also usually optional. Just leave it blank if you want.

[quick ruin]

Just checked again after waiting a few hours and 1) I was using the correct application portal, though that would have been a good explanation for the problem and 2) the PhD option finally showed up and I was able to submit my application

Thanks for the advice and moral support, everyone 😅

[sterile bone]

Haha most important thing is you were able to submit

[quick ruin]

Yeah that was super weird

Who knows

[tepid forum]

It's because if you can see your LoR then it's possible the referee will feel they can't be honest

[tepid forum]

Just leave it blank or put 0 out of 0

[noble cloak]

i get that, but i dont think they should be able to know which other unis we are applying to either

[tepid forum]

You shouldn't try to guesstimate or unofficially calculate anything

[noble cloak]

required field and we can only put in decimals or numbers

[tepid forum]

They dont? They only know if you tell them

[noble cloak]

fair, i just put in my overall gpa itself

[tepid forum]

And they only ask for data collection

To know what schools they're competing against

[noble cloak]

i was talking about @quaint girder's uni app which requires him to submit such an info

[noble cloak]

which is why i highlighted it as a privacy concern

[tepid forum]

Idk just say you're not applying to any if it makes you put something, or only list universities below the one you're applying to

I don't think there's a big deal

[noble cloak]

that would be lying, which is a thing u cannot/should not do

idk. such a question just makes me feel uncomfortable

[tepid forum]

They really dont care this much

[fluid totem]

I’m not 100% sure but I think it’s illegal for them to require you to answer that

[tepid forum]

Or you could throw in 5 of the worst colleges in the country for the memes

[noble cloak]

it should be 😂

[noble cloak]

lol 😂

[sacred estuary]

How does one find out about the worst colleges by the way?

[raw quail]

Google for profit universities

[tepid forum]

apparently "DeVry university" has a 13% graduation rate lol

possibly a contender

[void gyro]

Is anyone here applying to University of Washington, Seattle?

They are asking for a Personal Statement but not Statement of Purpose??

[sacred estuary]

I think the personal statement for many places is the SoP. Check the requirements for the statement.

[void gyro]

This is the description they gave

[sacred estuary]

Hmm, ok the CS one is closer to an SoP

[raw quail]

Realizing the SoP I made for Chicago just doesn't make sense for some of my other programs

[raven sun]

Wdym?

[raw quail]

I talk about how I'm interested in a particular direction of research

but that direction of research isn't really something the profs at some other programs do

like I talk about randomness as a theme in logic, and it's like a consistent thread throughout my SoP, but the model theorists at OSU don't do anything immediately in this direction.

[raven sun]

Oop

[ocean kiln]

I wrote a generic statement and changed the first and last paragraphs depending on the program

Except for Stanford cause they have no algebraic topologists

[fierce sigil]

Perhaps you can swap out for another theme without changing the structure much

[red vale]

Hey guys - if anyone here is studying with the LSGNT, or has had an interview with them, would you mind sending me a message? Thank you:)

[ocean kiln]

On the "list the classes you plan on taking before enrolling" I mentioned a class that I now learn has a very small chance of running because of low enrollment. I won't get in trouble for that, would I?

[shell kindle]

Probably not

If you're concerned you can always send an email with an update

[ocean kiln]

Should I wait before I know for sure?

[shell kindle]

Yeah that's fine

[ocean kiln]

Also, some of the schools specifically ask me not to email them with updated information and to just upload additional documents

[shell kindle]

Oh well then don't

[ocean kiln]

Fair enough

[shell kindle]

Usually people will email with updated fall semester grades

[ocean kiln]

I guess I'm not lying that I currently plan on taking that class

[shell kindle]

So they probably prefer just an uploaded updated transcript

[last heart]

how to write a recommendation letter?

my adviser asked me to write it by myself

i feel like trash lol

because i know i am one of his worst students

[tacit lark]

That sucks

[ocean kiln]

Most universities explicitly ask you to not write your letter

Like your acceptance can get rescinded if you do

Also, if you are one of his worst students, maybe you should find someone else to write you a letter?

[last heart]

that's what I am thinking of

[last heart]

tbh most people i know irl write letters by themselves
my adviser is from the same university that asks students to not write their letters

so i guess the professors dont really cale about this 'rule'

[tepid forum]

ngl I think any letters I'd write for myself would be significantly weaker than a profs

like significantly probably underexaggerates

profs will know what's being looked for

[ocean kiln]

From what I hear, universities can tell when someone writes their own letter

[tepid forum]

yeah I wouldn't be surprised for this reason, also writing style would probably be too similar to sop

[last heart]

i already wrote one of the letters by myself
and i feel like they 100% will detect that i wrote it

[tacit lark]

That must be your uni. Idk anyone that has done that.

[last heart]

profs not writing letters?

[unborn coral]

i feel like the "writing your own letter" part already comes from your statement of purpose and whatnot

[tacit lark]

I think most profs in the US would care. It makes the letter completely illegitimate.

[unborn coral]

hence why recommendation letters should come from profs

[tacit lark]

Yes.

[last heart]

well isnt the point that recommenders send already approved letters

so they are legitimate

regardless they were written by a student or a recommender

[tacit lark]

The point is they write the recommendation😂

[last heart]

they read the letter and approve it

because they dont have time to write a letter for every student they know

[tacit lark]

Ok if its so normal why are you asking us

Ask your prof for advice

[unborn coral]

first off, not every student asks for rec letters from the same prof; secondly, profs can (and usually will) deny to write a rec letter for a student they dont know well/don't want to

[tacit lark]

If the prof cared they would write it.

[last heart]

well hes extremely busy

[tepid forum]

I mean aside from faking grades or something this is probably the only real way you can actually cheat applications

[last heart]

well i dont really want to write a letter by myself
i am just considering it as an option

i could ask a student with whom i worked with

they receive a phd this year

i think they would write it but i didnt ask yet

[tacit lark]

Are you applying to math phds?

[last heart]

cs

[tacit lark]

What subfield?

[last heart]

machine learning/deep learning

[ocean kiln]

What should I answer for this if I have a 79%tile on the GRE subject test?

The math gre is optional for Fall 2023

I got a 46%tile on it when I first took it

So the option is to either hide both or neither

[tacit lark]

did you send the first score?

It just says it will include all scores sent to duke.

i think it may be a good idea? I would ask your recommenders.

[ocean kiln]

I sent both

But I have the option of hiding both from my application

[tacit lark]

I would ask your recommenders

79% is pretty good

[raven sun]

I’ve decided not to put my GRE places bc it’s like. My application is strong enough in other places that I feel like it’s just unnecessary unless a school already asks for it

Almost like “who cares abt it”

[ocean kiln]

Should I list arxiv preprints in the publications section?

I do not plan on submitting them to journals

[crimson valve]

im listing gre if schools dont tell u not to, its a p good score so cant hurt ya know

[molten frigate]

yes

[tacit lark]

Yes

[tacit lark]

You should be ok then.

[raven sun]

I have also heard GRE is more important for smaller schools

If you’re from a well known school and have a good GPA it is not as relevant (from my understanding)

[shell kindle]

Traditionally, GRE is more important if you are coming from a smaller or less well known school

[raven sun]

Ange snipe

[sacred estuary]

Is there any point in mentioning publications not very related to the primary field of interest? Say a not particularly impressive enumerative combinatorics article if I am applying for theoretical computer science.

[shell kindle]

Why not

It won't hurt

[void gyro]

Any publication is impressive nonetheless

[ocean kiln]

How much does the personal (non-academic) statements matter at schools that require you to submit both?

[shell kindle]

They both matter

[ocean kiln]

I have nothing on my application that needs explanation (like a bad grade)

I have no idea what to write

[smoky jetty]

When should I start worrying about the GRE + Math GRE?

Second semester junior year? First semester senior year?

If it helps I'm applying to both theoretical CS and Math PhD programs

[shell kindle]

Taking it first semester senior year is generally a recipe for bad times

Because you would be studying for it at the same time as writing statements and stuff

Which is not fun

[vale oar]

Given that some of my applications will be due before final grades are given, would it probably be okay if I put my estimated GPA in all of the areas that require it?

[shell kindle]

Don't you usually put your current GPA and then send an update once you receive your final grades for this semester?

[vale oar]

Well I don't have a current GPA, this is my first semester of graduate school. Otherwise, I would do that

[shell kindle]

Oh yeah that's probably fine then

[smoky jetty]

Ah

so I should be taking it next semester?

Do I need to take GRE and Math GRE both? is that still a really common req?

[shell kindle]

Next semester is best probably

Don't worry about the regular GRE, it is a bit easier than the SAT and no one cares what scores you get

[smoky jetty]

oh cool

[tacit lark]

Just apply to tcs and forget the math gre

Join the dark side

Jk follow your passions.

[smoky jetty]

help me figure out my passions

I don't mind taking tests (I'm a good standardized test taker luckily)

I just need to figure out a good time to do this stuff

[tacit lark]

What can i do to help lol

[shell kindle]

Lol

[smoky jetty]

I mean in all likelihood I'll do something in TCS

but I think that's because I have more exposure to higher level ideas in that field (specifically complexity theory) than I do in math

despite being a math major lol

[bronze spoke]

From what you guys have written so far a diversity statement can include:

1. Your personal background as a minority ( hard to play that card personally speaking)
2. Any outreach work you have done. (I help run my math club, have organized a trip to a conference, and have done tutoring for disadvantaged children + work at a local science museum).
3. Talk about diversity in math? (Idk what to say honestly it's a problem but actually there's quite a lot of ppl who come from non-traditional backgrounds and my opinion is there is a lot of underutilized talent out there or ppl who are pressured to not continue to pursue their goals in mathematics for one reason or another)

I'm writing this out already but have some trouble deciding what exactly to include

[shell kindle]

Talking about (2) is fine

I guess you should touch on (3) but unless you have interesting things to say it won't be interesting if that's all you talk about

[bronze spoke]

Thank you very much!

I guess for (3) I did take a course on math history and I wrote a report on the ancient unsolved problems of greek mathematics, including developments from middle eastern mathematicians in the Islamic golden age.

[vale oar]

Is there any potential harm in applying for graduate fellowships if I'm almost certain I won't get accepted?
It just seems odd to ask if I'm interested in applying for it if there isn't any risk attached?

[raw quail]

Yes, the fellowship demon might kidnap you

Nah I'm sure that nothing particularly bad could happen

Maybe if you like apply for a fellowship specifically for some demographic and are not that demographic you may receive negative judgement

How severe that judgement is will depend on the demographic, but like I don't think you'd apply to anything particularly -worthy so you're probably fine

[tacit lark]

I dont think so. If anything writing the statements and doing the application process can be beneficial for the future.

[lethal minnow]

This is listed under the "admissions requirement" of Weizmann Institute's math M.Sc program. Should I consider adding an LoR that mentions a directed reading course in a topic, or is that still below what is being asked for here?

[tacit lark]

Get letters from the people you think will write the best letters.

If someone you took a reading course with will write you a good letter then do it

[noble cloak]

even if u havent dont much work under them or if they dont have that much of a "reach"?

cuz some profs absolutely love me but i have only done 1 course under them

[tacit lark]

Theyre just saying dont get a letter of rec that just says you did good in a course

[lethal minnow]

[noble cloak]

hmm ok

[tacit lark]

Loving you != writing a good letter

[noble cloak]

no, they would write well

they are very eloquent. regardless. i get your point

[noble cloak]

is Computer Vision and Machine Learning as research interests too broad?

should i restrict it to certain research areas like scalable vision, medical vision, or efficient vision or similar?

[hearty radish]

Being broad is fine

[tacit lark]

i personally think thats fine.

being too narrow is bad imo

but idk what admissions is like in this applied fields

[gritty ruin]

There is a limit to the number of times you can apply to e.g. NSF, so there can be harm under certain circumstances.

In particular, this is why you should apply to NSF before you get accepted/start a graduate program (I can't remember the exact details here) as that doesn't count towards the once only limit

[smoky jetty]

I doubt it?

that's what I've been told (in a similar boat)

[shell kindle]

No it doesn't

Papers are papers

[smoky jetty]

Research is research for the most part, you did research as an undergrad

which is good

[bronze spoke]

You could be like Milnor and publish in annals 😉

[torpid echo]

Did Milner publish in the annals as an undergrad?

[torpid echo]

What paper?

[tacit lark]

get good

damn it was a single author annals pub

this year some MIT undergrads published in the annals

[daring temple]

average princeton undergrad

[main marlin]

how much do undergrad grades matter when applying to grad?

[shell kindle]

They matter a fair amount

[main marlin]

if for example the studend published a paper but has low grades

[shell kindle]

But it's not something that will ruin an application

If you have low grades, then the rest of your application will need to be stronger to make up for it

And you can also use some of your personal statement to give a brief explanation as to why some grades may be lacking

[balmy lichen]

I've got an averege 68 points. What can I do to hope for a chance of acceptance?

[mystic jungle]

What's the best channel to ask for feedback on statement of purpose and CV? I'm done and edited it myself but could use another editing round.

[ocean kiln]

You can post it here if you want other people to plagiarize read it.

I would ask professors (ideally someone who has been on the grad admissions committee)

[tepid forum]

i wouldn't considering like 100k+ ppl can see it xd

[mystic jungle]

Good point, maybe through DMs. Would anyone be willing to give feedback privately?

[tepid forum]

i could have a skim but idk how good my feedback will be lol

[mystic jungle]

Anything helps, I'll send you the documents

[tepid forum]

👍

[inner solar]

Is any international student applying to CMU here?

If yes, there’s this “visa status” section on the application page in which none of the options apply to me

What are you selecting there?

[gritty ruin]

You'll realistically either be F-1 or J-1

Most likely F-1

[tepid forum]

isnt J1 exchange students

[gritty ruin]

Slightly more complicated than that, as not all exchange students will be J-1

[daring temple]

too many people applying to CMU in here. scary.

[smoky jetty]

💀 I don't need that fear in my life rn as a future CMU applicant

Actually tbh idk if I'll apply but they're really good at TCS so it's with a shot

[hearty radish]

Mid tier school

[daring temple]

i prob should've applied lmfao

kinda cringe behaviour i didnt throw one or two appas out but its ok

next yr (im lying)

[hearty radish]

If you applied this year you would seen me and [redacted] at the visit day (unless you just applied philosophy instead of PAL)

[daring temple]

I woul def do pal

shiver

[hearty radish]

awodey...

[daring temple]

awodey 🥰

I'm going to email him the proof im working on once im done and he'll direct admit me

so its cool

The field of topos theory is starved of hot young meat like me

[hearty radish]

Go to cmu instead of your [real job]

[daring temple]

this is a fantastic idea

like i said if they revoke my return offer im just gna stay in school for another year

and apply for appas next year

my 5th year ill just become the most brain rotted UGCT zombie I can

[hearty radish]

My biggest regret is not staying in undergrad for another year

[daring temple]

did u grad in 4?

[hearty radish]

no

[daring temple]

3?

[hearty radish]

Yeah

[daring temple]

yeah

too fast

ur too smart

[hearty radish]

I am reaping the consequences of my actions

[daring temple]

i know someone who grad in 2

or like, finished all the reqs in 2.5 or something

like really stupid shit

[hearty radish]

All of my reqs but my honors thesis were done by the end of my second year

so I could've done that, but no way in hell would I have done that

[daring temple]

jesus

So Cracked..

[hearty radish]

I just took the bare minimum, and didn't take "real" grad courses until my 3rd year

[daring temple]

i havent taken a real grad course yet

like "actual" grad courses

the one I enrolled in was so miserable I dropped it

i've taken like graduate modal logic and my reading course is ostensibly on a graduate level topic but /shrug

[raw quail]

me gonna get rejected

[hearty radish]

I wasn't sure if you were public about your application so I said [redacted]

[raw quail]

I mean I'm not posting my grad list, but I mean it's obvious I'm applying to cmu

what #foundations user wouldn't?

[hearty radish]

Jesse

[raw quail]

chrew!!

[daring temple]

!

wanted to make it a bit easier on tox

if tox goes to CMU PAL and Im a wage slave working on business tech software it might be time to end it all

Hey, lets keep it professional Jesse

[hearty radish]

You'll make more in <2 years being a softy than the entire stipend through the PhD program

but it's not about the money

it's about awodey

[daring temple]

yeah its about intellectual stimulation

again, if i get laid off

ill go to bum fuck nowhere

i cant get into CMU but i can prob get into like uhhh

york?

[hearty radish]

Pittsburgh is basically bum fuck nowhere

Ohio lite

[daring temple]

i will spend my entire fifth year proving non-trivial resutls in topos theory

Awodey will have to let me in

I wanna work on topos theory x modal logic

[hearty radish]

(publishing folklore results)

[daring temple]

I think htis is a legitimate career path for me

who cares about novel results

I wanna write down some shit that Joyal scribbled on a napkin to Reyes 35 years ago at a conference in Sweden

[hearty radish]

Fill topos theory with "Jesse's theorem [attributed to ...]"

[daring temple]

I'm just gna scour the lit for [unpublished] and fill it in

Caramello v2

[hearty radish]

[daring temple]

this time it's a white dude so they wont hate

[smoky jetty]

My whole interest in wanting to learn topos theory one day is because the name of that textbook "Sketches of an Elephant" is a cool name

[daring temple]

This si a fantastic reason

do not read Elephant

read maclane & moerdijk

its fun

[smoky jetty]

maybe one day

no time to self study

[daring temple]

fair

[smoky jetty]

also idk any category theory, or topology

[daring temple]

I'm taking a reading course on it right now

I've spent like 50% of my working time this semester on this one course

it's very hard

lol

but i've been playing heavy catchup since i only really learned category theory in august

you should leanr topology

[smoky jetty]

and I'm only taking AG just next semester. And my understanding is that like category theory and topos theory need heavy topology and geometry

[smoky jetty]

yea I plan to take AT before I graduate but that'll happen the next time the course is offered which is Spring '24

_>

[daring temple]

you dont need too much AT

(any)

but def gen top

[smoky jetty]

idk if we have gen top here

[daring temple]

AG is a really good background to have for topos theory

you dont have a "topology" course at uiuc??

[smoky jetty]

I think this is the closest: https://math.illinois.edu/resources/department-resources/syllabus-math-432

[daring temple]

https://faculty.math.illinois.edu/~lerman/535/f21/535f21.html this guy looks right

[smoky jetty]

He is right

I want to take AT with him lol

[daring temple]

yeah anyways AG is a really good pov to approach topos theory with maybe because a lot of the ideas were developed in early AG work

[smoky jetty]

I meant at the undergrad level lol

[daring temple]

ah I see

[smoky jetty]

I mean worst case I do some of these courses in grad school wherever I end up

[daring temple]

yeah

oh wow this is an intense gen top cours ewtf

[smoky jetty]

I think it's a comp course

[daring temple]

i guess graduate level but jesus

comp?

[smoky jetty]

like u take that class and then take the topology qual

[daring temple]

oh yeah

that makes sense

[smoky jetty]

I'd be money the final is a mock qual

[daring temple]

it looks hard as fuck honestly

so much content for a semester

[smoky jetty]

lol that's how it be

I took grad algebra I and it was so so so fucking fast

since that was also a comp course

[daring temple]

i wanna take gralgebra here but im scared

also idk if they'd even let me

uoft admin are a bunch of bottom feeding Swine and Scum

[smoky jetty]

oh if I survived you'll be fine in yours I bet

https://math.illinois.edu/resources/department-resources/syllabus-math-500

this mildly/majorly was the death of me

mainly cause it was 10-12 problems a week for HW

I think that was the main issue

[smoky jetty]

wdym

[daring temple]

They are very harsh about pre-reqs and stuff for getting into grad classes

[smoky jetty]

ah

[daring temple]

theres another guy on this server who isnt allowed to take grad courses anymore because he took ~5 already

[smoky jetty]

yea UIUC is the opposite which is great

[daring temple]

yeah

[smoky jetty]

if you have a pulse you can take whatever

[daring temple]

it seems common for "top" schools to just let u take whatever

uoft

[smoky jetty]

hence me taking 3 grad courses next semester

[daring temple]

thats sick

[smoky jetty]

which will kill me but it'll be fun

[daring temple]

good ur taking advantange of that

[smoky jetty]

oh cool, blue name

yea I'm trying to take as much advantage as possible lmfao

[daring temple]

activakin!!

[smoky jetty]

I mean the only reason I'm doing that many is that only one of them will have exams

the rest will have HWs only and maybe a final presentation / project which is chill

although I'm currently talking here instead of working on my final paper for the grad course I'm taking this semester

[daring temple]

i am concurrently working on my final paper too 😭

I have two big ones due

i only care about one

[smoky jetty]

I need to go digging for citations of results

which is annoying because I'm working with the Exponential Time Hypothesis

[daring temple]

I was in reference hell for a couple days with this one until I realized the result I needed had literally never been written down in full 😭

[smoky jetty]

and googling "ETH" does not bring up anything useful

[daring temple]

referencing hunting sucks

[smoky jetty]

because Etherium >_>

[daring temple]

ETH Zurich!

[sacred estuary]

I think that is Paturi Saks Zane

[daring temple]

oh this is tcs stuff

[smoky jetty]

yea this damn paper I'm summarizing keeps saying "yea the best algorithm to do this thing takes this time" with no fucking citations

like please

yea I am TCS scum

complexity theory is cool

[daring temple]

i wish i knew enough about complexity to know why it was cool

[smoky jetty]

and tbh what I'm leaning towards for grad school. Specifically algebraic complexity theory

[daring temple]

how interesting can analyzing how many for-loops you have really be

[sacred estuary]

Lol

[daring temple]

i work in tech so I guess i should know more than the really basic shit

[smoky jetty]

it's more like analyzing the fact that no matter how clever we are, we probably can't solve certain problems faster than some bound

The use of algebraic techniques (addition, multiplication, derivatives, and beyond) is pervasive in the design of efficient computation. This course will explore how these techniques apply to problems of an inherently algebraic nature, such as computing the determinant of a matrix, as well as for tasks that seemingly lack algebraic structure, such as combinatorial optimization. The course will develop the theory of using algebraic circuits to compute multivariate polynomials. This includes non-trivial algorithmic paradigms for efficient computation in this model (upper bounds), methods for proving that certain polynomials cannot be efficiently computed (lower bounds), as well as algorithms for efficiently deciding whether a given algebraic circuit computes the zero polynomial (polynomial identity testing). The course will also explore the underlying algebraic geometry of algebraic computation, especially in order to address foundational questions. This exploration will be with an eye toward the Geometric Complexity Theory program of Mulmuley and Sohoni, which aims to resolve the algebraic version of the P vs NP question
One of the courses I'm taking next semester has this description

[daring temple]

analyzing the limits of humanity... interesting

[smoky jetty]

which sounds really really cool

[daring temple]

Oh this looks neat

[smoky jetty]

And I'm working with a grad student through some of this text over the winter: https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-319-16721-3

[daring temple]

actually an insane title

[smoky jetty]

yea lol

[sacred estuary]

Oh yeah, this is a nice text

[smoky jetty]

very excited to dig into this

Algebraic Complexity stuff seems to be the blend of all the math and CS that I like

[sacred estuary]

I did something like the first 4 chapters and had to stop because I got into other more exciting things

[smoky jetty]

nice

what more exciting things?

[sacred estuary]

Boolean circuits, communication complexity, etc.

[smoky jetty]

Oh nice

I should look into communication complexity

It popped up when doing some reading for a paper presentation

and I haven't had a chance to look at it further

[tepid forum]

oh uiuc is actually one of my top choices @smoky jetty any hot takes you can offer on it?

[smoky jetty]

Uhhhh I'm not super familiar with the graduate math program tbh

I guess my take is that it's been really really hard to meet graduate math students

They don't seem super social so if that's an important thing for you idk how much I could speak to it

The profs have been good for the most part but like every place there are some profs which aren't too good

Our graduate course offering seems pretty good tbh (our undergrad course offering is a bit weak)

[tepid forum]

yeah I was surprised that things didn't really get going until the 400 classes (not that it matters for me)

the selection did look quite good, better than most others

and the faculty seems great

[smoky jetty]

Well even with the 400 level courses I feel we have some gaps

Also class numbering is irrelevant

But yea we don't have a good logic course anymore, we don't have a general topology course, the only multivariate analysis course we have is an honors one thats offered once a year

We should have a better number theory course but we don't (ours doesn't even cover Diophantine equations)

Also the honors topics course is offered not as often as it should.

Among other issues in the undergrad curriculum

[tepid forum]

their analytic number theory grad course looks cool, didn't get to do one at undergrad

[smoky jetty]

The grad course offering is great though

Yea

[tepid forum]

i had a peek at other universities undergrad offering and it didn't seem too impressive either, but I guess in the states all the strong students just do grad courses which are more advanced than anything you'd get here

[smoky jetty]

yea pretty much

but that's annoying if you aren't at a university that's super flexible

UIUC is insanely flexible

8 week drop deadline is a godsend

[mystic jungle]

Topology is also 432 at UMD, coincidence

[wispy timber]

Do topics courses reflect anything on a transcript? Like are they a net positive, negative, etc?

[smoky jetty]

Nice

[smoky jetty]

How much do first semester senior year courses matter for grad school apps

[daring temple]

I'm pretty sure quite? isnt the rule of thumb your last two

[smoky jetty]

damn

cause I really want to take these two courses, one is the prereq of the other, and they both are quite quite hard

eh I'll just take them in grad school

[torpid echo]

Seems stupid to put learning useful stuff you care about because of grades IMO

[smoky jetty]

I do not care about my grades

I do care about going to a good grad school tho and those people seem to care a decent amount about grades

such is life

If grades didn't matter to anyone I'd be taking more courses than I could probably handle just to be exposed to more material

[unique temple]

U can usually audit the course if you don’t want to risk the workload/grade

[smoky jetty]

yea but auditing doesn't count for credit hours

[crimson valve]

eh like, if you are going to grad school you should be in a position where u can get A in such classes to begin with. in addition seeing hard courses like these on your transcript is good for grad apps too

I would not recommend putting these off

[smoky jetty]

Hm fair enough

[ocean kiln]

Also at Arizona

[ocean kiln]

Not a whole lot I imagine

Most of my apps are due by Dec 15 and I won't have grade back for my classes by then anyway

So all they'll have access to are freshman, sophomore, and junior grades

[torpid echo]

Yeah I was too lazy to keep typing but like

Only Princeton asked for my fall grades I think?

Most of them didn’t ask me for them, and obviously I had to send final transcripts for the school I actually went to

But they won’t un-accept you unless you like failed everything and didn’t graduate or something

[ocean kiln]

Wait how are you deciding on your classes for first semester now?

When does the first semester start at your uni?

[smoky jetty]

I'm just looking at courses I want to take as a way to procrastinate working on my final paper

and the course I was looking at is only offered in the fall

which got me thinking about grades for grad school

[ocean kiln]

Oh so you're still a junior?

[smoky jetty]

yea

I have time, albeit not as much as I want

[inner solar]

Hello friends

Question: what’s the general feeling about Duke in the US? It’s highly ranked and so on but feels sus to me for some reason

[tacit lark]

Its highly regarded

[shell kindle]

For undergrad it’s a big party school so there is a certain demographic

[sacred estuary]

Should a manuscript be included in the publications section in forms? I mention it in my cv.

[shell kindle]

What sort of manuscript

Is it on arxiv

Does it have a DOI

[sacred estuary]

Some version of it is on arxiv. Though I'd rather they see a slightly modified version and I don't feel like updating it on arxiv just yet, since I may want to make some more changes.

Maybe I am needlessly worrying about minor details but still

[shell kindle]

Yeah you should put it then

[sacred estuary]

UCSD has a field asking 'What is your research experience?'

What exactly do they want here?

Just brief mentions of the projects one has worked on, or some details as well

[deep lily]

I'm really want to apply to Cambridge, Oxford and LSE for masters in Statistics. Are there people who study there or in other UK unis who could tell me if international students do get in with scholarships/funding? The Cambridge website says a lot of stuff but I don't know about the recent admission statistics.

[tacit lark]

Briefly discuss your research projects. You should mention some details.

[tepid forum]

wondering if I should've held off a bit to put more about my projects, my UK apps and UVA SoP will have more detail about it

[tepid forum]

im doing part iii so could say a bit about cam, I don't know anyone personally who got a cambridge scholarship bar the one that knocks your tuition down to domestic rate. loads of intls ik got that one

if you need it to be fully funded to go I'd still go for it but getting in without funding would be a realistic possibility. make sure u research funding opportunities from your home country's govt (a spanish guy ik got a full ride from govt) and any local charities

[deep lily]

Loads of international students were fully funded?

Also on the website I saw they make 310 offers and 160 people end up joining, is that really the case?

[deep lily]

I see

[tepid forum]

no, loads got the "part iii international scholarship" thing that reduces your tuition fee to the domestic rate, which chips away a lot but you might still need to pay the college fee

so it'll still be twice as much as domestics pay. Trinity I think has a slightly cheaper college fee?

[tepid forum]

It's probably more

I had thought there was over 300 ppl in our year (including cam students who stayed on)

but i might b wrong idk the exact number

[deep lily]

Okay, trinity also has this thing "ramanujan studentship" have you seen anyone get that? I'm slightly confused about that cause it says they offer it to those study mathematics

[deep lily]

Oh interesting... I somehow thought the acceptance rate would be lower

[tepid forum]

it looks like there's ~180 people that didn't do cambridge undergrad in our year

[deep lily]

cool

thanks for the info

[tepid forum]

if you're an Indian national go for it

trinity also has a general studentship

[deep lily]

yep I'm an Indian

[tepid forum]

just apply to any funding opportunity that's there and hope for the best

unfortunately masters are a bit trickier to fund than phds

[deep lily]

okay, yes

[tepid forum]

at least with one of the trinity studentships they'll fund you all the way through a phd as well

[deep lily]

yes I read that

Also is it extremely hard, part iii?

[tepid forum]

but the trinity scholarships are just a box you tick (iirc you don't need to fill out a specific application) so you'll be competing with basically every other applicant from India, so it's probably quite competitive

[tepid forum]

idk it's not as impossibly hard as I thought it'd be but I don't think anyone finds it easy

[deep lily]

yeah, that's true... I only need separate essay for gates cambridge

[tepid forum]

with the advanced probability course the numbers fell drastically throughout the course, a lot of the people left were doing pure

(i'm doing pure but did advanced probability & will do stochastic calc and probably concentration inequalities)

[deep lily]

Ah... I looked at the papers related to statistics and the AP paper was the only one where I understood some words atleast

[tepid forum]

if you've done a course in measure-theoretic prob before you might've done up to like half the course

if you've done brownian motion/continuous-time martingale stuff you might know nearly all of it lol

[deep lily]

lol didn't really do that but might be learning it for my dissertation

[tepid forum]

fair well I gather the only problem would be if your maths background is weak but if you have real analysis, measure theory, linear algebra and basic stats you should be good to go i think

I think people who tried advanced probability without having done measure theory before were in for a rough time (it'd basically be a non-starter)

[deep lily]

I don't have measure theory in my undergrad but I've tried reading some by myself... As for the others, i think I'll be okay cause I was always into math more that stats

[tepid forum]

she technically recapped all the requisite theorems and you could just take them on faith but it'd be hard and you might as well just do measure theory over the summer

i quite liked cohn's textbook

[deep lily]

regarding the application, should i mention specific areas that i am interested in?

[tepid forum]

(can send you any notes if you want)

and yes definitely do that

and explain how your background fits it

[deep lily]

Thatd be great, currently my exams are going on, but they'll end soon

[tepid forum]

cool if you just send me a list at any point i'll see what's on moodle

[deep lily]

Okayy

[tepid forum]

also be sure to list a lot of courses because they change each year - I think the selection in stats is a bit more consistent

[deep lily]

btw did you do your undergrad from cambridge?

[tepid forum]

no

went to warwick

[deep lily]

wdym?

[tepid forum]

which also has a good stats dept independent of their maths dept

though they're in adjoining buildings

[deep lily]

yeah I've thought about warwick...funding could be a problem

[tepid forum]

the course list changes year on year, so you should make sure you'd be prepared for a lot of them

stuff like adv prob/stoch calc/modern statistical methods will run every year but others might be dependent on one or two lecturers being available

[tepid forum]

yeah their masters funding is probably near non-existent ngl

[deep lily]

oh, I see, so i should show interest in a variety of topics

[tepid forum]

they have a lot of phd studentships though i think

yeah exactly that

[deep lily]

yes i know someone who went there for phD from India

[tacit lark]

Warwick has good phd program in math/cs

[tepid forum]

ya its top 5 for sure

[deep lily]

Okay

[tepid forum]

its unfortunate I can't apply back there for PhD, there was one faculty that used to be in FA but moved on and said I should consider elsewhere over him :((

[deep lily]

Oh what's an FA?

[tepid forum]

functional analysis

don't think warwick has ever been big on it

[deep lily]

i see

[gritty ruin]

I would say the undergrad was worse

But having done the undergrad and also having done a lot of my own stuff before part iii, I didn't find it so bad

[tepid forum]

yeah I think I was only properly prepared for one course this term, next will be better

people seem to be surprisingly lax on example sheets, most of my friends in college just follow the lectures and don't worry so much about the example sheets. if i did that it'd have been 10x more chill

[gritty ruin]

You should definitely do the example sheets in my opinion (or at least try them)

[mystic jungle]

I thought that was the school with 12/6 deadline so I submitted it then, now I gotta go back and find out if I made a mistake and another school was due 12/6

[sacred estuary]

This is in CS btw. I should have stated that sorry

[tacit lark]

Nice are you applying for theory?

Lovett and impagliazzo r epic

[wispy timber]

The answer is that they are a net negative for those interested

[tacit lark]

I dont buy it

Why would they be a negative.

[wispy timber]

Because graduate admissions people know that they’re an easy A

[sacred estuary]

Yes, Lovett and Impagliazzo are def the ones I'd like to work with

The combinatorics group at UCSD is also strong, so pretty exciting place to be. Although I suppose I shouldn't explicitly mention this in my statement, should I?

[tacit lark]

I think you can

Ucsd was one of my top schools

I applied to math and cs there lol

[sacred estuary]

Nice

[tepid forum]

Yeah I tried to do all of the hand in qns and at least half of the qns overall

[tepid forum]

i'd think this means it's a weak positive/neutral rather than a negative

[raven sun]

^

1 topics course on top of a core grad course or two is really good bc it shows interest in your core area imo

(Like a Semester)

[tacit lark]

ya exactly

[shadow bobcat]

If they're one on one it also shows that faculty likes you/trust you enough

[iron vapor]

I'm currently a junior (USA), but will be applying next year... wanted to ask in particular now with this msg in mind --- what are the "guidelines" for applying to several departments at the same school?

I'll be shooting between applied math and statistics. It seems there are a wide range of "levels of intersection" at different universities depending on what they are interested in

[smoky jetty]

^ same question but for pure math vs theoretical CS

[tacit lark]

I was applying to schools in math and cs. If there was a school that i liked in both fields and i just applied (if it was allowed).

I applied to ucsd and uwash for both math and cs

[olive crater]

What exactly is a 'topics course'?

[unique temple]

like, a non-regularly offered course on some specialized topic. for example, there is going to be a topics course on atiyah-singer index theorem at my school

[olive crater]

And which universities was the 'easy A' remark made with respect to? How does one make such a universal remark about all universities?

[olive crater]

I see, thank you.

[olive crater]

I am currently in the second year of a four year undergraduate program. I wanted to know if grad schools set significantly higher standards for offering admission to applicants who apply after obtaining their undergraduate degree, compared to those who apply during their fourth year.

Yes, most of these points do align with the information I have currently about courses of this sort at my university.

Wouldn't it be seen as a positive thing though, to be exploring some specialised topics in detail? Especially if the areas in which such courses were taken align with the proposed area of research/interest when applying to grad school?

[crimson valve]

I unfortunately did not know what topics course where, and as i self studied most core grad classes I basically have most of my courses being topic courses oof

its a - for sure on my app

[olive crater]

Yes, I understand, thanks.

Can an 'only topics class' situation in a particular area be rectified by getting some research experience in the area with a professor?

[crimson valve]

I think letters from profs in that area should rectify it as long as they can vouch for u

[olive crater]

Yes, that does seem to make sense, thanks.

[crimson valve]

although like, its often hard for profs when they cannot concretely mention like "got A in this qual class"

[olive crater]

What is a 'qual class'?

[crimson valve]

oh i just mean like the core classes (1st or 2nd yr grad), these are usually the classes for the qualification exam, so they are also called qual classes

[olive crater]

Ok, thank you.

[olive crater]

Do admission committees (for the sake of this question, assume admission committees in the US) look at topics classes as an 'easy A' even for people who are applying from countries other than the US(Say, somewhere in Asia)?

And if one comes from an institution that is not well known in the field(the field here being mathematics), then does this uncertainty essentially extend to all courses that one has taken throughout one's undergraduate studies? Would it be reasonable for me to expect that admission committees in the US will, more often than not, assume that since my undergraduate institution is not well known, it couldn't have possibly been rigorous when it comes to grading, and hence extending their thought process to 'there is no way to know whether this applicant has merit or not', which in all probability implies instant rejection?

I see, thank you.

Makes sense, yes.

Is this difficulty in evaluation not, for all practical purposes, equivalent to them assuming a lack of rigour? Because in general, in the US, MS-PhD positions are funded, so why would any admission committee have any incentive to go into greater detail about an applicant from an unknown place rather than simply disposing of their application and moving on to assess candidates from well-known places?

[tacit lark]

Bc grad apps are not only coursework.

[tepid forum]

9/15 through apps

[tacit lark]

Poggers

[raven sun]

I think I’m done which is so nice

Now to wait 5 months

[sterile bone]

i've been done for a couple of weeks at this point modulo one of my letter writers being in japan and waiting on them to get back to help them send the last few letters

and waiting for a response from IU

anyone applied and heard from them btw? I sent an email regarding the gre but not response yet

[tacit lark]

Congrats

[ocean kiln]

Don't most decide by mid-March?

And some even early Jan

[raven sun]

Yeah true but I can’t count

[sterile bone]

early jan sounds very early

[ocean kiln]

Chicago did early Jan last year

[ocean kiln]

How many schools did you apply to?

[raven sun]

Like 9?

[raw quail]

When schools provide an opprotunity for a writing sample I assume that means like a math paper, right?

I can't or rather shouldn't send my philosophy paper in as a writing sample?

[gritty ruin]

I think it’s often just if it would apply to your course, I’m not certain it would apply to math. And definitely don’t send in a philosophy paper if you’re applying for a pure math PhD.

[raw quail]

well the line is blurred, this was for UMaryland since I'm interested in working with like Rosendal or Laskowski and the paper I was thinking about sending in was on like phil of math

I decided not to though

[shell kindle]

The college park one?

[raw quail]

yeah

[shell kindle]

I applied and vaguely remember this question

I think I uploaded my honors thesis

[raw quail]

it's optional so I'm not worried

yeah, my thesis is not in a presentable shape right now though

[shell kindle]

Hmmm

Do you have like

An intro page

That is fine

You don't need to upload all of it

[raw quail]

no I have one really nasty page demonstrating that you can in fact extend differential fields with normal field extensions.

[shell kindle]

Oh rip

[rapid dawn]

what does it mean when grad schools ask for a writing sample

is it ok to submit a paper where I'm only one of a number authors if a large portion of it was my writing?

or is that not even the kind of thing they're looking for

[bronze spoke]

do you have a thesis?

[rapid dawn]

an undergrad thesis? no

[tepid forum]

I thought it was just published stuff. I think Princeton said no unpublished senior theses

[last heart]

Can I list a submission to a conference in my CV if I do not know whether my paper will be accepted or not yet?

[olive crater]

I have heard that the convention is to list such papers under a separate section labelled as 'submitted', if one wishes to list them.

As long as the paper is explicitly labelled as 'submitted', there is no problem in listing it. A problem would arise if it was listed along with accepted/published papers without explicitly differentiating it from them.

[last heart]

I have only one accepted paper
Should I list them together or have two separate sections with one entry in each?

[olive crater]

I don't think it really matters, as long as the status of each paper is clearly mentioned.

[last heart]

Ok. I just explicitly wrote 'Submitted' without specifying the name of the conference

[olive crater]

At least, to the best of my knowledge, I have not seen a situation where this specific question of formatting has mattered.

[olive crater]

Why would you omit the name of the conference?

[last heart]

To avoid confusion. Since it is not accepted yet

https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/118712/should-i-list-a-submitted-but-not-yet-accepted-conference-paper-in-my-resume-for
There it is told not to name the conference
Hence why I assumed it was the convention

I would like to mention the name of the conference tho

[olive crater]

I see. Thank you for letting me know. I have seen quite a few cases where the conference/journal was mentioned for submitted papers, I am not sure if there is a fixed standard that one must follow.

In any case, take my words with a pinch of salt, as the only person who can give a proper answer to your question is probably a tenured faculty member who sits on an admission committee, but even such a person would only be able to comment on the process at their institution.

[last heart]

Thank you
I am also thinking about renaming the section "Publications"

Maybe "Research" would fit better

Compromise: "Research and Publications"

[last heart]

@fallow plank can I mention the name of the conference?

[rapid dawn]

Anyone else applying to Cornell? How specific should I be for this (emphasis mine)

Please use the Academic Statement of Purpose to describe (within 1000 words) the substantive research questions you are interested in pursuing during your graduate studies and explain how our program would help you achieve your intellectual goals. Additionally, detail your academic background, intellectual interests, and any training or research experience you have received that you believe has prepared you for our program. Within your statement, please also identify specific faculty members whose research interests align with your own interests.

[worthy apex]

I'm also applying to Cornell and I'm really goddamn stuck on this too

[rapid dawn]

I called their graduate program and got directed to this page which has some useful advice https://gradschool.cornell.edu/admissions/prepare/statements-of-purpose/

what I think I'm going to end up doing is have an opening paragraph talking about my general mathematical interests and the way they intersect with the interests of specific faculty at Cornell, and then for the rest of the statement just making sure to tie my research experience to my mathematical interests

[worthy apex]

Cool.

[rapid dawn]

The key line is

[sacred estuary]

These are McGill's instructions for the personal statement in CS

For the personal statement, it should include your research interests, and mention which professors you are interested in working with. You can also briefly describe proposed research, any special circumstances or special project you have work on in the past, or any other achievements. It should not exceed one page.
So far, after some rearranging and cutting down, I have around 500 words, about my general interest in theory and combinatorics; specific interests and profs who work on such things; and a project I worked on in some detail. I am not sure what more I should include. More details and specific questions on what I potentially would be interested in working on? Brief mentions of other things I did? I don't see any of these as things I absolutely have to mention considering how my interests are not rigid and that the other things I did are not as closely related. But I also don't want to leave too much space in case it gives the wrong impression.

[candid quarry]

Isn't 500 words in 12pt font just around 1 page?

[sacred estuary]

Yes. With 11pt font, I can do maybe 50-100 words more

I didn't think about it earlier but are there standard fonts, sizes, margins, etc. one should use for statements?

[candid quarry]

I think 12pt is recommended, but it might be 11pt I don't rember

But 1 page usually means around 500 words I'm pretty sure, so just increase the font size lmao

Unless there's something you want to include

[sacred estuary]

Lol ok

[tacit lark]

I wouldnt add what you wouldnt be interested in potentially working on.

[gritty ruin]

Depends on the margin size

And spacing

[worthy apex]

Grad school apps are expensive, but I figured out a way to finance them if you're too lazy to apply for fee waivers: lottery tickets! Trust me, it's a good idea, I passed probability so I should know that everyone should always buy lottery tickets.

In all seriousness I should have TAed this past semester; things would have been a lot better if I had.

[polar dirge]

I'm just not sure if this is where REU app questions belong so please redirect me if not--this REU has a whole section thats basically "Please describe any relevant research experience."

if i dont have any research experience should i just call it for this reu and try for a different one

[worthy apex]

Okay so a weirdly specific question about Cornell's application portal, but when I upload my transcript, it keeps saying that it's protected and that it wants an unprotected pdf. But, when I check the pdf's properties, it's listed as having no protections. Were you able to upload your transcript?

[rapid dawn]

mine uploaded just fine

I suppose a dumb hack you could try would be to open the pdf, screenshot it, then save the screenshot as a pdf

I imagine that wouldn't be a problem for them

though there is likely a less hacky solution

[worthy apex]

I was able to hack the pdf by trying to print it from chromium

[rapid dawn]

lmao I may have just thrown 70 dollars down the drain

applied to UIC, and then immediately afterwards realized they require the GRE which I don't have

[torpid echo]

can you resubmit your statement?

[rapid dawn]

I literally have not taken the GRE

[torpid echo]

every school I applied to which required the GRE I got into

and I didn't take it

[rapid dawn]

and I am not going to take it for the sake of one of my safety schools lmao

[torpid echo]

that's why I asked if you can resubmit your statement

[rapid dawn]

what do you mean resubmit

[torpid echo]

I just said that I coudln't take it because my exam kept getting cancelled

(a true statement)

[rapid dawn]

no see

this was the regular GRE

which is what tripped me up

[torpid echo]

lol

whatever

i bet that

[rapid dawn]

because I had already checked that they don't require the subject test

[torpid echo]

the regular GRE is like 1% of their criteria

[rapid dawn]

and I assumed that no math grad school in their right mind would require the general test

unfortunately UIC is not in their right mind, they are in Chicago

I'll call them tomorrow or possibly email them tonight

[torpid echo]

UIC was the one which has the wonkiest thing with funding right?

There's an entirely separate document you have to submit

[rapid dawn]

oh yeah that separate thing

[torpid echo]

which is hard to find

I literally gave up on applying to UIC because of that

it was too annoying

[rapid dawn]

it wasn't hard to find for me, it was just hard to figure out what to put there

I basically just copy pasted the parts of my personal statement that talk about research experience and then copy pasted my courses taken from my CV

[torpid echo]

It seemed dumb and stupid so I said screw it

[rapid dawn]

that's entirely reasonable

[torpid echo]

and my friend from my old school who was a grad student had a horrible experience with them

so I was like eh, whatever

[rapid dawn]

there's like a guy I sorta want to work with there

but eh

[torpid echo]

¯_(ツ)_/¯

[rapid dawn]

the more schools the better

sorta

[torpid echo]

yeah

I do agree with this

[rapid dawn]

I mean I only am applying to 11

I applied to a couple schools without combo

[torpid echo]

I ended up applying to 12

I guess it depends a lot on who you are and what schools you're applying to if 10 or so is enough

[rapid dawn]

which is my 2nd interest besides logic

also why the fuck does Berkeley not have combo

[smoky jetty]

tell me more

because I would like to not take the GRE

[torpid echo]

I couldn't take the subject test because it kept getting cancelled

[smoky jetty]

Hm I do not think I can use that excuse

[torpid echo]

so I just applied anyway, and wrote on my statement that it got cancelled but I wanted to go so I applied anyway

When I emailed columbia I got a response back that "in the presence of an otherwise very strong application, the lack of a GRE score won't be held against you"

and I guess I had an otherwise very strong application

[tacit lark]

🔥

[smoky jetty]

so the solution is just be cracked

got it

[tacit lark]

Good now go be cracked

[smoky jetty]

uh

too late

Analysis may ruin my GPA

so I guess I gotta take the GRE

[tacit lark]

If you arent doing well in analysis you may be better off doing tcs lol

In terms of applications lol

[smoky jetty]

eh I'm doing fine just stressed about final

I'll probably end with an A- worst case

I just dislike the material compared to algebra + hate exams

but I am leaning to TCS anyways

[tacit lark]

Ok so it really wont tank your gpa lol

[smoky jetty]

yea and like my GPA is high

err, I think it's high enough for top schools

it's 3.91 rn and my understanding is that if GPA is > 3.7 then the rest of your application matters more?

[tacit lark]

Yea youre fine

[smoky jetty]

yea

Cause I'm gonna get an A in my other two courses this sem

[torpid echo]

Lol

A- tanking your gpa

[smoky jetty]

not even tanking

I'm just happy to be done with analysis

[torpid echo]

My brother in Christ an A- raises most ppl’s grades

[smoky jetty]

it does not bring me joy

[smoky jetty]

yea ik I'll shut up lmfao

[smoky jetty]

but yea rn I don't really want to give up doing complexity theory stuff

and algebraic complexity theory at least sounds cool in theory

(we'll see after next semester)

so leaning towards TCS

[smoky jetty]

actually is this correct?

like if I want to go to a school at least as good at UIUC for CS or Math

[torpid echo]

If you’re at a 3.91 you’re fine lol

[smoky jetty]

is that a point of like "yea GPA is fine lets look at the rest of the app"

[torpid echo]

Unless you just totally fuck this year

[smoky jetty]

I mean I could just not turn in a final project worth 40% of my grade

jk but yea I'll be fine

I'm more asking about the part where I hear that 3.7 and higher is good enough

because I don't want to go to grad school here and thus would like to go elsewhere

[tacit lark]

Well it may not be 3.7

[smoky jetty]

and if I go elsewhere I'd like to at least go somewhere at least as good, if not better than UIUC

[tacit lark]

It completely depends on the school and the courses you took and the courses you got a B or lower in.

[smoky jetty]

yea fair

[tacit lark]

But ya i think if its good enough they dont care

3.91 is past that for sure.

[smoky jetty]

my lowest grade is a B+ but it happened in a grad math course which I'm not happy about

so I think I should be fine

[tacit lark]

UIUC or better is a good goal.

[smoky jetty]

yea

I'll be so sad if I stay here at UIUC for grad school

[tacit lark]

Definitely reasonable.

[smoky jetty]

just because I'll have been here for 4 years already

[tacit lark]

Yea that makes sense.

[rapid dawn]

yeah that's sorta what I've heard too

[smoky jetty]

and I'm getting quite bored of the area

[rapid dawn]

I think statements are also like that

gpa and statements can get you rejected but they can't get you accepted basically

[tacit lark]

UIUC doesnt have many complexity people right?

Just Forbes?

[smoky jetty]

Just Forbes yea

Which isn't bad but I'd like more of a community

[tacit lark]

Not many schools have more than a few complexity people.

[smoky jetty]

I'd like more than 1

Well

Chan is here and he's like half complexity with all the fine grained stuff he's done recently

[tacit lark]

Ucsd, u of t, ut austin, princeton, mit, harvard, cornell,

I feel like fine grained complexity is basically algos

[smoky jetty]

I've heard that Europe is the place to be for complexity

[tacit lark]

Where?

I dont think zurich has a lot

The real place for complexity is israel lol

[smoky jetty]

Yea but that's more because "reduction" is a fancy word for algorithm

[smoky jetty]

This is factual, so many people are there

But uhh off the top of my head

Bringmann is at Saarland

iirc EPFL has some people

[smoky jetty]

Also I really only am saying this because one of the complexity grad students here told me this

[tacit lark]

Def apply to europe if your interested

[smoky jetty]

Also a small part of me is enamored with the idea of "ooooo Europe for 5-6 years"

[tacit lark]

Ya i honestly drk. I guess i dont notice a lot of europe affiliations when i read papers.

Ill keep an eye out

[smoky jetty]

How do you "keep an eye out"

[torpid echo]

6 years

[tacit lark]

By looking at affiliations of papers i read.

[smoky jetty]

I honestly have no idea how to tell what schools are good at what specific fields

[torpid echo]

[smoky jetty]

Isn't that how long a PHD is 💀

[torpid echo]

If I’m on a 6th I’ll be sad

[tacit lark]

I see a decent number of complexity people taking 6.

Sadly

[smoky jetty]

Like I'd say this list but only because alot of those schools are good at everything broadly speaking

[torpid echo]

In math it’s probably <1/4

[smoky jetty]

Well also I'm not doing a masters

[torpid echo]

I just don’t want to spend 6 years as a grad student lol

[smoky jetty]

Also 6 is a high bound

Please 4-5 max

[torpid echo]

U should aim for 5

[tacit lark]

In my department late year phds are like postdocs

[torpid echo]

4 would be great, but I’m not holding out

[gritty ruin]

They might be getting a combi person

[torpid echo]

Mf literally goes to the big H

[tacit lark]

More people stay to get a more prestigious postdoc

[torpid echo]

Also for CS stuff

Cornell is actually Cornell tech?

The one that’s like, not in Ithaca

Cuz you do not wanna be in Ithaca if you could be in NYC instead

[smoky jetty]

Eh UIUC is middle of nowhere

And I've been ok

I just need at minimum a new middle of nowhere

[torpid echo]

You wanna continue that for another 5 years?

[smoky jetty]

Rather than the same middle of nowhere

I could continue that if it meant cheaper CoL + if I had a nice community of people to talk to

All the CS grad students here at UIUC are the nicest people

At least the ones I've met

[tacit lark]

I think most cs people are in ithaca?

[torpid echo]

Rip

[smoky jetty]

If they have a good coffee shop, library, people to talk to, and preferably even a CTF team

I'll be happy

[quaint girder]

I am applying and I dont have any grants im applying to

is this bad?

[tacit lark]

I dont know what you are talking about.

For phds in the US you dont need to apply for grants

[sacred estuary]

Other than Goos, who does complexity at EPFL? I know that there are some people in algorithms, sublinear algos, cryptography, etc.

[smoky jetty]

Hmmm maybe I'm misremembering

Ola Svensson?

according to his page he does some complexity work

[quaint girder]

I do not but I am wondering if it is a bad look

[hexed ibex]

nah like most phds don’t have grants

the people I know that have NSF shit I can count on one hand

[tepid forum]

They have someone who does some nonabelian combinatorics

[olive crater]

Is it true that the majority of math grad schools in the US require a perfect major GPA to even be considered for admission?

[olive crater]

I have heard the same claim being made about overall GPA too.

[hearty radish]

GPA is a big component, but it's only part of an application

a 4.0 is not required

[tepid forum]

Perfect definitely not

High maybe

[hearty radish]

Yeah, shoot for an A- ish average if possible, but a strong application with a lower GPA will of course still be considered

[olive crater]

What would be considered high? 3.95+?

[olive crater]

Isn't A- like a failing grade in the US?

[hearty radish]

What

3.85+ is a good place to shoot for

[olive crater]

Seemed like the case, from what I've heard about grade inflation.

[hearty radish]

That feels extreme

Maybe I have a skewed perception off how things are in reality, I know grade inflation exists, but an A- surely isn't failing

[olive crater]

People are terminated for sub-2.5 GPA right?

[hearty radish]

Yeah, bare minimum is 2-2.5 which is C average

but idk if that's universal for every place

[olive crater]

2.4/4.0(scaled) is the average GPA at my uni

[hearty radish]

If you're not in the US, the GPA standards in the US are not going to be the same

[olive crater]

I am not in the US.

[hearty radish]

I don't honestly know how admissions committees will view an international gpa

but like I mentioned, GPA is not everything and only a part of an application

[olive crater]

Most probably instant rejection, since they have so many good domestic applicants that they don't need to care about run of the mill institutions in Asia or something.

[hearty radish]

Apparently my undergrad's ranking was top 400, so no, your application will not be tossed.

[tepid forum]

No that's pretty much perfect lol, seen ppl with 3.8s and such

QS 100-150 is high lol, there are plenty of good US schools that are ranked lower than that

[hearty radish]

Psyching yourself out by looking at people's applications on [websites that do not exist, and mentioning them is strictly not allowed] is not productive

[olive crater]

Oh ok
I assume you would have had 4-5 accepted papers while applying to grad school?

[hearty radish]

zero.

[olive crater]

I see

[olive crater]

It seems that I had a very different picture in mind

[hearty radish]

Yes, but delete that message please

Thanks

[olive crater]

Yeah sorry, I'm new here. Why exactly is mentioning that site not permitted/discouraged here?

[hearty radish]

It's toxic because it paints an unreasonable picture of graduate school applications

[olive crater]

Oh

[hearty radish]

like, if you want to know generally where I was at applications
My GPA was good, I had no papers, I didn't have a math GRE submission because of distance, I had a few semesters of research at the point of applications, and I had several good letters.

I got into enough schools that I was able to go somewhere I wanted

[olive crater]

Hmm

[hearty radish]

I am in the US, so take that with a grain of salt

Graduate school applications aren't all GPA or whatever, but good letters, research experience, and personal statements are also aspects of your application

[olive crater]

Yes, I did know that. I was just concerned about perfect GPA cutoffs, when my university doesn't seem to be grading according to what the US considers normal.

[hearty radish]

That's understandable

[olive crater]

Thank you for your time.

[tepid forum]

I think even on that site most people's profile falls below what's said above lmao

[shell kindle]

There is no such site

[main marlin]

I went to a panel talk a while back at my uni about applying to grad schools and one of the phd students recommended as his advice to go to such non-existant cites and see how your application compares as a reality check