graduate-applications

[urban crown]

Okay, but I am a bit confused.
How the things will work if I apply now. My UG ends in December (i guess).
Sorry for asking dumb questions, I have less knowledge regarding international scholarships.

[paper granite]

I couldn’t say anything in general really, the unfortunate thing is that you just kinda need to hunt them down individually

All of the scholarships I’m aware of have ended but largely those are just for the UK and Germany, unsure what else there could be in other place a

In Europe usually if you want to start in the summer semester you need to apply by roughly mid December to mid January,

If you want to start in the winter semester, your deadlines are more like April - May with the notable exception of the UK where you need to apply for Masters and PhDs roughly now - January

This is just kinda what I’ve gathered from looking at masters programs in Europe, but largely UK Germany and France, myself so take from that what you will

[silk sapphire]

with winter semester being the one that starts in like, february?
Cause in France you can start in september somewhere you applied to in march/april/may basically

[paper granite]

I’ll be honest I had this same realisation as I was typing it. I swear Bonn refers to it as the winter and summer semester but I think the winter semester is the one which starts in September/october? I will need to check on that

[silk sapphire]

so you're saying you can apply in December/January to start on March 1st?

[paper granite]

I believe Bonn allows you to start in either semester if you apply in December but that does sound quite tight so I possibly could be mistaken, I’ll actually need to clarify this for myself

[urban crown]

i don't want to do late, otherwise maybe i miss this scholarship.
but since the dead line is in june so yeah it looks like it will start from winter semester.
Thank you so much for this information

lemme read about it further

[silk sapphire]

the standard thing in Europe (at least France) is that the real start is in september
joining during winter is odd

all places I know of only have application processes for september
But also, pretty much all places I know of aren't really universities

[urban crown]

oh yeah, so since the dealine is in june then its reasonable that the universities will start proper from end of the year (like sep or oct)

if i missed this scholar ship and wait next year, maybe i will waste like a year
(my UG will end in next november or december)

[silk sapphire]

next
So you have a full year to study
Then apply for starts in february/march (do give yourself the time to take a break)
or take a 6 month break to do whatever and start somewhere nice that only starts yearly

[urban crown]

yes, having break is kinda necessary. I will have to collect my documents and prepare bank statement and visa etc

so i think the process will take that much time

[snow solstice]

I'm writing the conclusion of my statement of purpose, and my Master's advisor happened to attend the unviersity I'm applying to (Penn). Is it appropriate for me to add a sentence or two mentioning that I have a very high level of respect for him and that this has in part served as motivation to apply to upenn?

[soft narwhal]

can't hurt

[visual lagoon]

@main marlin

<@&268886789983436800>

[molten frigate]

don't spam.

[eternal hill]

Quick question. I'm international, so I don't quite know the system. From what I understand, PhDs are usually fully funded while master's are self-paid mostly which is why the acceptance rates are so drastically different, right?

Currently looking at the UW Madison master's and wondering whether there are other ways of financing such a thing if one can only pay partly (I suspect a negative to this answer is the whole reason people try to get into a phd directly and don't go for master's)

[mossy niche]

if you're qualified to do a us unfunded masters then you're qualified to do a us phd

the first year or two of a math phd is usually a masters

[eternal hill]

I understand, but presumably the acceptance rates are much better for master's because the master's is unfunded

[mossy niche]

universities like your money

[eternal hill]

So I'm just wondering if that money doesn't have to be my own in any way...

But I'm guessing not rly

[mossy niche]

masters programs are a cash cow machine of a university so they dont offer any aid usually

[eternal hill]

I see

I mean, I can do my master's at my university for free

But I'm also not from the US

[mossy niche]

in terms of us phd application, you dont get any boost to your application by doing a masters, but by doing the grad coursework which you can do as an undergrad

[eternal hill]

I know. A bit too late for me in that regard - or at least, to increase that number

Which reminds me: if I don't choose a phd program this year and continue in my master's and then try to apply again next year or after my master's, are there any tips for stuff that would greatly increase my chances of getting in?

Sorta like taking grad courses or doing reus would be at the undergrad level

[mossy niche]

the most realistic answer is to do some sort of research with someone who has connections at the universities you want to attend

put a better way, you do research with someone you want to work with during your masters, then they tell you where to apply

[eternal hill]

I see. That's a pretty good idea

I don't think my university has anyone from the university I really want to attend, but we do have a bunch from other top ones

[mossy niche]

not from, but where they know people

[eternal hill]

Hmm

I see. That makes sense

And I suppose looking at their CV for where they've previously worked would be how one finds out where the person might have connections?

[mossy niche]

no, you ask them

this only matters once you have an advisor

[eternal hill]

Oh

I'm not sure I follow then... how do I know where my advisor has connections to before making them my advisor?

Just realized this really sounds like a lot of nepotism lol

[mossy niche]

you shouldnt be picking someone based on who they know

you should be picking them because their research sounds interesting

they will inevitably write your strongest letter of rec so they have the biggest influence with the admissions committees

[eternal hill]

I mean, everyone's research sounds interesting as long as they are in the same area of math as my interests

[eternal hill]

Ok, fair point

There is actually this one professor whose research interests lie very close to what I'm most interested in and doing projects on, but he seems to very often be away to other universities. Idk if this is a common situation, but in such a situation, I presume there isn't really anything I can do to try to do a project with him unless he comes back?...

Like... are remote projects a thing?

[mossy niche]

the only thing to do here is to email and ask if he is willing to take a student

[eternal hill]

Should I ask him if he'd be willing to take me on remotely, you mean?

I guess maybe I should just express interest and see what he says

Anyway, thanks for the help, cat

[cosmic magnet]

Good luck Mr Dostoyevsky

[spring portal]

I had a very bizarre dream that someone posted my application stats on r/gradadmissions and everyone were laughing at it in the comments

I am going to age 10 years before I hear back results lmao

[gentle basin]

is the chanceme bullshit worse for grad than it is for undergrad

[timber sequoia]

I passed Oxford chillin.

[shell kindle]

Yes

[south lion]

Hey, someone who read over my personal statement wrote this to me: "To my understanding there is usually a personal history statement and or a statement of purpose. The Personal history statement is where you go into detail about how your experiences shaped you as a mathematician. The statement of purpose is more directed towards your research goals."

The thing is, some programs only allow for one document, or sometimes for a completely different document - e.g. "letter of intent".
Should I write two separate documents and then merge them when only one document is asked for? And for a letter of intent, is there then no room of a personal history?

[spring portal]

Look at prompts of each uni. Prepare two docs like you planned, then when you submit for both, add or remove accordingly.

[south lion]

Is it worth applying to places requiring mgre if one doesn't have it in the hope that they won't care...?

[spring portal]

no

if its required then without mgre you app will be incomplete

[spring portal]

i would not take that risk with the egregious app fees if it were me

[outer reef]

sure

[south lion]

I am thinking of Texas A&M and Yale in particular because their programs are both a really good fit for me

My school is relatively normal strength though

Although I do have a gpa of about 3.95 with multiple grad courses, so idk really...

[slim wigeon]

"normal"

[south lion]

Well, not a US institution, so it's hard to say how it compares

[slim wigeon]

o

[south lion]

In theory, we have one of the strongest algtop departments in the world

But I personally find the university to be shit lol

ye lol

welp

[pearl isle]

If the app literally says mandatory and doesn’t give you the opportunity to submit a form, often times they will let you apply without it just to take your money but won’t forward your app to admissions committees because it’s not considered complete

[south lion]

@merry timber Would you maybe share the unis that you heard people being admitted to without the required mgre?

Don't think I can get letters of rec in in time for harvard unfortunately

But thanks for the info!

[undone yacht]

https://phi.uni-wuppertal.de/en/port-hamiltonian-institute/crc-1701/

[mossy niche]

i know someone who got interviewed by Columbia without the mgre

[south lion]

Where at? Lund?

nice

I think the math itself is okay, just way too slow and they've made it worse over the years... one recent example is that algebra 1 used to be in the first semester 1st year, and now they've bumped it to second year which is stupid as it's such an important course if you want to start taking advanced courses early on

Similarly topology is at the end of the 2nd year

And there are not many opportunities to work with professors

And most importantly, the students aren't as passionate about math as I'd have hoped

Oh

Dunno how it is for neurosci

But yea, I'd avoid copenhagen in general

unless ur a phd or postdoc student interested in homotopy theory

[mossy niche]

yeah

[noble mortar]

Quick question about master's degree applications. I'm an international and looking to study a maths master in Europe. Do they accept students who have an undergrad in CS?

[open hamlet]

huh is it mandatory people do it 2nd year or do they still let people take 1st people if want

[spring portal]

Tbh, I doubt you will meet the course background requirements

[sturdy arch]

In Mainz they let you take course is the way you want

But you are prohibited to use all the fancy cool tools in the basic lectures then xD

[spring portal]

^ maybe applied math ones yea

[south lion]

They do let u take it. It's just that the communication between faculty and students is really non-existent and whatever there is, it mostly just stifles early advancement. To give an example: after I had taken algebra, I asked the professor for advice if I wanted to go the academic route and what I could do to better my chances, and he just said that it was much too early in my career to think about that sort of stuff and to just focus on studying my courses...

Which, now that I know better, is a ridiculous answer

I should probably also say: the first two years are already laid out for the student in terms of courses - course for course, quarter for quarter

So to my freshman's mind, it seemed that the university would've had a good reason to put algebra there

[south lion]

My personal belief is that weirdly the problem is free education. There is no minimum high school gpa requirement for the math bachelor's meaning that a bunch of... let's say not so bright people get admitted to the program and over the years, the faculty has then had to accommodate for this and make the program easier - so the material becomes easier and at a slower pace, and courses such as abstract algebra become 3 courses, topology becomes point-set only and at the end of the 2nd year, geometry is reduced to 1 and 2 dimensions with a computational (eww) approach, linear algebra gets split into a basic shitty introductory course and a grad course for some stupid reason, with the excuse that the students really need to know their stuff while it's really just because anything faster and harder would require students to commit themselves to their studies

Anyway, enough ranting from me

[pearl isle]

What do you propose lol, ban the peasants from doing math?

As someone who the most math I did in high school was calc 1, I strongly disagree with this take

Universities can easily afford to offer math classes that appeal to all types of math students

They simply are too cheap to do it

And decide to hire underpaid lecturers to teach 700 person lower divs instead

Additionally, computational math is still important. I never thought I would use a lot of linear algebra computational matrix algorithms again, and here I am today using them to do things like define charts for matrix Lie groups or prove diffeomorphisms between them

EG the proof GL(n, C) retracts onto U(n) via polar decomposition

[slim wigeon]

don't forget that the same problem but worse happens in 🇺🇸, where higher education is very much not free

[fickle hawk]

I feel like math has a much less prestigious status in the Nordic countries than in other European countries. That combined with the relatively small population makes the bachelor phase quite easy but I mean you can always just do master's courses to keep things interesting

[south lion]

Ok, I can't say that I know of any other institutions except how it is at Berkeley, and there I didn't find the same problem at all

[slim wigeon]

anecdotally however you are not wrong, I have heard from my Japanese friends that higher ed in Japan experiences a similar problem despite being relatively affordable

[south lion]

The program was very well selected and the students motivated

lots of opportunities too

[slim wigeon]

worse than in the US actually

you just don't hear about these sorts of things because people only ever look at the top schools

[shell kindle]

Berkeley has the benefit of being quite selective with undergrad admissions as a whole though

[fickle hawk]

Yeah this is a bit confusing to me too

[south lion]

Sure, but the very best students I've met had, honestly, pretty shitty high school gpa's

Because they focused on math

[pearl isle]

As someone who goes to Berkeley, yes generally the students are quite motivated but I don’t think this is because we have only math geniuses doing math majors here - that’s demonstrably not the case

I’ve met many many people who like me only took calc 1 in high school

[south lion]

I agree

[pearl isle]

And are currently math majors at Berkeley

There is no need to be extremely motivated in high school to become motivated later

[south lion]

Yeah, I think what Berkeley does well is just to push their students to do their best

Really that simple

[pearl isle]

If there’s a culture of not caring about math as much as you’d like, I wouldn’t blame it on “not selective admissions” or “free education” but rather maybe a weaker academic culture as a whole

Not a math specific thing

Although I don’t really know your university so I can’t speak to it

[south lion]

Free education really just means that the state really wants to put a bunch of people through higher education

Hence they make it easier to do so

No lol

Having uneducated people is not an advantage for the state

I mean... u'd have to be really lazy to not be able to graduate from copenhagen

in math

[south lion]

Yeah, I guess that makes sense. Maybe it's just that it isn't competitive, really then

[shell kindle]

Do you have data to back this up

[south lion]

Dude, no

As someone who has been through the system, it really isn't

U can even just look at the statistics

Depends... analysis is a second semester course

But I think that's a weak indicator for difficulty lol

[slim wigeon]

||analysis and abstract algebra are 4th year courses at my school www||

[south lion]

lol

[fickle hawk]

I do recognize the lowering of standards being a real thing in Finland. I think you could graduate from any Finnish university with a bachelor's in math while lacking some very basic knowledge. I still wouldn't trade free education for better undergrad classes; I don't come from money and living on my own as a student generates enough debt already.

[south lion]

Yeah, I didn't mean to say that free education is the problem in itself. It's everything that comes along with it from the state's side and faculty trying to accommodate for this

[fickle hawk]

What I did, and what all of my friends did in undergrad, was to do interesting grad courses instead

If the undergrad courses are too easy for you, you should be able to have time for that

[slim wigeon]

I have time except I don't because of my gen eds
oh yeah and it's at least $700 out of my bank account

[south lion]

Sure, there is always time for things. But in a culture where no one pushes u, it's hard to know precisely what one's options are. I also took grad courses in undergrad as many others do on their 3rd year. I just believe that this is still too slow

[fickle hawk]

To do a grad course?

[slim wigeon]

yea

maybe it's cheaper at institutions with graduate programs but my uni is not such a school

[fickle hawk]

Idk but I'm talking about like Nordic unis. I have no idea how it is on the other side of the lake

Was

[slim wigeon]

not having the right people around you is a legit problem
on the other hand it is just a fact that people coming into uni have an extremely wide range of backgrounds

[fickle hawk]

Idk. I'm gonna be harsh here and say that you shouldn't rely on a culture of pushing as an (ambitious) adult. It seems like you always had the option to accelerate your studies

[pearl isle]

Again, the problem with weak courses is not faculty having to “accommodate”. It’s universities which are too cheap to offer both the necessary intro courses and other courses

Again, engineering calculus should exist in college obviously because we want our colleges to produce engineers. But there should also be options for those interested in pure maths

So the problem isn’t the existence of engineering calculus classes

It’s that they’re 700 people per class and there are no other calc classes offered that give a more advanced view

[undone yacht]

You need people to teach. No money to hire new people, i.e. make larger classes --> mix weak and strong students --> lower expectations and content

[fickle hawk]

Much love to Helsinki. It's a nice place and has some really excellent mathematicians. Would recommend it for anyone except for the ones primarily interested in algebra or topology.

[pearl isle]

None of this disagrees with anything I’ve said

In fact it’s exactly my point

With perhaps the exception that I disagree that “mixing stronger and weaker” is a bad thing (whatever that even means lol)

Smaller classes can effectively teach to both

Of course, if you already know calculus you shouldn’t have to retake it

But at most places I don’t think you do…

[fickle hawk]

Having moved to a much bigger uni now I also miss the intimate atmosphere. It was really nice to have grad courses with maybe like five people.

Oh yeah the master is completely in English

Paris Cité

[south lion]

Well, let's see... I wanted to do algtop. What did I need for that - a strong prereq was topology which was at the end of my 2nd year. Sure, I could've then taken that at my 1st year, and then done algtop in my second, but suppose that were the case for a couple more courses as well, I would then have to do all my assigned courses and probably around twice as much as well at the same time. Let's say I also wanted to do alggeo. There we have top and commalg as prereqs. The prereqs for commalg here are advec and alg2. Advec is a grad course and alg 2 is the second course in algebra. Because of timing, I would need to take advec in my first semester of uni then lol. Ok, so maybe do it in ur 3rd year then? Yup, and that's what people do

So pushing oneself is only really possible when the structure of the program allows for it

[pallid haven]

In the US, some high schoolers take the AP calc class, but don’t pass the test. These students sort of know calc (can usually do basic derivatives and integrals, but struggle with harder problems), but are often put in classes with people who have never seen the derivative before (and in some cases are missing many algebra skills like factoring a quadratic). Even the 20 student class I ta for has problems with this heterogeneity

[fickle hawk]

Do prereqs bar you from the courses in Copenhagen? Could you have studied the prerequisites on your own, and then contacted the prof or something? I mean I completely recognize this thing myself

[south lion]

No, they don't bar you. I also did contact the prof for alggeo, for example, who told me they would not recommend doing that

[fickle hawk]

Scheduling issues are pretty much unavoidable everywhere. The only way to not get eaten by them is to adapt

[mossy niche]

at my institution you can graduate with a math degree without having taken a single analysis or algebra course

[south lion]

In fact, I have done this with multiple courses, and each time, the professor says it's better to wait

I have since then decided to disregard what professors say

[fickle hawk]

I don't really get it. So that solves the issue, no?

[pearl isle]

I would say if you don’t pass the AP test (so below 4) you probably should retake calc…

Ok yeah

That’s even worse

[south lion]

Well, aside from the paragraph I wrote before, remember that, although the courses are not important for me, I still needed to ace the courses which my program required me to take the first two years

[pearl isle]

It’s also not like you don’t need calc to do higher math

You in fact do

You do need to know calculus for almost every field of math

[south lion]

So yes, in theory it's solved and all is good, you can just self-study and you can just look for opportunities yourself - but I honestly think that figuring all this sort of stuff out can be not only difficult, but also when it comes to which opportunities one has and should take, I'd say almost impossible

No, it is possible and it is also what I do currently. What I'm saying is that different factors all make it hard to know that, e.g., I should've taken algebra the first quarter of my degree

[fickle hawk]

Sure, I guess this is true. But I still maintain my stance on the whole pushing thing.

[south lion]

I think if you don't see any path to push yourself down, wanting to push oneself is little use without some guidance

[weary acorn]

Is this convo really relevant to the channel at this point?

[pearl isle]

Should go in pedagogy channel instead imo

[fickle hawk]

Eh I mean it's quite real the government is willing to cut funding and do other reforms to produce graduates faster in Finland. I do also think math undergrad curricula have become easier over the years. But I'm not sure if the politics side of it has a direct effect on how math is taught, a far more serious issue is how year by year the kids become more illiterate

And yeah no more on this here

[pallid haven]

Yeah, you should take calc again if you didn’t learn it that well enough to pass the AP test. My point was more that even with small class sizes, different backgrounds can make the course challenging to design

[pearl isle]

True

[past axle]

any advice on how to search for programs? I graduated with my MS last year, am currently working as analyst in the DoD but plan to puruse a PhD to start fall '26 - how should I look around for programs?

not sure exactly what I'd want to be working on but I took multiple graduate analysis courses and both liked them & did very well, plus I work in operations research ATM so I'm interested in that as well, but I'd want to be looking at schools where OR is contained within (or given as a dual title i.e penn state)

I'm just not sure how to look around for schools, I'm giving myself plenty of time so I can

1. get experience with this job to leverage in an application
2. take my time looking at schools & programs / study for GRE

[past axle]

functional analysis in particular is of interest to me

would control theory be something worth looking into?

I apologize if this is the wrong channel :(

[cosmic magnet]

http://www.toroidalsnark.net/gradschools.html#apm

I found this website helpful

[main marlin]

Similar to the link @cosmic magnet sent
https://community.ams.org/find-graduate-programs?prog_type=POST

[past axle]

this is perfect, thanks

[wind plinth]

if my name is on a bunch of stats/optimization related papers, but i want to specialize in geometric analysis in grad school, will the fact that that prior research is unrelated to my target field hurt my application? or will the fact that i have publications at all be a good thing to any committee

[raven sun]

Good thing to any committee

At least in the US

[past axle]

Yeah one thing I'm trying to figure out is how hard of a time I will have if I don't really have any research. Would having relevant (operations research) job experience + good grades in ugradand ms (3.7/4.0, 3.75/4.0) help compensate

?

[cosmic magnet]

Yes

[wind plinth]

how about europe?
im from the US and every day im more and more tempted to apply only to european schools..

[hardy aurora]

if you're applying to the UK (PhD), your prior research in an unrelated field probably won't help a lot
Since your application will most likely be reviewed by the relevant research group (in this case profs doing geometric analysis), I don't think they'd care about the fact that you've done research in stats
(I'm a bit tempted to say it might hurt, since your stat papers may suggest you aren't very invested in geometric analysis, though whether it really hurts or not probably depends on how you write your PS)

[wind plinth]

i see. believe me when i say im trying to find opportunities to do research outside of stats prior to doing my PhD but it's proven extremely difficult 😭

i guess i have to try extra hard if i want to get into ICL like my advisor suggested lmao (he's english, went to warwick)

but i'm more interested in like. Bonn or ETH-Zurich tbh

[hardy aurora]

are you applying this academic year? If so time is quite tight, if you haven't started applying

[wind plinth]

no, next year

[hardy aurora]

I guess you have time to do a reading/research project the coming summer in geometric analysis then
you just have to show you have a lot of interest and motivation in geometric analysis
I guess you just don't want potential PhD supervisors to think you may put a lot of time in stats instead of geometric analysis during your PhD

[wind plinth]

i dont think i could do anything too formal to that effect.. sorry there is a very long story attached to this idk if you need all the details but if you're willing to hear them i can divulge

[eternal hill]

When applying for phds and one is asked to list faculty, can one also list emeriti professors or are do they usually not supervise?

[shell kindle]

They do not usually supervise students

[eternal hill]

dang

[spring portal]

yea, emeritus are retired

let them enjoy retirement lmao

[tacit lark]

Personally I wouldn’t worry about this too much. Make the most of the opportunities you have. If your name is on “a bunch of stats and optimization related papers”, then you must be doing well. Its normal to work on things in ug that are different than what you want to do in grad school.

[knotty marsh]

Don't you also get a chance to talk about your research and experiences in math?

[main marlin]

I wanted to go to grad school for statistics and they want 3 letters of recommendation i only have 1 letter even tho another undergrad professor said they would write me a letter when i apply . I couldnt find another professor to write me a letter. I might just take a stats course at my target school and do well and try to get a professor to write me a letter. I cant really afford to pay for grad school rn and would need financial aid. I have a bachelors degree in computer science but my final gpa is only a 2.7

I got an A+ in stats tho.

I have a research paper published in my undergrad but it is about web development

[wind plinth]

i never had the opportunity to do research in undergrad so all of my stuff is at the master's level/from internships

[tacit lark]

I see. I cant speak for europe phds but i still think you can be competitive for us programs.

[spring portal]

All apps submitted!!

Gonna hit snooze

[slim wigeon]

2 pro 4 me

[pearl isle]

grats

[cosmic magnet]

Finished four apps today

I fumbled the shorter essay questions for Princeton😭

[mossy niche]

this wasn't for the math app right

i don't remember doing any short essay questions

[slim wigeon]

I might be too smol brain for grad school

oh well

[cosmic magnet]

It's for applied math

[cosmic magnet]

me too!

[drowsy swallow]

Quantum forces

[mossy niche]

i think I just submitted a personal statement

[shell kindle]

You think

[noble mortar]

Thanks. Right now I'm just looking to break in without redoing a bachelors. Within CS I've only ever been interested in theoretical CS, but it's not something I want to limit myself to. What's the scope of eventually being in a position to do pure math if I get into a specialised program? For example, through electives, or an additional year perhaps?

[mossy niche]

the Princeton app is so unlikely that I just used it to get used to the process

i have 0% chance of being accepted

the only applications I remember are the first few ones I did and the last few ones

[dire brook]

Out of context this is very funny

[spring portal]

I used MIT

brave people, aren't we

[eternal hill]

I feel like we're all just doing mit and princeton for the meme at this point lol

[mossy niche]

at least i have a nonzero chance at mit

its still 0.0001

[eternal hill]

For apps, I wish nepotism was on my side

[mossy niche]

is it worth updating the applications with fall grades

i got all As but idk if i can just submit my unofficial trasncript for the fall grade report

[pearl isle]

Yes

Especially if they’re good updates

Like all As

[tacit lark]

why would you have a chance at MIT but not princeton

[mossy niche]

theres precedent for people from my institution to go to mit

[pearl isle]

I was under the impression that princeton > MIT

although at the top ranks it is kinda meaningless to compare

[cosmic magnet]

I can't find professors at Berkeley who I want to list on my SOP. Man, why can't I find anyone who does math bio😭

[shell kindle]

If you can't find anyone that would advise you then you should not apply to a school

[wind plinth]

I think uni of arizona is big in that?

or arizona state
whichever one's in Tempe i forgor

[tacit lark]

Its not that black and white.

[pearl isle]

True. But Princeton is the best program in the country tbf

[shell kindle]

[pearl isle]

That’s what I’ve always heard. Is that not accurate?

Like on net/overall ranking/weighted average of all subfield strength

Maybe it depends if you don’t count IAS as Princeton?

But you should probably count it bc afaik you can do doctorates with IHS people when you’re at Princeton

[mossy niche]

even if i got into princeton, i know myself well enough to know that i very likely wouldnt survive their phd

[pearl isle]

True I feel the same way

It’s infamously hard and I’ve heard they don’t give much guidance

[mossy niche]

mit is also quite difficult, but its more advisor dependant

[spring portal]

Got my first interview invite!!!

it was the Nov 15 deadline one

I am finally not gonna go bald from stress

[cosmic magnet]

How cooked am I if I haven't reached out to professors yet?

Specifically for a uni whose deadline was yesterday. I'm probably looking to send an email or two by Thursday but I'm not sure whether that's considered late or not

[shell kindle]

Emailing professors doesn’t matter that much

[spring portal]

I didn't mail any

[wind plinth]

is it not considered bad form to cold-email potential advisors at other schools? I always figured those cats have enough on their plate, they won't be amused by prospective students asking about working with them

[cosmic magnet]

Really? I've glanced at a couple of professors pages and a number of them mention to reach out if you're interested about their work

[wind plinth]

who 👀

[cosmic magnet]

Just random researchers in math bio

[wind plinth]

i have actually seen the opposite (robert mccann at UofT explicitly says don't ask me about phd positions)

[cosmic magnet]

I think it applies to many researchers in applied math since it's 'easier' to start doing research as part of their labs if admitted

[wind plinth]

that makes sense

[cosmic magnet]

It's usually one of either. They ask you to not email them since it won't change your admissions decision whatsoever or they encourage students to email them to see if their's a potential fit

[wind plinth]

also makes sense

[pearl isle]

Depends on the professor

[pearl isle]

The latter

Check the math specific requirements on the math website

No mention of writing sample

[cosmic magnet]

Similar question but how much would they weigh the personal statement (not SOP)?

[limpid zealot]

The personal history statement?

I'm only guessing, but they'll probably weigh it in with the SoP after going over letters

The general guess seems to be that the essays are a last barrier than an entry securer

If Luka's statement on Berkeley taking chances on interesting backgrounds is taken into account, maybe the personal history statement quantifies how interesting a background is

I'm on the same boat with you folks, sent in most of mine on the 15th with Berkeley being today

[cosmic magnet]

I got a final tonight so I'm trying to rush this application lol

[limpid zealot]

That's fair

UT Austin asked for transcripts but then tells me I need to attach the degrees as well

mfw

[mossy niche]

many big schools take chances on interesting backgrounds

good thing to know for people who might be applying with interesting backgrounds

[cosmic magnet]

There's nothing particularly interesting about my background so I'm expecting a no

[eternal hill]

Guys. I rly messed up somehow. For some reason, my berkeley application only allows me to choose starting dates in spring 2025 at the latest. Idk how this happened, but I see that I now have two applications one for Graduate admissions 2024 and one for 2025. My letters are on the 2024 one. Is there any way I can fix this???!!!

[raven sun]

Just email the admissions people

Both the like over the entire admissions at berkeley and the department you're applying to

[eternal hill]

I'm kinda scared to write to the department itself in case it might impact my application

[pearl isle]

The fact that you don’t have letters will impact your app

[eternal hill]

Yeah, I do have the letters though. I wrote an email to them. Idk if they might be willing to transfer the letters over or if they'd be willing for letters to be submitted post deadline or smth. I hope they might, at least

If not, I'm gonna kms

[cosmic magnet]

How much does Berkeley weigh the MOC and Personal Statements?

I wrote my personal statement in the last ten minutes since I just came back from a final💀

[mossy niche]

💀

[cosmic magnet]

Not my SOP fyi

The personal statement asking about diversity of experiences and why you can contribute towards the research culture etc.

[mossy niche]

maybe i made the mistake of placing basically all my "broader impacts" into my personal statements as opposed to the sop

[pearl isle]

I don’t know

Probably not that much but maybe more than other unis

[cosmic magnet]

Ah, hope it goes all well ig

[broken sphinx]

My grad school hopes and dreams are all riding on 2025 no pressure right

[slim wigeon]

worst-case scenario you can get a PhD at a low-ranking (or even high-ranking) school, realize no one wants to hire you with your educational history, and then give up and teach high school for the rest of your life

(my plan)

works well in this case since math is in demand at least in my area

[mossy niche]

i have so much respect for high school teachers. id rather die

[slim wigeon]

it's the only way to be truly free

[open hamlet]

highschoolers are a pain teaching em sounds like suffering

[rigid veldt]

Well, time to expect one of my applications to be thrown out over carelessness
I forgot to edit my CV to include one of my references, and now one of my profs I didn't ask for a letter is on there instead of someone I asked
There was a separate references section of the application that I hope will be followed instead, but yea this is a really bad start so far

[mossy niche]

there's no expectation to list out your references on your cv

[visual lagoon]

I just gave a math talk to high schoolers, it was really fun and they were all energetic and enthusiastic!

For real, they were a fun crowd

All I'm saying is that teaching math doesn't have to be the failure plan, it can be the plan :P

[mossy niche]

if you have a math PhD, that immediately makes you a strong candidate for top high schools since very few people want to teach in the first place

you can probably choose a very strong school to teach at where the students are ok

[open hamlet]

oh I see smart

[stone wave]

i don’t think it necessarily should? does a phd correlate to your ability to teach high school level concepts to high schoolers effectively?

maybe you ta for undergrad classes sure but the expectation for undergrads is above the expectation for high schoolers

[mossy niche]

by the time you are applying to high school positions, you need to have a license to teach anyways

[stone wave]

absolutely

which only gets more lenient the higher demand there is for teachers

[mossy niche]

its not like there is a huge supply, the demand is much greater than the supply

[pearl isle]

It definitely does correlate. Getting a PhD in it at least means you probably like math, which is more than you can say for many many teachers at the hs level

[mossy niche]

also i really hope you are able to teach high school math with very good effectiveness after getting a phd. i went to the top high school in my state and the math there was not it

[stone wave]

i think liking maths and not being able to teach it is more common than liking maths and being able to teach it competently

[slim wigeon]

knowing american high school teachers, having a teaching degree doesn't mean you're actually gonna be any good at teaching math either

[mossy niche]

perhaps the only thing you would have to learn is how to deal with the fact that you might be forced to slow your class down by admin

[open hamlet]

yeah

[mossy niche]

remember that part of the phd is learning how to communicate math

[open hamlet]

I mean the level of people you're communicating with is quite different

[mossy niche]

the underlying ideas are the same though

if you cant communicate down to a level then theres work to be done

ive never actually met a schoolteacher with a phd

[void horizon]

a history teacher at my junior high has a phd in history

[sturdy arch]

Our physics teachers were retired scientists
Physicists was so hard in school but carryed me through the first 3 semesters in uni xD

[dire brook]

Idk most teachers I had were just incredibly unknowledgeable and were plain wrong as soon as they has to answer a question on somethint beyond the curriculum

[void horizon]

oh one of the bio teachers at my high school has a phd too

he worked at my junior high before too

[floral grove]

does a PhD in Applied Math/Stats have a good conversion rate to industry post completion of the degree?

[shell kindle]

Sure

[smoky jetty]

Alot of programs iirc have pages which say where graduates end up

Another thing is if you can look at pages of profs you want to work with and look on their site and CV

There, they may list past students and where they ended up

[swift palm]

Finally completed all my apps 🥳

[open hamlet]

nice

[spring portal]

great job!

how many?

[delicate scroll]

Generally speaking, do applied math programs care about having taken complex analysis or not?

[shell kindle]

Mine did

[delicate scroll]

Ah ok

[swift palm]

8 (very few)

[wind plinth]

i never took that 💀

chat am i cooked

[delicate scroll]

berkeley

[spring portal]

I don't think 8 is very few as long as you wrote compelling statements, have a good profile and applied to PI who are good match.

8-10 is the sweet spot IMO

I myself only applied to eight, but all the eight are programs that I would happily go to.

[swift palm]

same for me. if I didn't want I wouldn't apply

[swift palm]

the thing is I'm international student so automatically decreased chances

[spring portal]

I am international too! And got an invite. Don't lose hope.

[south meteor]

If I was dealing with chronic illness for my first year and a term of undergrad (still am but getting better at managing it) and got some really mid grades (67/2.3 in adv calc 3, 69/2.3 in adv calc 2, 72/2.7 in groups and rings, 56/1.0 in german 101 (idek how much this one matters but its my worst by far)), but also some pretty strong grades in like linalg 1/2, commutative algebra, noncommutative algebra, how much can getting good grades for the rest of undergrad and mentioning illness in an "overcoming" light offset the really bad grades? Or am I just not competitive for strong programs anymore? I'm sitting at an overall 78.5/3.24 rn and idk if I'm overthinking or if these grades really will kill my applications

[swift palm]

getting better over time is a good thing for your application according to what i heard

stanford and mit small departments will be rejecting international students without consideration this year (i am not sure if math is small department).

[mossy niche]

this doesn't mean that admissions isnt harder for internationals

perhaps just anecdotal. the uk students at my school are absolutely cracked

they're biased in the sense that there is a higher bar against internationals

[mossy niche]

at these schools everyone is held to a very high standard that it doesn't really matter

[shell kindle]

This is not quite true

[shell kindle]

From these answers, I think that points 2, 3, 4, and 7 are the most important

[swift palm]

an email received by a very close friend of mine who applied to (NOT IN MATH, hence my disclaimer that idk if math counts as small department) said schools.

a point that I explicitly refrained from making...

okay nice

[polar dirge]

weird niche question--in my sop is it appropriate to mention a faculty who will be arriving at the school of interest during the next year (is not there yet, i only found this information out through a different prof at the institution)

[mossy niche]

well, if you know, and you want to work with, then why not

the only concern is if they are actually going there or you misheard lmao

[split silo]

is this channel appropriate to ask about REU-tangent things? (like working on my resume/apps)

[shell kindle]

No

[split silo]

is #advanced-lounge or #math-discussion good?

[shell kindle]

Yes

[wanton wasp]

what are some useful pure math classes for ms in biostatistics

besides analysis

[cosmic magnet]

random processes

[steep belfry]

About sop I was told not to mention what I know, more how will I use their department and resources to finish the degree. I couldn't resist but to put my learning goals, which in retrospect sounded amtibiously petulant imo. On a dif subject. Are there class advisors like in UG bc the program requires the classic real variables and complex variables, ode, pde, abs alg and some applied course. But as I start ms on spring I did not see any of these courses. I'm already waiting for a reply on my univ inbox. I'm assuming this is common to ms students starting on spring idk.

[mossy niche]

who told you this about the sop

[steep belfry]

One of my advisors

[slim wigeon]

hmm

not sure

<@&268886789983436800> what do you think?

[spring portal]

i mean its up to you, but that sounds a bit weird. how are you gonna talk about future goals without talking about your past experiences and knowledge?

[viral idol]

How early should I start grad apps?

Is Spring junior year reasonable?

[shell kindle]

Summer is fine

[spring portal]

You will be spending most of your time researching fit and professors. The actual time to work on apps is considerably pretty small.

[viral idol]

What is Lor?

Oh yeah

Just reached out yesterday

[smoky jetty]

Only thing you should be doing in the spring is well in classes. The earliest you need to do anything is before your spring semester ends is see if you can think of 3 people who can write a letter of rec for you ask them to do so

Also this is not a bad time to start thinking about what math you like and don't like and start thinking about schools to apply to to gauge whether or not you should do the Math GRE / General GRE / both

The school list you make can and will probably change down the line, that's fine

You can get recs of schools to apply to by asking profs at your university

I want to do algebraic combinatorics and what I did was ask the guy at my undergrad who did algebraic combinatorics for schools to apply to and I got a list from him

Very useful

But you don't need to start on any personal statements or anything, summer is fine

Just focus on courses and what I said above

[soft narwhal]

some places are moving away from the gre now. in my home country its impossible to get the subject test so even if it was recommended i can't do it

[pallid haven]

Not taking it can rule out some programs that require it, but most are subject test optional or only recommended, so if you are willing to rule out some schools you can easily get away with not taking it

[smoky jetty]

you could email admissions and say "hey due to {circumstances}, I cannot take the subject GRE but I am still hoping to apply to your program next year. Is there any way I can get a waiver for this requirement, or satisfy the requirement in some other manner?"

[soft narwhal]

all the places i'm applying to have no gre requirement

[smoky jetty]

Not even GRE recommended? Math or general? If so, congrats! Don't do the GRE then 🔥

Waste of time it's not gonna make or break an application if it's not required

[eternal hill]

Need advice on a choice of letter writer.
One of the places I'm applying to only allows for 1 letter of recommendation.
I have to choose between my thesis advisor who is fairly well-known in her area, and my university and the university in question that I'm applying to are fairly close (geographically and in terms of visiting researchers, collaborations and stuff).

The other letter writer is from the US, my REU supervisor. They are not very known at all nor very prestigious.

One would think that my thesis advisor would be best here, however, I am a bit worried about her letter of rec. She doesn't seem particularly interested in me nor in my project - she put me under a postdoc and has barely spoken with me during my thesis, and she told me she send the same letter to every institution (not that there's anything wrong with that).
I am a little worried, but it could also be that her letter is strong - I have no way of knowing... If anyone has any idea of how I could get an idea of whether the letter is strong, I'd appreciate the advice.

The REU supervisor's letter I am, at least, fairly sure should be pretty positive, especially because the supervisor seemed to want to hear about me and my goals, and I have talked more with them.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated

Sorry for the long question

[tacit lark]

it seems important to have both your thesis advisor and your REU advisor as letter writers. You should ask your thesis advisor is they can write you a strong letter. From what Ive heard admissions committees (at least in the US) prefer letters from people you have worked with outside of standard coursework. They tend to know you better and can speak more to your research ability/potential. I have also heard that it looks weird to do an REU and not get a letter from your REU mentor. I also think it will look odd to not have your thesis advisor not write you a letter.

[smoky jetty]

Well for this specific case, it seems they're applying for something that only allows for one letter

Otherwise yes I agree for every other application, which will probably want multiple letters, ideally you have both your thesis and REU advisor write a letter

[tacit lark]

what the

I didn't read that ofc.

[outer reef]

what kind of program only allows 1 letter

[outer reef]

you could ask her if her letter is strong

or look at how her former students fared

[undone yacht]

Here it is 0, the best and most reasonable. 🙂

[eternal hill]

It's Bonn

[main marlin]

Has anyone applied to WashU (Washington s.t louis) and heard back yet because there is an entry of acceptance in GradCafe.

[knotty marsh]

Where's this

[undone yacht]

Sweden. Never heard of any university or program asking for it. Simply asks for contact information to references. Saves time for everybody.

[eternal hill]

I would like to, but I am absolutely terrified of her tbh lol

Though I think I'm just too timorous to do that

I don't see a single one of her previous students moving on to a single US institution though. A couple went to Germany, a select few to other European countries, and the remaining are still in their phds/postdocs at the same university

[visual lagoon]

What do you have to lose

You're gonna have to talk to a lot of people over the course of your career

Now is a good time to practice

[latent bolt]

anybody apply this cycle?

[barren gorge]

Hello guys, I'm an undergrad physics students that wants to change to math and do a masters in mathematics, hopefully in Europe. I have the following question: do summer programs/REUs such as the following https://summerstudents.desy.de/ (A summary from the website: "Research projects can be categorised into different types of activities: practical work on detectors or experimental equipment, physics data analysis, software development, theory and scientific computing". Most physics REUs are like this) would even add some weight to an application to a masters in math? I'm deciding between something like this and just not going anywhere and spend that time actually improving my math.

If you ask why not a math REU, the thing is that I only find REUs in the US lol (I'm from Latam) and I don't think I'll get into those with funding 😭 😂

[soft narwhal]

can you do a research project closer to home

like have someone in maths and someone in physics co supervise some project

[barren gorge]

I asked once a professor what could I do that can boost my profile and he only told me to go to the summer IMPA courses (summer is January and February here), which is very nice but I have to wait to the next year

But I think you are right, if there are no programs as such to my knowledge, I can ask another professor to give me like a project¿
What should I ask him or how should I approach him? Like "hello professor can you give a problem to work on?"

Thank you very much for your response!

Ah, and also, would the answer to my original question be that it indeed doesn't add anything to my application?

[sly hinge]

Students who contact me and ask intelligent questions about my papers tend to be students I'd take for a project (conference publication, published applied work from a theoretical framework...).

[eternal hill]

That's a pretty good point. Do you think asking her over email would be fine, or is this the type of question professors will feel most comfortable not being in writing?

[sly hinge]

For letter of recommendation, I usually meet with the student (office/Zoom...).

When I'm reviewing students for admission to my group, I usually look at courses/grades, test scores, and whatever work they have done more than the letter itself (but can help if it's strong and someone I know).

[visual lagoon]

I would meet with them in-person if possible, it's much more personal that way

[eternal hill]

Hm, I don't know if I'd be able to set up a meeting in time - especially for a single question like this... She's usually around at seminars though. Would it be acceptable to approach her after a seminar do you think?

[visual lagoon]

I don't see why not

[rigid veldt]

Weird question, but does anyone have resources on writing a research proposal for a PhD in the UK specifically? The way this seems to be organised is a little weird, considering most places require a verrrry short one (500 words or longer paragraph-ish) and something more along the lines of a summary of research interests than a full proposal
I just don't really know how to start atm

Makes sense tbh considering how few universities want one

Bristol for some reason wanted essentially a merger of a personal statement and a research proposal that was like 3-4 A4 pages

I uh, gave up on that

[sly hinge]

It's usually meant to be a sketch of what you want to study in a logical order to complete the problem/related problems in that subfield. For instance, in computational geometry, they'd want to see that you have a logical grasp of how to leverage a piece of geometry to solve a problem and turn it into an algorithm using terms that are standard and nothing too "out of bounds" for the field that suggest you don't know what you're doing.

[hardy aurora]

you can disregard the 3-4 page thing

just type it as if it's your personal statement union with your usual research proposal

if you're unsure, you can email your potential phd supervisor for some advice

(since it's your supervisor reading your application at the end of the day anyway)

[pine ocean]

hey guys

i'm planning to apply to reus as a freshman, any advice on how I should approach the personal statement in the brainstorming phase? (like what should i focus more on, etc)

thanks!

[undone yacht]

15 open positions https://web103.reachmee.com/ext/I003/304/job?site=5&lang=UK&validator=a72aeedd63ec10de71e46f8d91d0d57c&job_id=13501

[shell kindle]

REUs discussion belongs in #advanced-lounge

[smoky jetty]

Damn that's a good starting salary 😭

[open hamlet]

3k usd per month?

[undone yacht]

yes

like 30% goes to taxes

[undone yacht]

median salary is something like 36k so it is decent

[smoky jetty]

My salary is $31k before taxes and I also pay a good amount on taxes

And also $31k a year is higher than average

For phds

A small amount of my paycheck is taken out for healthcare I forget the exact amount

It's not bad, it's through the university but I've never had to use it (yet)

Yea

2 + 4 Masters + PhD vs 6 years PhD

[eternal hill]

Guys, Idk if I'm tripping, but if anyone else is applying to the cambridge tripos: is there no place to submit a longer academic or personal statement? All I see is 3 boxes with a maximal limit of 200+200 words and 1500 characters for the last one... Seems rly short to me

Yeah

Damn

Weird

What do you think they care about then?

Oh well...

Mind if I ask for advice on what to include in the sections though?

I am

Yeah, there are 3 sections. Reasons for applying (1500 characters), career goals (200 words) and additional information (200 words)

Do you think it would be a good idea to try to include what I did in my reu in the reasons for applying?

Yeah, I'm trying, but 1500 characters is like... 4 times too short for what I'd like as a minimum...

Hmm... I see

Maybe I've been trying to include detail where it's not necessary

Ok, that makes sense

Just short and concise. I'll try

Thanks!

[calm relic]

Hey can anyone confirm I understand this question correctly on an application for a UK university?
Regarding my undergraduate degree, "Actual/Expected result" with options 1, 2.1, 2.2, 3, P, Other

I finished my degree with >80% overall, so I should answer 1 here right?

Or maybe I should select Other and put "High Honours" in the clarifying box, since that's what my degree actually says

[deep lily]

has anyone heard frometh zurich?

[somber pendant]

Hello! Does anyone know someone which studies at ENS Paris Saclay? In particular, at the Jacques Hadamard program? I would like to ask some questions about the program. Thank you very much!

[languid hornet]

you don’t need to be in ENS to be in the jacques hadamard program

you can apply at Paris Saclay university

[lavish night]

How common is it for US schools to accept people into phd programs without interviewing them?

[shell kindle]

For the schools I was accepted at, I had interviews for half of them if I remember correctly

[smoky jetty]

None of the school I got accepted to had interviews

Only one I got rejected from has interviews afaik (UMich)

interviews are rare in math I think

[lavish night]

When did Michigan interview you?

Like how long after you submitted your application

[shell kindle]

My michigan interview was late feb iirc

[lavish night]

Cool thanks

[rigid veldt]

tbf that depends on where you are, all of the universities i applied to have an interview

[lavish night]

in the US?

[rigid veldt]

UK in this case

[lavish night]

Sorry, I don't trust people who have separate taps for hot and cold water

[rigid veldt]

so true

[spring portal]

lmao

[teal gorge]

If a graduate program requires a bachelor's diploma, but the application deadline is before you graduate, is it acceptable to send proof of enrolment instead?

[shell kindle]

Does the application require some proof that you've graduated?

This is pretty common, lots of people are applying for phds before graduating undergrad

And I don't recall having to provide any documentation

[chilly turret]

you typically just have to show your transcript that shows you graduated once you accept the offer

[teal gorge]

The application requires some file to be uploaded in the diploma field. It may be relevant that the applicant (not me) had the same problem with a TOEFL score not being released on time. In that case the university said exactly this

[shell kindle]

If you can upload something that lists an expected date of graduation that should be sufficient

[teal gorge]

Thanks!

[glacial quest]

please read the channel descriptions before posting.

[open glacier]

sorry

😭

i just came in here and dropped a q

oops

i dont understand what #get-advanced-access is asking for??

i dont, im clueless

is it pedagogy?

im not a teacher

what channel do i use, im lost

i just came here to ask a question im back to square 1

[glacial quest]

try #math-discussion - #graduate-applications is for people to talk about their applications for graduate school

[open glacier]

uhhh

ok

[latent bolt]

anyone apply this cycle?

i've been seeing some schools give interviews / acceptances but i'm guessing that's only for exceptional candidates this early

[mossy niche]

the only schools that have released anything are the ones that have historically been early

[latent bolt]

yea like osu or duke for interview invites?

i guess it doesn't mean anything about your chances yet?

[shell kindle]

I would not take anything to have any meaning yet

[spring portal]

I only got 1 interview invite but that was Nov 15 deadline. Silence from all Dec 15 deadlines.

All interviews and acceptances were only Chem/Bio programs afaik

[soft narwhal]

waiting on Dec 15 deadlines right now

wouldn't expect anything until feb

that's at the earliest, most applications would usually come back around march

[lavish night]

I got a UNC interview which had a Dec 10 or 11 deadline and I’m definitely not an exceptional applicant

I know OSU and Uchicago have sent out a round of offers

[main marlin]

they actually haven't some people contacted the admission committee and they denied sending any offers and said that the first wave is yet to be released, and that things might take till late February. (I am talking about OSU)

[lavish night]

When did these people contact osu

[main marlin]

3 days ago

some from a week ago because of the acceptance that was on gradcafe.

[mossy niche]

i feel like that's a bit pedantic, it's still a round of offers.

[swift palm]

I know someone who got accepted to OSU two days ago.

thus they definitely sent out some offers

[torn heart]

They did give offers, though unofficial, by personal contact from PI or grad director. They haven’t sent any official offers yet

[main marlin]

If the offer is unofficial that is different, my whole point is that admission is given in waves not on a person by person basis.

[main marlin]

unofficial offers are different, they are technically not offers that is why the graduate director denied sending any offers and the sending of the first wave, an offer is a contract to be affirmed, and if said contract hasn't been received then all they have is a promise of admission.

[torn heart]

I mean sure but it’s basically the same thing. When the email says something along the lines of “we are glad to let you know you have been accepted. Your official offer and funding will be sent in a couple of weeks”. What difference does it make when people are trying to understand whether the admissions committee has already made some decisions?

[mossy niche]

plus for osu they were portal acceptances, that seems pretty official to me

[main marlin]

Some people get an unofficial acceptance then get ghosted unfortunately so I wouldn't say it is the same thing

[main marlin]

to my knowledge, only one guy with no admission info or email which is really weird.

[tacit lark]

I think thats rare

[smoky jetty]

Which OSU are you all talking about? If it's Ohio State feel free to DM me with questions if you got em

[tacit lark]

yes

[lavish night]

What’s your ssn?

[smoky jetty]

[umbral escarp]

How do you insert a picture in the CV template provided in this channel? I uncommented the
\photo[64pt][0.4pt]{picture}
line, but the sample picture from the directory does not show up anywhere in the output.

Edit: apparently this doesn't work with the "banking" style selected.

[tacit lark]

Why do you want to insert a picture

[gleaming egret]

On a CV for an academic application, how do you guys write your grade. Im not finished with my undergrad, but im expected to get a 1st. Do i write Expected First? Or put my current avereage % mark?

[lavish night]

OSU and Uchicago have sent out some acceptances and some waitlists. Does that mean they aren't accepting any other people, or was that just the first multiple rounds of offers?

[visual lagoon]

I wouldn't spend too much time trying to guess about it, this stuff seems to be pretty unpredictable

[fathom rover]

Hey is there someone whos familiar with the UK system of applications for masters/phd? Im specifically talking about those high tier schools like Imperial, UCL etc

[fathom rover]

well I meant applying, selection, requirements etc

[sly hinge]

Somewhat. Mostly UCL and Cambridge (partner universities). Feel free to ask and tag me if I'm not on here.

Helpful hint for both--they're beefing up industry connections, so coding is usually a plus, as is any applied project these days. Research is usually weighted highly at Cambridge (labs have MS students publishing often and prefer undergrad publications).

[modern cliff]

Publish during part III at Cambridge? I thought it was all course focused

[weak echo]

I know how to get into imperial college maths phds and whatever. You have to go down to floor 0 of Huxley and say some prayers (this is a joke). Although as an Imperial student, beware of floor 0 of the maths building (Huxley building), weird stuff goes down there

@fathom rover no joke, the bottom floor of the maths building at Imperial college is this 😂 (courtesy of me staying overnight at Huxley and capturing these haunting images)

(Also follow @IclHuxleyPosting on instagram to see just how insane the maths students there are)

Obligatory not a plug, I don't run the account

[hardy aurora]

i'm applying to UK phds as well, though I might have similar questions lol

[visual lagoon]

Hey everyone! Since it's just about the season when many people are starting to hear back, this is just a friendly reminder to please not discuss admission results in this channel, as it can often lead to a discouraging environment. Thank you :)

[limpid zealot]

Ah, my bad!

[swift palm]

When your gre/toefl score report says your score has been sent to x school, but the school sends out mails saying that your score was not received, what is the appropriate action to take?

the school also did not reply to my responses explaining the situation to them with my score reports attached.

[shell kindle]

Who did you respond to

[swift palm]

rochester, and in particular the address which sends out this mail (grad admissions etc)

[shell kindle]

Did you reply after receiving the score not received email

[swift palm]

yes that is exactly what I did

[shell kindle]

Ok

How long has it been

[swift palm]

5 days, but I got more or less the same email ("your application documents are missing!!!") today again.

[shell kindle]

Department or university grad admissions email

[swift palm]

university

[shell kindle]

If there's a specific math grad admissions email, email that one instead

[swift palm]

alright, thank you

[sly hinge]

Some publish with a mentor. It's not uncommon in applied fields.

[eternal hill]

Does anyone know whether the oxford master's is worth applying to?
One's more likely to get into the master's than the ph.d straight away from a bachelor's, right?

[spiral violet]

id imagine so

[hardy aurora]

you mean oxford masters as opposed to oxford phd? If so yes, you should get a masters first, though it's not unheard of to skip that (but it is very difficult to get into the very competitive uk phd places if you don't do a masters)

[eternal hill]

Yes, that was exactly what I was wondering about. Thank you

[molten frigate]

yes, and hence it doesn't belong here; you can ask career questions in #advanced-lounge

[nova tide]

okay my bad, will delete!

[molten frigate]

np

[fathom rover]

Would that also be the case if I already had a phd supervisor?

[fathom rover]

are you an international student aswell?

[hardy aurora]

Wdym? You mean if your preferred phd supervisor already (privately) agreed to accept you? In this case it is clear you will be fine lol

Don't quite understand wdym by "already had a phd supervisor"

[hardy aurora]

sort of
Most likely be considered as a home student tbh

[fathom rover]

Yeah something like that. Im sorry, I dont really know how that works

[fathom rover]

Basically a proffessor recommended me to think about getting a PhD without a Masters, saying that he could be my supervisor. I dont have any more details regarding requirements unfortunately

Atm Im doing undergraduate in Maths and Data Analysis in Poland at probably the best university here and Im kind of concerned about the grades. I think my gpa is around 4.35 (5 is max), which looks a bit low imo, but it’s still second best in my class, but Im worried that all they see is the GPA not how it compares to others. For example, we just had a measure theory midterm, I only got 50% which is frustrating, but the average was 20%.

[hardy aurora]

I think you could try applying
Though I'm afraid the funding deadline has passed

[fathom rover]

I mean Im still in my second year, so I have some more time

[hardy aurora]

Ah fairs, you have a lot of time

[fickle hawk]

I don't know why anyone would do this, assuming this means starting phd research right after three years of bachelor's studies

You should value time and learning instead of rushing

[fathom rover]

I think its like a 4 year phd or something, you still take classes during the first year

[fickle hawk]

This just sounds like a very standard phd program

Most people in Europe start those after two years of master's studies, and those two years are usually very crucial for your mathematical development

[slim wigeon]

to the 0.57721 people in here who care about me I've decided I'm taking a gap year before my PhD for the sake of my mental health

happy hunting

[unique vine]

Ok

[sage tundra]

Hey guys, some of you knows about analyze of signs and systems?

[visual lagoon]

Not the right channel, see #❓how-to-get-help

[edgy lintel]

I'm curious if there's anyone around here who has applied to a math PhD program after being out of school for a long time. Like on the order of 10 years

I burned out of my program in 2016, got out with a master's

I've thought about trying again many times at a new school, gone back and forth on it. I'm starting to think about it again. I dunno though. It's all so complicated and maybe it's nice to just study math with no pressure

I don't know how I'd get rec letters after so much time either

not to mention that how I burned out was uh, not good

[shell kindle]

Is getting a phd the goal?

[edgy lintel]

well, being able to think about higher math all the time is the main goal

maybe what I really want to do is teach at a college. I dunno, gotta figure that out

but I really miss the situation of learning / working on math being the central activity of my life

[cosmic magnet]

You could try getting an instructor position then switch into a PhD program

I know some instructor positions only require Masters so that could be a potential route

[torpid temple]

Im trying to find supervisors for a graduate program. Is "if you have room to supervise another student i would love the opportunity to talk ... " the correct terminology?

Or should I say "if you are looking for another ..."

[shell kindle]

For a program that you are applying to or for one that you are already in

[torpid temple]

A one where I am already in

[shell kindle]

Better to ask in #advanced-lounge

[lavish night]

I got into a school!

[soft narwhal]

congratulations 🎉

which school?

[spring portal]

congrats!

[visual lagoon]

Congrats! We refrain from discussion of results here though because they can lean towards a discouraging environment/comparing yourself to others.

[woeful dagger]

I just messed up an exam pretty badly, and now I don't know whether I should update my fall grades or not in my application. I have straight A's, and this one will probably end up a B or, if I'm really unlucky, a C which I'm really bummed out about. I will also receive two other grades, one for my thesis among them. I don't know what I'll get for the other two.
Should I refrain from updating the grades if I get a B or C?

[latent bolt]

wait aren't applications already sent in?

[woeful dagger]

Yes, but most places allow one to update the transcripts with the fall grades

[spring portal]

Well, I will say that grad apps are competitive these days, so better not to take the risk, just don't update imo
But I also feel like one B is not the end of the world, if all the other grades are good it would barely affect the final GPA

[woeful dagger]

Idk man, a B seems pretty bad to me

I imaging all top school applicants have straight As thus rendering me now inadmissable

[shell kindle]

This is not true

[woeful dagger]

It's not?

How so?

[rigid veldt]

grades don't tend to be an end all be all
prior research experience is useful, your personal statement/resume etc. can give a good idea of team fit, how well your interests align with the school's research is also an important factor

[rigid veldt]

that being said, if you got lower grades than usual from those, might be useful to not update

another thing is, like

one B is not something that kills your application

[woeful dagger]

I see

I suppose you're right. I think it just feels much more significant because it's recent to me

[rigid veldt]

if one B killed an application I would not be applying lmao

Another thing is, if you're applying to a PhD that doesn't have more classes before doing proper research, grades from the subjects relevant to what you could be researching are most important

So some random badish grade from an applied stats course isn't going to matter for a pure maths phd route there

[woeful dagger]

Yeah, unfortunately, the course is kinda important to me. It was just the exam that fucked me up a bit as I went complete panic mode for some reason and couldn't think straight

But good to know

[mossy niche]

canonical important exam experience

we've all been there

[woeful dagger]

Damn, really?

Never had it happen before

I've been trying to figure out what's wrong with me the whole day...

Somehow that's kind of a relief to hear

[mossy niche]

it happens to me every exam

[lavish night]

Same

[cosmic magnet]

Congrats!

Hope you ace it

[edgy lintel]

here's a nice video showing what Oxford's math interview is like, to get some sense of it: https://youtu.be/efXbABwhCtE?si=bL156n8EpHW1jK3i

just make the substitution Stan = Ox

[mossy niche]

thats not what american math phd interviews are like

(usually)

[edgy lintel]

hm, I didn't know. I didn't have to do an interview for mine

[mossy niche]

stanford doesnt usually do interviews, but perhaps there were so many applications this year that they want to get a sense of their top applicants

[swift palm]

awww i guess this means i am rejected :(

[lavish night]

Why are there so many applicants this year

[hardy aurora]

he was talking about graduate applications...

[edgy lintel]

my bad

has been a while since I watched that and I (mis)remembered it as about that

[tacit lark]

are there that many more applicants than normal

[lavish night]

Yes

E.g. WM normally gets 500-600 applications iirc, but this year they got 800

[tacit lark]

what is WM

[lavish night]

Wisconsin madison

[tacit lark]

interesting

[shell kindle]

Bad CS job market perhaps

[cosmic magnet]

I'm cooked for both full time recruiting and grad applications

Truly the darkest timeline

[robust crane]

can't apply my senior year then?

And if not is this common?

[shell kindle]

You can

A bachelor's degree before starting your phd

[robust crane]

Ohhkay got it, wasn't sure if the 'before applying' part held

[shell kindle]

#advanced-lounge

[latent bolt]

yea kind of salty about this lol

[spring portal]

Yeah, with a lot of layoffs in the past 1-2 years, more people are applying to grad schools so they can do something else in the mean time. Stats are rough but we can hopefully pull through.

I feel like the worst hit are CS/CS-aligned graduate programs, but the rest should not have too much inflation in the applicant pool size.

[river turret]

Does anyone know a masters specialized in advanced complex analysis? Or masters that includes advanced complex analysis, with other closely related topics? (such as functional analysis, asymptotic analysis, ...)

[shell kindle]

Most masters degrees don't specialize that much, except for potentially the thesis

What country are you in?

[river turret]

France

[lavish night]

Im sorry to hear that🫂

[river turret]

Is it that bad compared to elsewhere?

[visual lagoon]

Ignore them, they're just dunking on France for no reason

[lavish night]

Im literally french tho

[smoky jetty]

As Angetenar said, you should look for masters programs where there are professors who work in complex analysis

and apply to those and do a masters thesis with one of those professors

but any masters program will have you doing advanced courses in algebra, analysis, and probably have some freedom for you to elect to pick some courses of your choice (such as complex analysis or other related analytical topics)

[river turret]

I found only two masters that suits me and none in France

I feel like all masters in mathematics are dropping their second year advanced complex analysis courses for differential geometry, algebraic topology and algebraic geometry, as I keep stumbling upon old pages for CA courses that are not actually taught anymore...

Complex analysis looks like a dying field to me, it's kind of depressing

[hardy aurora]

isn't severable variables not dying? (idk)

[river turret]

Never seen it

[swift palm]

one of the best ways to see if a field is dying is to look for recent publications in good journals

[mossy niche]

according to the people I've talked to, it's a very niche field nowadays

[fickle hawk]

What exactly are you hoping from an advanced complex analysis course

[shell kindle]

Traditional complex analysis isn't that active anymore

Several complex variables has a lot of work to be done but is a bit niche as well

[urban raft]

If I remember correctly, ENS Lyon has a good M2 in complex geometry

but yes, SCV is not a very active field (from the PoV of someone working in complex geometry)

http://mathematiques.ens-lyon.fr/medias/fichier/geometrie_1702642884833-pdf?ID_FICHE=132136&INLINE=FALSE

The ENS Lyon M2 looks very good

outside of france, Gothenburg in Sweden has a strong group in complex geometry and in SCV

[limpid zealot]

My understanding is that a lot of SCV currently (that isn't geometric) is moreso tied to Operator Theory and Harmonic Analysis

[limpid zealot]

What do you mean by lot of work to be done?

[limpid zealot]

That's interesting - how's CG faring?

[urban raft]

Many open problems (but every field of maths has that lol), not many people working on it

[urban raft]

I just started my PhD, but seems pretty active imo

[limpid zealot]

That's neat

[river turret]

Gather the tools I need for my research

[river turret]

I'm aware, but as I said, that's the program of literally every pure maths M2 in France and of most them in europe

[fickle hawk]

What is your research

[river turret]

Theory of asymptotic series

[soft narwhal]

i know some people working in complex stochastic processes

[mossy niche]

how doomed is it? trump just paused all federal grants

so there's a chance all my fellowship applications were for naught?

[cosmic magnet]

Yeah, I'm feeling very cooked rn

[mossy niche]

forget about fellowships, this dooms the department in general, no? I swear everything is funded my nsf

[cosmic magnet]

I'm expecting a big dip in admissions so uh💀

Worst cycle to apply to ig

[cosmic magnet]

There are only so many big private schools so I'm confident it will affect a good amount of people this holds

[shell kindle]

No

[shell kindle]

No one knows! That's the fun part

[shell kindle]

If FAFSA funding is frozen then that'll also have a pretty large impact because of dips in undergrad admission => less math teaching => less money to math departments

[mossy niche]

i don't think pell grant funding has stopped

*yet

[lavish night]

A school sent out some acceptances today and I didn't get one. Would it be rude to email the school and ask if this means I didn't get in?

[shell kindle]

It would certainly be pointless

[lavish night]

why? would they necessarily refuse to answer?

[mossy niche]

what sort of knowledge to you get out of asking them? it changes nothing at this moment

[cosmic magnet]

They sent out some not necessarily all the acceptances

[lavish night]

yes that's why I want to ask them if they sent out all or only some acceptances

[lavish night]

I will know whether I still have a chance at being admitted

[tacit lark]

its early relax

[lavish night]

no

[lone flax]

wait like this isn't necessarily a bad idea: if you haven't heard from your top school, but you have heard from some other places, knowing whether or not you have been waitlisted (vs softly rejected) from your top school is relevant to your ability to quickly accept an offer from somewhere else?

[mossy niche]

its not even february, so there isnt any point

the universal date is april 15

unless there is an offer outside the us with an earlier date i suppose

[timber tundra]

Hey all,

The graduate application season is over, and schools are returning results. As #graduate-applications has served its purpose, and as we wish to ensure the server's culture does not become too strained by the return of results, we will be closing this channel until next application season. This is a routine action and happens every year at around this time.

If you have any out-of-season questions on the graduate application process, consider asking elsewhere in the server, such as in #advanced-lounge . If you would like to be informed on what schools have posted results/what sort of applications get in/etc., this server is not the place for it — please go elsewhere.

[quaint chasm]

We're opening the channel for the 2025–2026 application season. It's dedicated to questions and discussions on the graduate school (Master's/PhD) application process as well as other postgraduate applications, grant applications, and fellowship applications (not including undergraduate applications). We want the channel to be positive and professional, avoiding doom-and-gloom and toxicity. Please avoid "chance me" or "what's the minimum to get into X" posts. We highly encourage talking to an advisor or someone who is experienced and knows you personally for detailed advice on where to apply. Happy application season!

[shell kindle]

[gentle basin]

and so it begins

[raw quail]

to be clear the shiver is in response to my own applications

[paper granite]

Me too, I keep telling myself I don’t need to worry it’s so far away. I’ve got like 4 months

[cosmic magnet]

Just out of curiousity, you're starting a Masters program no?

[paper granite]

I am, but I’m trying to be more organised about PhD stuff than I was for my masters applications, since some of them need to be sent off around Christmas I want to have a rough idea of what I’d like to do and where in the coming months

[cosmic magnet]

I forgot that Masters in the UK are year long programs. That's tough💀

[paper granite]

Generally if you’re in a place with integrated masters those are worth it, if you’re in the UK that’s the “standard” approach besides people doing part III

[gentle basin]

in the us it’s common for math people to go straight from BS to PhD, you can of course do a MS in between tho

[main aspen]

How do you go about finding people/unis with a lot of people who do research in the areas you want to do a PhD in?
I’m mostly looking towards continental Europe with this question, as someone from the UK going into their integrated masters

[mossy niche]

4.0 and impressed wellknown professor(s)

[lunar nimbus]

Ah, the horrors of the "work-life balance"

[quiet stag]

• Ask your mentors and profs (who research similar things that you want to study) for people/schools they recommend
• You can also look for recurring names across the references sections of papers relating to what you want to do or even just browse arXiv for people doing research you find interesting
• Attend a conference and network with people who work in areas similar to what you want to do. They might be able to point you toward people/schools

[smoky jetty]

Also looking at conference/ journal proceedings

But really ask people at your university

This is easier if you know what kinds of math you want to do

If you don't know, you can still look more broadly at larger schools

Larger schools will have a wider range of fields of math represented among the faculty (just because there are more faculty)

[main aspen]

Already going to be happening!
I’m doing a summer research project, and I’m going to ask my supervisor tomorrow (the area of my project is one of the two areas I might like to go into)
I think I know who else I could ask (especially for the other one), but that starts feeling kinda messy because like, he’s also someone who I could see taking me for a PhD

[smoky jetty]

But I mean you don't have to go to the same school for PhD

And for many cases I've heard it's advisable to go elsewhere

But in either case why would it be messy to ask about other universities?

[main aspen]

I don’t have to, but I’ll definitely be applying here again (partially because there’s quite a few people doing the stuff I’m interested in)

[main aspen]

Idk, it just feels weird to my brain

[smoky jetty]

They would be more than happy to recommend other places as well

They were in your shoes before

[mossy niche]

normally they don't want you to stay for your phd

especially at a top school

the exception is if youre a really brilliant student who wants to stay for some reason

[main aspen]

The amount of PhDs I know who’ve gone undergrad -> integrated masters -> PhD all here is like
It’s probably at least a quarter of the ones I’ve interacted with

[mossy niche]

at my undergrad there were none (all were rejected) and at my grad there is one

[paper granite]

I think it probably just depends on the uni then, I know a lot of people did everything at my UG institution for maths, but I also know very few of their CS grads managed to get CS PhDs there

[cosmic magnet]

I met researcher who's an UG alumni from your school last sem. Very cool guy in math bio

[urban raft]

the funding situation in a lot of places is terrible at the moment, so I don't think anyone would take offence to people asking about more places to apply to

[main aspen]

this is probably like 99% autism brain weirdness tbh

[urban raft]

oh fair enough

tbf I found a lot of the people I was applying to quite intimidating at first

but now they're just normal people to me

and they've all been through the PhD application process

so they all know what it's like

[main aspen]

The worse thing is that the person I’m putting off emailing is someone who absolutely knows me, and has a good opinion of me

[paper granite]

Then it’s all the more likely they’ll want the best for you, and would have no problem recommending you to other institutions

It’s not a personal thing

[whole tartan]

Hi I have a question about GRE. Is gre subject score still relevant? I see many schools have made it optional but this year funding might be meager than before. So would gre be a critical factor now?

I hope this is the right place to ask than general discussion.

[shell kindle]

It is relevant if you do badly, if a school requires it, or you come from a lesser known school

[whole tartan]

Ohh mine definitely is a lesser known school. So might have to think about it. Tq!

[smoky jetty]

look at the schools you want to apply to

if enough of them recommend or require it then consider taking it

this will be a very preliminary list I am sure

and it is bound to change down the line as you consider more and more schools

but it's worth at least making a preliminary list now

[flint sundial]

So I have the following dilemma. For context I'm currently applying for a two year masters program in my country.

Currently I'm interested in type theory and category theory, but there is only really one person in my country who deals with it.

She unfortunately is a professor at university C, which is not such a well-renowned university. I applied and was accepted into universities A and B, which are well-known and renowned. But no one at these universities does type theory, although some do category theory (applied to like algebraic topology etc).

I did not apply to university C, but now I'm wondering if it would be worthwhile to.

Another issue is that currently my interests seem to be fluctuating. A couple of months ago for example I was much more interested in model theory than I am now, and I'm afraid that once I start my research I'll find something more interested in.

I feel like I should be able to discover what I want to do research on during my masters, but it seems that I need to figure it out beforehand. Both because this is what people are telling me and also because by making a choice of what university I attend, I limit the fields I can work in.

I was wondering if anyone has any insight, thanks!

[raw quail]

Seems A and B are kinda a safe choice for you then. If you're still exploring anyways, then the risk is mitigated. Worst cast you continue and end up still really wanting to do type theory, but then it's not unheard of for an advisor to advise a thesis in something tangential to their main research area. Idk what the situation is in category theory, but I have heard model theorists and computability theorists will not infrequently advise students working in different sub-fields of logic.

[flint sundial]

Ooo that's good to know!

[whole tartan]

The majority I have chosen have made it optional or not required. Only one or two is there a strict requirement. Ofc this is still a preliminary list

[urban crown]

I have a question regarding CV. Do you have to write about our school education in detail as well?
For instance; primary, secondary and higher school education. I have taken these all three educations from three different schools, so do i have to do mention all of these schools?
(btw is this right place to ask this question? I am asking this question because it is somehow related with graduate application)

[shell kindle]

For a phd, mention your masters and undergrad institutions and maybe high school if you don’t have much else to put

[lethal lynx]

Can you just skirt in there with a bachelors?

PhD meaning

[shell kindle]

In the US, yes

Varies in the rest of the world

[lethal lynx]

Thanks!

[urban crown]

I am writing my CV for masters, meaning currently i am an UG student

[paper granite]

I would mention your highschool results, my CV still has my highschool exam results and the fact I ran tutoring for maths classes

I don’t think you need to say much about it, and if you have other more relevant experience highschool is probably the best thing to drop, but it’s nice to have

I’m also assuming you’re not American based on the usage of CV and so you do have more concrete results from highschool be it A level or abitur or whatever

[mossy niche]

dropped my high school back when i was on industrial resumes limiting to one page, carried over to the cv

[urban crown]

the issue is, i have studied my non-univeristy education from three different schols

primary , secondary and high. So all i have to mention about high school (maybe you can call it pre uni)

[paper granite]

Yeah I mean this is common, all that’s really worth mentioning is your highschool, potentially secondary if you did like GCSEs or some equivalent there but definitely not primary

[urban crown]

oh, i havent done something like this ah but got some award for best performace

so i have mentioned it in awards already

maybe i should write the name of school in education, as i have mentioned the award

[paper granite]

I think it would make more sense just to have “Azfal Secondary Best at X” in the awards if that’s all you have to say about the secondary

It all really depends on how much else you have to put on there though, if it’ll take you over a page, delete it, if your page is looking pretty empty, add it

[urban crown]

it is already full

[mossy niche]

academic cv dont have to be limited to one page

[lunar nimbus]

Also I could swear that's the same CV template I've seen time and time again from LinkedIn members with unrelated "Use ChatGPT to..." posts

[mossy niche]

its the template i used 5 years ago

[paper granite]

It’s just kinda how CVs tend to look, mine is also pretty similar and I’ve been using it for like 4 or 5 years

[fading gull]

A golden advice to everyone.

If you're an undergraduate and first year student

Use your holiday for trainings with companies and corporations to gain experience and certificates.

They will help you a lot in the CV

A lot of people depends on the Uni certificate after graduating.

But it doesn't help without trainings and practice with corporations and companies.

[visual lagoon]

Yeah mine also has a very similar format haha

Probably a good thing, you don't want your CV to stand out for bad reasons

[visual lagoon]

Also just a heads up, this has a lot of personal info, idk if you want to post it here

[shell kindle]

This is not a general advice channel

Corporate internship experience matters a bit to not at all for phd admissions

[paper granite]

I still think it’s good advice, I can’t see it hurting a PhD application at all, but it does strengthen your CV outside of academia

[lethal lynx]

@urban crown elaborate on your research and put the awards at the bottom

Include the skills of the descriptions of the research and seminars, and drop the skills portion. The skills should be self evident from the description of each research, seminar, conference

[lethal lynx]

You also don’t need to spell out curriculum vitae on a CV

[lethal lynx]

Last recommendation is don’t type set the font for latex language.

Other than that, it looks awesome. And Good luck.

[shell kindle]

If you are doing an internship instead of a research experience that could hurt

[mossy niche]

it shouldnt hurt. it just doesnt help compared to research experience (not everyone is able to get research over summer)

[urban crown]

I was thinking about it, but atleast i got some suggestions from Quotationxo.

[urban crown]

I have placed at second last, and the portion for languages is at last.

i have changed seminars and reseach section as (i will remove the work conference btw)

[urban crown]

Btw i will add the pdf link as well (my research paper), once we are done with writing .

[paper granite]

I guess this is a US/EU difference as well as there’s typically not an expectation that you do any UG research here

[flint sundial]

LaTeX instead of \LaTeX 👀

[paper granite]

UG research just isn’t generally much of a thing here, and there’s typically an expectation that you’ve done a masters which contains a “research” component, which is infinitely more valuable in any case. It’s also not uncommon to have an UG project/thesis/diss so there’s that too

[urban crown]

Isn't it fine?

[flint sundial]

I doubt it's a big issue, and I have no experience writing (good) resumes, but I don't see why you'd write it that way

It's just not typeset well

[urban crown]

Yes. I am a bit confused as well

[visual lagoon]

just put a backslash before LaTeX whenever you write it in LaTeX

you may also have to put a backslash after it too, if there's a space after it

[urban crown]

Oh sure like $\LaTeX$

[sly anvil]

Topological Afzal

[glacial pendant]

how did y'all figure out who to get to read your personal statements and review them? my friends have some nice first suggestions, but because most of them are not math majors, they aren't able to comment on the math stuff + they don't have insight into what programs want

at the same time, i kind of feel like nobody but professors know? is it just best to ask advisors only

[lethal lynx]

Why can’t you ask professors?

Cause if you need letters of recommendation, they’re gonna do them

[paper granite]

Your academic/personal advisor would be a good call, assuming you have one

I’ll be honest though, I just looked up examples of other people’s statements online and used that as a starting point for mine, I never actually showed anyone

I did attach it to my emails when I asked my letter writers for the recommendations, but neither of them commented on it

[tacit lark]

i asked friends that got into phd programs and the profs writing my letters of recommendation

[glacial pendant]

I will, but I don’t want to waste their time by showing them a first draft that needs a lot of work — I ideally wanna ask them only once

[smoky jetty]

well don't show a first draft

edit it yourself a good amount but get started on that stuff now

you should ask your letter writers (or at least one of them) for feedback on your statements

[tacit lark]

i asked my friends first then letter writer

[smoky jetty]

Yea if you know any friends who can take a look that's good

I asked at least one person I knew who was in grad school before asking my letter writers

I probably asked more people but I can't remember

[paper granite]

I asked to see yours if I remember correctly, I think it is also worth looking at what other people did well, in addition to getting people to review yours. That way it’s likely people will only have to suggest small tweaks as opposed to full rewrites

[urban raft]

for people applying to the UK, the advice I got was that people don't (really) read the personal statements

[paper granite]

This is also what I was told by a rather senior professor at my uni. He said he always checks results and previous unis before anything, if they’re good he’ll read the recommendations and only if he’s totally stuck between a few candidates will he read their statements

[fair heart]

hi everyone, has anyone had any experience with Civil Service Fast Stream programmes? im specifically interested in GSS and GORS, and am currently a 2nd year student doing maths + stats degree in the uk

[placid haven]

does anyone have any resources on how my academic cv/resume should be formatted? i've never made an academic resume/cv so i'm going into this a bit blind , i do have a regular resume/cv tho that i use for jobs but i would imagine it needs to be different

[shell kindle]

There is a cv template in the pinned posts

[placid haven]

ooh ty!!!

[grim forge]

Does anyone know of any good spots to read sample math personal statements and statements of purpose? I'd like to get a feel for exactly what is being asked of me.

[quiet stag]

https://math.wisc.edu/graduate/prospective-phd/additional-application-information/ there are two here, along with some other resources, that helped me last year

[grim forge]

Thank you!

[glacial pendant]

what are people's takes on the best ways to study for the math subject test GRE? i'm reviewing using princeton review rn, primarily for lower div material + UD linalg

i've heard some people say that it's insufficient for certain things (alg/analysis), but m yedxperiece with the tests has been that abstract algebra is a just a quick question or a fact that you would have memorized (from practice tests: ||conj classes of symm groups||, ||properties of idempotent rings||) and analysis is also relatively simply propertie sof continuity etc. for the most part?

so i'm wondering what others' takes on this is

[mossy niche]

cry

(my strategy)

[glacial pendant]

there's no way of reliably seeing what the middle 50% or some ismilar statistic about mGRE scores is for admits at schools, right?

[quiet stag]

not unless the program gives that statistic on their admissions page (which i have seen one or two do)

[gentle basin]

those kinds of stats are a lot more sporadic for grad vs undergrad admissions just bc fewer people

[worthy peak]

how necessary is the GRE subject test for MS(c)/MPhil applied mathematics (probably math-bio direction)

I know very little abstract algebra

my analysis grades are okay

[shell kindle]

Are you in the US

What type of schools are you looking at for masters

[cosmic magnet]

I didn't take it and I was fine. I think having the relevant classes will definitely give you an edge in your application for math bio related programs (my current field)

[fresh kindle]

gl peeps

[worthy peak]

not in the US but I'm thinking of applying to some US school

[worthy peak]

thanks

[waxen depot]

Hi everyone, I'm an undergrad that just finished their first year in a London uni, studying maths. I'm still a few years away from applying for postgraduate programs, but I'm interested in pursuing a masters/PhD in diff geo/mathematical physics in the future. In this sense the Oxford mathematical physics group looks quite appealing, due to the significant overlap between the math and physics departments. If anyone here has some experience in receiving an offer: I achieved a 70.6 average (so just scratching a first) in my first year, starting my second year soon. I also have research experience and strong LoR from an elite uni in the US (HYPSM level), with two publications pending. I imagine that to have a shot at getting into their program and receiving an offer I'd need to have close to perfect grades in my second year, since I'd be applying in my third year. What do you guys think? Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!

[paper granite]

I’ve heard that they typically like your grades to be closer to the 80s, so like a pretty strong first, but also if you have publications and a very clear idea of what you’d like to do that would probably change things quite a bit

I’d also recommend taking a look at the AGQ CDT in Edinburgh, it’s a really good mathphys programme

[ionic valley]

So, in a sense uni, results, recommendations > grades?

[paper granite]

I’m not quite sure what you’re saying, but typically recommendations are the most important thing yeah

[ionic valley]

I see.

Since, I have always believed that grades were more important than recommendation letters.

[mossy niche]

everyone needs and has good grades

[paper granite]

I mean they’re important in the sense that you’ll probably just be ignored if you have shit grades, but if you’re applying to somewhere good everyone will have good grades, it’s going to be the rec letters that set you apart

[ionic valley]

Insightful, thanks.

[feral shale]

My name is Germana. I have a degree in Mathematics from UFG. I need to go to a program that will be more valued, certainly not in Brazil. I’m seriously thinking about changing careers.
How is life for you mathematicians or teachers over there?

[cosmic magnet]

Not necessarily but it definitely is something you should aim to have

[gentle basin]

me when most of my recommenders can’t say much more than “uh yeah he got an A in my class?”

[hasty fulcrum]

By results does that mean just the GPA or do they also check which courses they get the grades in and the timeline? Say for example if you end up with worse grades in unrelated coursework or if the grades improve over time, i.e. lower grades in first year courses and then getting higher grades in the last year courses

[scarlet barn]

I am in a bit of a pickle. I have had a really difficult time getting into research and I am taking this research class that provides some projects. I’m sort of wondering if having a really good experience with this sort of experience has equal or near similar value to work under a professor.

[shell kindle]

In the US I would generally not recommend doing a math masters

What are you looking for from a graduate degree?

[cosmic magnet]

Would you say so given the financial aspects or that MS students really can't get solid research under their belt in two years?

[outer reef]

us phd programs are designed for students to begin right after undergrad, so the masters programs are typically either a way for departments with phd programs to make money, or for departments without the resources to run a phd program to still offer some postgraduate studies

neither is ideal for a student who wants to pursue math beyond the masters

[worthy peak]

apply directly to phd?

yeah, I might do that

[cosmic magnet]

I see. I'm currently in a Masters program which serves as a path to the PhD at the same institution. Internal transfers are smooth so it's kinda weird as to why they have the distinction between both programs.

To my understanding it's due to the fact that it helps with guaranteeing funding for students in both programs

[outer reef]

in the US?

[cosmic magnet]

Yes. The MS is treated as the first two years of the PhD (most people end up continuing) or you coulr otherwise just graduate with the MS