2013 Applicant Profiles and Admission Results

Forum for the GRE subject test in mathematics.
sananelan
Posts: 5
Joined: Sat Feb 02, 2013 5:11 am

Re: 2013 Applicant Profiles and Admission Results

Post by sananelan » Sun Feb 03, 2013 2:13 pm

Undergrad Institution: Middle East Technical University, Turkey
Major(s): Mathematics and Electrical-Electronics Engineering
GPA: Math:3.88/4.00 EE:3.71/4.00
Type of Student: International Male

GRE Revised General Test:
Q: 164 (90%)
V: 147 (32%)
W: 3.0 (11%)
GRE Subject Test in Mathematics:
M: 770 (76%)

Program Applying: Pure mathematics (Geometric Topology/Differential Geometry/Algebraic Geometry)


Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Some minor tutoring

Applying to Where: (Color use here is welcome)

UC Berkeley Rejected
UCLA 2/13 Rejected
U Chicago 2/8/2013 Rejected via e-mail for checking status update
Ohio State Waitlisted
Minnesota Waitlisted
Georgia Institute of Technology Waitlisted
U Michigan, Ann Arbor 2/28 rejected
U Utah2/28 Waitlisted
U Indiana, Bloomington 2/21 Rejected
Berlin Mathematical SchoolE-mail for Interview 2/26 Accepted
U Wisconsin Maddison 2/19 Rejected
SUNY at Stony Brook Rejected
Last edited by sananelan on Thu Apr 11, 2013 12:04 pm, edited 9 times in total.

jdesilva
Posts: 19
Joined: Sun Feb 03, 2013 4:00 pm

Re: 2013 Applicant Profiles and Admission Results

Post by jdesilva » Sun Feb 03, 2013 4:18 pm

Undergrad Institution: Small liberal arts no one has ever heard of, no grad program
Major(s): Mathematics
GPA: 3.96
Math GPA:4.0
Type of Student: Female minority

GRE Revised General Test:
Q: 164 (90%)
V: 156 (69%)
W: 4.5 (73%)
GRE Subject Test in Mathematics:
M: 630 (44%)

Program Applying: Pure Math

Research Experience: First research experience at UC nearby in engineering, second at my own school in applied mathematics which yielded a publication in undergraduate journal, third was REU at the MSRI in combinatorics with a paper submitted for publication to the electronic journal of combinatorics, now doing research at home university with different professor in wavelet theory
Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Pi mu epsilon chapter president, national society of collegiate scholars, dean's list, math club secretary
Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Homework grader of linear algebra calc 2&1 precalc, TA for intermediate algebra class
Any Miscellaneous Points that Might Help: Have visited UIUC in december when i met grad director at SACNAS conference, visited Iowa state for conference since the postdoc there was an RA for my REU, have been in contact with UNL grad recruiting chair via email since november
Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: lots and lots of conferences/poster presentations and talks: JMM, SACNAS, etc. all with funding

Applying to Where:
NSF Grad fellowship (going out on a limb here!)-Awarded

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign:Accepted via email with 3 year fellowship (notified 2/21) Withdrawn
University of Nebraska-Lincoln:Accepted25K fellowship for first year, includes travel funds and no teaching duties, TA for following years Accepted!
Iowa State University:Unofficial acceptance from professor with financial offer and fellowship Withdrawn
UC Davis
Emory UniversityAccepted 2/12 via email 20K TAship Withdrawn
StanfordRejected via email 2/12
Georgia TechAccepted 2/18 via email possible fellowship Withdrawn
Lehigh UniversityAccepted 3/4 via email and postal, they called and asked if I'm still interested to offer me TAship Withdrawn
Rutgers New BrunswickAccepted via email 2/8 with Fellowship first and last year, TAship other three years. Withdrawn
North Carolina State University
Last edited by jdesilva on Mon Apr 08, 2013 8:57 pm, edited 13 times in total.

y45askel
Posts: 44
Joined: Wed Feb 22, 2012 5:14 pm

Re: 2013 Applicant Profiles and Admission Results

Post by y45askel » Sun Feb 03, 2013 5:52 pm

removed.
Last edited by y45askel on Thu May 16, 2013 1:35 pm, edited 1 time in total.

statsomethin
Posts: 2
Joined: Wed Jan 30, 2013 3:06 pm

Re: 2013 Applicant Profiles and Admission Results

Post by statsomethin » Tue Feb 05, 2013 10:39 pm

ajrasmus wrote:To the two guys directly above this post (and anyone else who might know): do you have any idea if Washington has already sent out the bulk of their responses? Did they mention anything like this in their acceptance/rejection emails?
here's what they sent
Thank you for your application to the University of Washington Graduate School. Your file has been carefully reviewed by the graduate admissions committee in the Statistics (PhD) program.

Unfortunately, the committee has decided not to recommend your admission and I concur with this decision. The number and quality of graduate applicants to the University of Washington are extraordinary and these difficult decisions are reached through careful consideration of all applicants to a given program. In many cases, enrollment restrictions are also a factor, limiting our ability to accept all qualified applicants.

If you have questions regarding the reasons for this decision, they should be directed to the graduate program.

I realize that this outcome is disappointing, but I do thank you for the time and effort you invested into applying to a graduate program at the UW, as I recognize that expenditures of money and time to do so can be considerable. I wish you well in your future educational endeavors.
I'd guess you're on some sort of waitlist.

rmg512
Posts: 97
Joined: Sat Nov 12, 2011 8:15 pm

Re: 2013 Applicant Profiles and Admission Results

Post by rmg512 » Wed Feb 06, 2013 3:21 am

That's definitely a rejection and not a waitlist email.

ajrasmus
Posts: 18
Joined: Sun Jan 27, 2013 1:13 pm

Re: 2013 Applicant Profiles and Admission Results

Post by ajrasmus » Wed Feb 06, 2013 3:01 pm

statsomethin wrote:
ajrasmus wrote:To the two guys directly above this post (and anyone else who might know): do you have any idea if Washington has already sent out the bulk of their responses? Did they mention anything like this in their acceptance/rejection emails?
here's what they sent
Thank you for your application to the University of Washington Graduate School. Your file has been carefully reviewed by the graduate admissions committee in the Statistics (PhD) program.

Unfortunately, the committee has decided not to recommend your admission and I concur with this decision. The number and quality of graduate applicants to the University of Washington are extraordinary and these difficult decisions are reached through careful consideration of all applicants to a given program. In many cases, enrollment restrictions are also a factor, limiting our ability to accept all qualified applicants.

If you have questions regarding the reasons for this decision, they should be directed to the graduate program.

I realize that this outcome is disappointing, but I do thank you for the time and effort you invested into applying to a graduate program at the UW, as I recognize that expenditures of money and time to do so can be considerable. I wish you well in your future educational endeavors.
I'd guess you're on some sort of waitlist.
That sounds disappointing, sorry to hear that.

I did realize shortly after asking that this was an application to the statistics program (not pure math). In fact, it doesn't sound like Washington has sent out any results for pure math yet. So that is somewhat reassuring for me.

rlg23
Posts: 1
Joined: Wed Feb 06, 2013 7:15 pm

Re: 2013 Applicant Profiles and Admission Results

Post by rlg23 » Wed Feb 06, 2013 8:45 pm

Undergrad Institution: Big State University
Major(s): Mathematics
Minor(s): Physics
GPA: 3.92 (4.0 in major)
Type of Student: DWM

GRE Revised General Test:
Q: 168 (97%)
V: 162 (89%)
W: 4.0 (49%)
GRE Subject Test in Mathematics:
M: 840 (88%)

TOEFL Score: NA

Program Applying: Pure Math

Research Experience: One summer REU. Paper in review for publication. Poster session at JMM 2012. Talk at local undergrad conference.
Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Dean's List / Other minor university recognitions
Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Grader for Abstract Algebra (1 semester), TA/Recitation Instructor for Calc I/II (4 semesters)
Any Miscellaneous Points that Might Help: 8 semesters of graduate courses.
Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: NA

Applying to Where: (All Pure Math)
U. Wisconsin - Rejected, Mar 14
Northwestern - Rejected, Feb 7
U. Texas - Rejected, Feb 13
Ohio State - Admitted, Jan 31
U. Kansas - Admitted, Feb 7
Texas A&M - Admitted, Feb 6
Duke - Admitted, Jan 31 - Will Attend
Penn State - Pending - As of Aug 9 I have heard nothing. (Assume rejection :P)
U. Iowa - Rejected, Jun 30
U. Missouri - Admitted, Feb 26
U. Nebraska - Admitted, Feb 1
U. Michigan - Rejected, Feb 28
U. Oklahoma - Withdrawn, Feb 26
Last edited by rlg23 on Fri Aug 09, 2013 12:33 pm, edited 10 times in total.

marco
Posts: 263
Joined: Mon Jun 11, 2012 2:27 am

Re: 2013 Applicant Profiles and Admission Results

Post by marco » Wed Feb 06, 2013 8:54 pm

rlg23 wrote:Undergrad Institution: Big State University
Major(s): Mathematics
Minor(s): Physics
GPA: 3.92 (4.0 in major)
Type of Student: DWM

GRE Revised General Test:
Q: 168 (97%)
V: 162 (89%)
W: 4.0 (49%)
GRE Subject Test in Mathematics:
M: 840 (88%)

TOEFL Score: NA



Program Applying: Pure Math

Research Experience: One summer REU. Paper in review for publication. Poster session at JMM 2012. Talk at local undergrad conference.
Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Dean's List / Other minor university recognitions
Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Grader for Abstract Algebra (1 semester), TA/Recitation Instructor for Calc I/II (4 semesters)
Any Miscellaneous Points that Might Help: 8 semesters of graduate courses.
Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: NA

Applying to Where: (All Pure Math)
U. Wisconsin - Pending
Northwestern - Pending
U. Texas - Pending
Ohio State - Admitted, Jan 31
U. Kansas - Pending
Texas A&M - Admitted, Feb 6
Duke - Admitted, Jan 31
Penn State - Pending
U. Iowa - Pending
U. Missouri - Pending
U. Nebraska - Admitted, Feb 1
U. Michigan - Pending
U. Oklahoma - Pending
May I ask is that Duke acceptance was unofficial?

originalmaffer
Posts: 1
Joined: Fri Feb 08, 2013 2:27 pm

Re: 2013 Applicant Profiles and Admission Results

Post by originalmaffer » Fri Feb 08, 2013 2:43 pm

Undergrad Institution: Top Liberal Arts (American)
Major(s): Math
Minor(s): N/A
GPA: 3.95
Type of Student: Domestic, male, white

GRE Revised General Test:
Q: 170 (99%)
V: 157 (73%)
W: 5.0 (92%)
GRE Subject Test in Mathematics:
M: 880 (94%)

Program Applying: Pure Math

Research Experience: One summer at my school, one REU, and thesis. One publication in an undergrad journal, another being revised for resubmission
Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Top departmental honors, Goldwater Scholarship, top 100 on Putnam once
Pertinent Activities or Jobs: graded and tutored for 4 semesters (analysis and topology)
Any Miscellaneous Points that Might Help: only 2 semesters of grad courses, but lots of "grad-level" courses since my school is undergraduate only. Strong recommendations (don't we all think that?)
Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter:

Applying to Where: (Color use here is welcome)
Berkeley - admitted by e-mail on Feb 3rd
Harvard - rejected via postal mail, received on Feb 11th
MIT - rejected via e-mail on Feb 14th
Michigan - admitted by e-mail on Feb 14th
Wisconsin - admitted by e-mail on Feb 8th
UCLA - admitted by e-mail on Jan 25th
Washington - withdrawn
Illinois - withdrawn
British Columbia - withdrawn
Indiana - withdrawn
UCSD - withdrawn
Last edited by originalmaffer on Thu Feb 14, 2013 4:59 pm, edited 4 times in total.

arxndo
Posts: 8
Joined: Mon Jan 21, 2013 9:01 pm

Re: 2013 Applicant Profiles and Admission Results

Post by arxndo » Fri Feb 08, 2013 4:09 pm

Undergrad Institution: Top Ivy
Major(s): Pure Mathematics
Minor(s): None
GPA: 3.50
Type of Student: Domestic Minority Male

GRE Revised General Test:[/b]
Q: 168 (97%)
V: 167 (97%)
W: 5.0 (92%)
GRE Subject Test in Mathematics:[/b]
M: 670 (54%)

TOEFL Score: Not Applicable

Program Applying: Applied Math and Operations Research PhD

Research Experience: One published PNAS paper
Awards/Honors/Recognitions: None
Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Tutoring
Any Miscellaneous Points that Might Help: Aced several grad level class, strong recs from famous profs
Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: Finance experience

Applying to (all Applied Math PhD programs unless specified otherwise):
NYU (Center for Atmosphere Ocean Science): Admitted by phone Feb 6
Columbia: Pending
Harvard: Pending
Yale: Pending
Dartmouth: Pending
Brown: Pending
Cornell: Pending
Princeton (ORFE): Pending
Northwestern: Pending
UMich: Pending
UTexas: Pending
Berkeley: Pending
Stanford (MS&E Masters): Pending

Amicable_PairTY
Posts: 3
Joined: Sun Feb 10, 2013 12:23 am

Re: 2013 Applicant Profiles and Admission Results

Post by Amicable_PairTY » Sun Feb 10, 2013 12:39 am

Undergrad Institution: Top 100 Public US Institution
Major(s):Mathematics (BS); English (BA)
Minor(s):African-American Studies
GPA: ~3.5
Graduate Institution: Small No Name (5 total full-time students) Mathematical Sciences (MS)
Type of Student: Domestic Minority Female

GRE Revised General Test:
Q: 160 (81%)
V: 154 (61%)
W: 5.0 (92%)
GRE Subject Test in Mathematics:
M: didn't take :?

TOEFL Score: N/A

Program Applying: Pure Math

Research Experience: Decent Master's Thesis in progress, no publications
Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Nothing outside of the norm, some Dean's List, chosen to participate in graduate research ethics course last semester
Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Graduate Assistant, Tutor, Adjunct at Local Community College
Any Miscellaneous Points that Might Help: 30 hours of graduate work which hopefully produced some good letters. Pulling for my statement of purpose...


Applying to Where: All for Pure Math (Number Theory/Algebra)


North Carolina State University - Rejected Feb. 28
University of Iowa - Admitted 3/1 via postal mail (and also according to admissions profile in ISIS link) just thought to check this today not sure how long it has said so. Unofficial acceptance email Feb. 12 asking if I had accepted any offers yet. Still no official word on funding from math department 3/12 Offered two year fellowship no teaching duties, mixture of TA and fellowship for the remaining years ATTENDING!!!
Emory University - Rejected Feb.13
Arizona State University - Admitted Feb. 8 (no word yet on funding)
Tufts University - Pending
Virginia Tech University - Pending
Iowa State University - Pending
University of Connecticut - Rejected March 25
University of Tennessee (Knoxville) - Admitted Jan. 16 (no word yet on funding)
Last edited by Amicable_PairTY on Sat Mar 30, 2013 12:29 am, edited 9 times in total.

koloki
Posts: 2
Joined: Mon Feb 11, 2013 12:34 pm

Re: 2013 Applicant Profiles and Admission Results

Post by koloki » Mon Feb 11, 2013 12:44 pm

Undergrad Institution: ACC School
Major(s): Math + Econ
Minor(s):
GPA: 3.92 (Major GPA 4.00)
Type of Student: International Male

GRE General Test:
Q: 800 (96%)
V: 760 (99%)
W: 3.5 (30%)
GRE Subject Test in Mathematics:
M: 840 (88%)

TOEFL Score: - (if applicable)

Program Applying: Pure Math

Research Experience: 2 REUs 1 Publication
Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Dean's List, Several Honors
Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Just a grader
Any Miscellaneous Points that Might Help: 6 grad classes
Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: nah

Applying to Where:
Stanford University - Math, Ph.D. - Rejected Email 2/12/2013
Princeton University - Math, Ph.D. - Rejected Email 1/25/2013
Harvard University - Math, Ph.D. - Rejected Postal date 2/4/13, recieved 2/11/13
University of California, Berkeley - Math, Ph.D. - Rejected Email to check website 3/1/2013
MIT - Math, Ph.D. - Rejected Email 2/14/2013 Happy Valentine's
University of California, Los Angeles - Math, Ph.D. - Admitted! 2/13/2013 TAship 24k + 4k summer
University of Washington - Math, Ph.D. - Admitted! 3/5/2013 TAship 21k
University of California, San Diego - Math, Ph.D. - Admitted! 2/25/2013 30k first year, $19xx a month thereafter
University of Southern California - Math, Ph.D. - Admitted! 2/8/2013 TAship 20.5k + 2.5k summer
Last edited by koloki on Mon Mar 18, 2013 5:07 pm, edited 6 times in total.

jacksonwalters
Posts: 2
Joined: Mon Feb 11, 2013 3:40 pm

Re: 2013 Applicant Profiles and Admission Results

Post by jacksonwalters » Mon Feb 11, 2013 3:56 pm

Undergrad Institution: Virginia Tech
Majors: Math + Physics
Minor: CS
GPA (Overall/Math): 3.49/3.84
Type of Student: DWM

GRE Revised General Test:
Q: 162 (86%)
V: 157 (73%)
W: 3.5 (30%)
GRE Subject Test in Mathematics:
M: 670 (54%)

TOEFL Score: N/A

Program Applying: Pure math, Ph.D

Research Experience: One year project as undergrad in noncommutative ring theory. Resulted in award for undergrad research from home university and gave a 20 minute talk at a conference.
Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Undergrad research award from VT, placed in VT regional math contest, honorable mention in MCM, $1,300 scholarship from physics dept.
Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Tutor at VT "Math Emporium" for past year.
Any Miscellaneous Points that Might Help: Taken a couple grad math classes, should have at least two solid rec. letters.
Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: Studied abroad for a semester.

Applying to Where:
Virginia Tech - Pure math, Ph.D / Accepted - 2/27, 20k GTA.
Boston University - Pure math, Ph.D / Accepted - 3/13, 30k TF. Will attend! 8)
CU Boulder - Pure math, Ph.D / Waitlisted, Rejected - 5/14.
Univ. of Washington - Pure math, Ph.D / Rejected - 3/12.
UC Santa Barbara - Pure math, Ph.D / Rejected - 4/11.
Univ. of Maryland - Pure math, Ph.D / Rejected - 6/9.
Last edited by jacksonwalters on Sun Jun 09, 2013 12:55 pm, edited 15 times in total.

kunnysan
Posts: 12
Joined: Wed Jan 30, 2013 2:10 pm

Re: 2013 Applicant Profiles and Admission Results

Post by kunnysan » Mon Feb 11, 2013 7:31 pm

Undergrad Institution: Indian Statistical Institute
Major: Math
Minor: N/A
GPA: 3.85
GPA Major: 3.98
Type of Student: International male

GRE Revised General Test:
Q: 170 (99%)
V: 149 (40%)
W: 3.0 (11%) :oops:
GRE Subject Test in Mathematics:
M: 850 (89%)

TOEFL Score: 92

Program Applying: Pure Math (Number Theory)

Research Experience: 2 papers in analytic number theory. No publication.
Awards/Honors: National award
Pertinent Activities or Jobs: One summer school at TIFR Mumbai. Presented a talk on a special topic in p-adic Zeta function. Appreciated by a prof. from Washington, Seattle.
Any Miscellaneous Points that Might Help: Attended some International conferences. Some advanced graduate reading courses in analytic number theory.

Applying to Where:

Princeton: Rejected 1/25
UCLA: Rejected 2/14
Caltech:
Rutgers New Brunswick: Waitlisted 2/15 (Very unlikely to have an offer)
Brown: Rejected 2/8 GRE Verbal doesn't meet their cutoff, they need 152.
Michigan Ann Arbor:
Boston College: Accepted 2/7, full tuition + 22K
UIUC: Rejected 2/25
Penn State: Accepted 2/12, Full Tuition + UGF
Washington Seattle:
University of British Columbia (Master's): Accepted 2/22, 22K
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry: Accepted yayyyyyyayyyyyyayyyy.. You want a proof? Go to http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RMvmW7j_UU8/U ... 7%2529.jpg my acceptance letter!!
Last edited by kunnysan on Tue Feb 26, 2013 6:23 pm, edited 6 times in total.

1lovingsister
Posts: 36
Joined: Sat Feb 16, 2013 3:21 am

Re: 2013 Applicant Profiles and Admission Results

Post by 1lovingsister » Sat Feb 16, 2013 3:40 am

Undergrad Institution: Small State School (Liberal Arts)
Major(s): Mathematics and Computer Science
GPA: 3.99 (1 A-)
Type of Student: Female Minority

GRE Revised General Test:
Q: 162 (86%)
V: 166 (96%)
W: 4.0 (49%)
GRE Subject Test in Mathematics:
M: 540 (21%) (Don't ask. I have no idea.)

Program Applying: Pure Math

Research Experience: I have done three summer research programs. The two math related programs were at Caltech and Rutgers University. I also did a research project at my home institution which resulted in a published paper in a peer reviewed mathematics journal. I have presented at multiple conferences/seminars, including SACNAS and the Joint Mathematics Meetings.
Awards/Honors/Recognitions: I have recieved 5 to 6 merit based scholarships at my institution and am always on the dean's list.
Pertinent Activities or Jobs: I have tutored both math and writing at my school and TA'd for multivariable calculus (this included lecturing).
Any Miscellaneous Points that Might Help: I talked to the directer at Illinois-UC at SACNAS when presenting research and recieved my informal acceptance from him at JMM. Networking helps!!! Also two of my four letter writers for Caltech are affiliated with the math department there (current postdoc and a former Ph.D. student/summer program instructor), so I have some tiny hope of having my application taken seriously there.
Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: Nada

Applying to Where:
MIT - Pure Math Ph.D. / Rejected (2/14/2013)
UC Berkeley - Pure Math Ph.D. / Rejected (3/1/2013)
Caltech - Pure Math Ph.D. / Rejected (3/1/2013)
Rutgers University - Pure Math Ph.D. / Unofficial Rejection (via an email from the graduate secretary in response to a question on my application status 2/19/2013)
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign - Pure Math Ph.D. / Accepted (via email on 1/29/2013) with TA funding starting @18,555/9 months / Nominated for Graduate Fellowship (notified via email 2/15/2013)
Brandies University -Pure Math Ph.d. / Pending

NSF Graduate Research Fellowship - Awarded (3/29/2013)
Last edited by 1lovingsister on Fri Mar 29, 2013 11:21 pm, edited 2 times in total.

ApplMathProfile
Posts: 14
Joined: Tue Feb 19, 2013 3:47 pm

Re: 2013 Applicant Profiles and Admission Results

Post by ApplMathProfile » Tue Feb 19, 2013 4:13 pm

Undergrad Institution: Midwest Public School
Major(s): Mathematics & Statistics
GPA: 3.93
Type of Student: Domestic Asian male

GRE Revised General Test:
Q: 166 (94%)
V: 153 (57%) :roll:
W: 4.5 (73%)
GRE Subject Test in Mathematics:
M: 680 (56%) :oops:

Program Applying: Applied Mathematics (Numerical Methods for PDEs, CFD, Math Modeling)

Research Experience: Three research projects at my university that were tangentially related to my interests. I also completed a senior thesis. No publications, but I have spoken at a conference.
Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Usual academic honors and one national scholarship.
Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Grader/Tutor for a couple semesters. One government internship.
Any Miscellaneous Points that Might Help: Two recommendations from my research projects, one from my internship. I took a full honors-level analysis sequence. I also have 4 Grad classes in CFD, PDEs, and Numerical Analysis.
Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: Decent programming experience. 4.0 Stats GPA

Applying to Where (didn't include Stats schools):
Northwestern - ESAM PhD / Admitted via phone on Jan. 29, Fellowship Attending!
NYU Courant - Math + Atmos Sci. PhD / Admitted via phone on Feb. 6, Fellowship Declined on April 8
UIC - MSCS PhD / Admitted via email on Mar. 1, TAship Declined on April 2
Purdue - Applied Math PhD / Admitted via email on Mar. 5, TAship Declined on April 5
UMaryland - AMSC PhD / Request for further info on Feb. 6 via email; Withdrew on April 8
UMich Ann Arbor - AIM PhD / Waitlisted via email on Feb. 28 Withdrew on April 8
UChicago - Applied Math PhD / Rejected via email on Feb. 8
UW-Seattle - Applied Math PhD / Rejected via email on Feb. 8, offered unfunded MS
UW-Madison - Math PhD / Rejected via email on Feb. 19
Caltech - ACM PhD / Rejected via email on Mar. 7

PM me for more details :D
Last edited by ApplMathProfile on Thu Jul 25, 2013 9:42 am, edited 11 times in total.

RicciFlow
Posts: 18
Joined: Thu Feb 21, 2013 2:24 pm

Re: 2013 Applicant Profiles and Admission Results

Post by RicciFlow » Thu Feb 21, 2013 3:11 pm

Here's the most awkward profile you may ever see. Hopefully if I get into to some place it will give other people in my boat some hope.

Undergraduate Institution: State University, recently ranked very well (top 10 in west) for engineering but unknown for math.
Major: Mathematics B.S. emphasis in physics
GPA: 2.99 (Partial explanation below)
Type of Student: DWM

GRE Revised General Test:
Q: 158 (74%)
V: 155 (65%)
W: 4.0 (49%)
(I may or may not have forgotten to eat that day....)
GRE Subject Test in Mathematics:
M: 650 (49%)
(Did not manage my time well. Only reason I was below my expected 75% or better)

Program Applying: Pure Mathematics (Differential Geometry/Topology, PDE)

Research Experience: One year long project supported by NSF, publication in major international Applied Mathematics Journal, presented at two conferences. One year later wrote an exposition paper on Ricci Flow, gave talk at 2012 MathFest conference. Many other small talks at local conferences.
Awards/Honors/Recognition: MCM 2010 Meritorious winner, first ever putnam participant in school's history (and actually scored some decent points haha).
Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Supplemental Instructor (SI) for Intro. DiffEq for 9 semester (includes a summer). SI for Higher geometry for three semesters, calc. 2 and 3 SI for two semesters, tier 4 (highest) mathematics excel center tutor, and finally a bunch ton of grading.
Any Miscellaneous Points that Might Help: Negative things: Live with parents, father has M.S. (hence the GPA some), lower income for past two years due to father's M.S. disability, own a car to get to campus (hence all the jobs and GPA some). Positive things: 4.0 in all my math and physics classes last three semesters including a grad course in differential geometry and general relativity. Awesome letters of rec. (or so my prof's claim haha) and super good statements of purpose (spent about 3 months revising them with prof's, friends at big grad schools, etc). I also have some connections to the places I applied to with the professors who wrote my letters of rec.
Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: VP of math club, VP of university student SIAM chapter, founder of a problem solving seminar for undergrads, and math adviser for an engineering group on campus. Capable with MATLAB, Mathematica, JAVA, C, and the lovely LaTeX.
Applied to:
High hopes:
Michigan Ann Arbor (PhD): Rejected (Expected)
Johns Hopkins (PhD): Rejected (Expected)
Realistically:
CU Boulder (PhD): ACCEPTED (Off wait-list with TA-ship, ~16k/AY on 4/23) -ATTENDING OF COURSE
Vanderbilt (PhD): Rejected (Don't even care; I recently heard they're really arrogant over there anyway)
University of Kentucky (PhD): pending (Will withdraw)

I understand that my boat has some holes in it, but I hope no one makes too much fun of my scores and GPA...Life kind of got in the way. I won't be surprised if I have to enroll somewhere as a non degree seeking student and then wiggle my way into a program (that's the plan for boulder if all else fails).
*Edit: Definitely did not really expect to get into Michigan. I am just happy that one of my choices has gotten back to me though. The suspense has been nerve wracking!
Last edited by RicciFlow on Wed Apr 24, 2013 12:44 am, edited 5 times in total.

heregoesnothing
Posts: 5
Joined: Wed Jun 13, 2012 11:54 am

Re: 2013 Applicant Profiles and Admission Results

Post by heregoesnothing » Sun Feb 24, 2013 12:48 am

So I wasn't totally sure about my apps when I first posted here and deleted it. I have been very fortunate to have gotten into places much better than I had expected and I would like to post here only to contribute as a statistic to future generations.

Undergrad Institution: US News top 6 in Mathematics, i.e. canonically good math school.
Major(s): Mathematics
Minor(s):
GPA: 3.65 Overall, Math GPA closer to 3.70 (certainly not outstanding)
Type of Student: International

GRE Revised General Test:
Q: 90ish
V: 70ish
W: 40ish
GRE Subject Test in Mathematics:
M: <50% (Horrendous Score - but it does tell you that coming from a good school, taking difficult classes, having research experience and (most of all) having good recommendations makes up for bad mgre scores --- well except for one school as you will see below)



Program Applying: Pure Mathematics

Research Experience: 1 expository paper at home institution - will appear in an undergraduate math journal, 1 research paper of computational nature (as in computing invariants) with a professor at a top 10 school, to be out on ArXiv soon, 1 summer REU - invited for full length talk at YMC, paper in (very slow) progress, some new results and computations but nothing major. Also working with a professor on a book on rep. theory.
Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Dean's List, school does not give out much..
Pertinent Activities or Jobs: TA for calc, grader for analysis and an upper level elective
Any Miscellaneous Points that Might Help: I did get famous recommenders --- probably the 3 people most associated with developing undergraduates at my home institutions and another famous professor from a top 10 school (the guy I worked under for the paper above).

More importantly, I think my letters were very good despite my relatively low grades --- one professor indicated how I had progressed throughout my undergraduate career (my transcript has an obvious ascending trend), another commented on my topic of interest (he is a big deal (understatement) in the area) and I had taken a reading class with him and presented materials to him, and the last one commented on my performance in a graduate class I took under him.

I think one advantage I had coming from a top school is that my performance in graduate classes could be compared to the current crop of graduate students --- my last recommender did hint that he was going to write something along these lines.

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter:

Applying to Where: (Color use here is welcome)



Schools in order of application due date:

Stanford - Rejected
MIT - Rejected
Princeton - Rejected
Chicago - Waitlist - Rejected
Columbia - Rejected (Inquired. Personal email from guy I want to work with saying, even though my application is strong, there isn't really anyone in my field of interest)
Brown - Rejected (was in the 12 people considered for 2nd round of acceptances after the initial pool of rejections - GRE score was mentioned to be a down factor - eventually rejected after more discussion with faculty)
Minnesota - Accepted - Withdrawn
UT Austin - Accepted - Withdrawn
Northwestern - Accepted - Will Attend!
UIUC - Rejected
Washington - Withdrawn
Maryland - Withdrawn
Johns Hopkins - Waitlist - Withdrawn
Stony Brook - Withdrawn
Indiana - Accepted - Withdrawn
Virginia - Accepted-Withdrawn
Ohio State - Accepted - Withdrawn
Michigan - Accepted - Withdrawn
Last edited by heregoesnothing on Fri Mar 22, 2013 11:05 am, edited 9 times in total.

maffling
Posts: 15
Joined: Mon Feb 25, 2013 11:03 am

Re: 2013 Applicant Profiles and Admission Results

Post by maffling » Mon Feb 25, 2013 12:56 pm

Undergrad Institution: Small US Liberal Arts College
Major(s): Math, Physics
GPA: 3.83 (~3.9 for majors)
Type of Student: Domestic White Male

GRE General Test (the old one):
Q:780 (88%)
V:600 (83%)
W:4.5 (73%)
GRE Subject Test in Mathematics:
M:580 (31%)**

Program Applying: Pure Math (MathPhys/GeometricTopology)

Research Experience: College summer fellowship and a REU, both in Physics on computational QM.
Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Top Physics Student in Dept. (small award issued) nothing very significant.
Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Tutor in math up through LinAlg, Physics up through E&M, various highschool test prep. TA, Lab Ass., Science camp instructor.
Any Miscellaneous Points that Might Help: Great Recommendations, Some ambitious independent research in diagrammatic representations of Lie algebras in my senior year, part of the secret handshake club.

Applying to Where:
University of Oregon - Pure Math/Rejected 03/29
Oregon State University - Pure Math/ACCEPTED WITH ASSSSHIP! Will attend! 04/10 :cry: of joy
George Washington - Pure Math/ admitted 03/11 to MS program. no funding. Won't attend.
Wesleyan - Pure Math/waitlisted 04/02. Withdrew 04/12

My MGRE is low. My initial attempt yielded a 450(5%), so I'm happy with the marginal improvement. GW and Wesleyan don't require a subject test but I sent them my score anyway. Unfortunately, I added math as a major about halfway through my undergraduate study, so my experience in pure math research is lacking a bit. Also, I didn't apply to safety or reach schools so there's pressure to get at least one admit. I try to stay positive O_o. Best of luck to everyone!

**[opinion]: If you're reading this in prep for the 2014 cycle and haven't posted a profile, I suggest not putting embarrassed emoticon ( :oops: ) next to your score, even if you think it's low. It's likely that there is someone out there with a lower score and self shaming can inadvertently discourage those on the left half of the bell curve from posting their scores explicitly. These boards are very helpful but can be intimidating due to the high level of achievement displayed. I encourage everyone to post a profile regardless of scores/ambitions.
Last edited by maffling on Fri Apr 12, 2013 12:05 pm, edited 10 times in total.

fedeb
Posts: 1
Joined: Tue Feb 26, 2013 10:16 am

Re: 2013 Applicant Profiles and Admission Results

Post by fedeb » Tue Feb 26, 2013 10:31 am

Undergrad institution Top Italian
Major Mathematics
GPA 3.95

GRE Revised General Test
Q: 164 (90%)
V: 150 (44%)
W: 3.0 (11%)

GRE Subject Test Math 780 (78%)

Program Applying Mathematics

Research experience Almost one year working in algebraic geometry.

Awards First place to national competition for first year master students in mathematics

Applying to Where

Harvard Rejected
Stanford Accepted
Princeton Rejected
Chicago Accepted
Berkeley Rejected
NYU Courant Accepted
MIT Waitlisted Accepted, 04/02
Last edited by fedeb on Tue Apr 02, 2013 4:56 pm, edited 2 times in total.

MKD
Posts: 3
Joined: Fri Jun 01, 2012 4:05 pm

Re: 2013 Applicant Profiles and Admission Results

Post by MKD » Sat Mar 02, 2013 5:06 pm

Undergrad Institution: Top Liberal Arts
Major(s): Math
GPA: 3.78, 3.84
Type of Student: DWF

GRE Revised General Test:
Q: 170 (99%)
V: 168 (98%)
W: 4.0 (49%) yikes
GRE Subject Test in Mathematics:
M: 710, 730 (68%) - frustrated, sh/could have done better

Program Applying: Pure Math, likely Analysis

Research Experience: 2 Astrophysics Internships at LLNL (1 paper), 1 Differential Geometry Internship at NRL, honors work in analysis/measure theory
Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Truman Scholarship finalist, school-wide award for math
Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Tutor, equivalent of TA, math club president
Any Miscellaneous Points that Might Help: Completed every (pure) math class available at my (non-gradute) institute, and four independent reading courses; extensive community service, acted in/directed plays in college
Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: Graduated in 2007, military veteran with leadership experience (additional recommendation from my commanding officer) but little math exposure since 2007. I like to think my letters of recommendation were strong. Based on my success (other than in California), I believe they were.

Because of my non-traditional background, I applied to a lot of schools.

Dream:
UC Berkeley - Rejected on 3/1
MIT - Rejected on 2/14 (no love)
NYU - Accepted to Masters Program on 4/11 (No funding)
Columbia - Wait-listed on 3/1, Rejected on 4/11
U Chi - Rejected on 2/8

Reach:
UCLA - Rejected on 1/30
Brown - Accepted on 2/11 with combined TA/Fellowship, Declined
UT Austin - Accepted on 1/29 with combined TA/Fellowship, great experience at the open house, ATTENDING!
Michigan - Rejected on 3/13
Minnesota - Accepted on 2/28 with TAship, Declined
UPenn - Rejected on 4/19
Rutgers - Accepted on 2/4 with combined TA/Fellowship, Declined

Safety:
UMd - Accepted on 2/27 with combined TA/Fellowship, Declined
UCSD - Rejected on 3/1 (huh?)
CUNY - Accepted on 2/4 (date of mailed letter), Financial info to follow, Declined
SUNY Stony Brook - Rejected on 3/18

Fellowship:
NDSEG - "still being considered" on 4/3

On applying to school after a gap in your studies:
Hi, I applied to grad schools after spending 5 years in the military. If you're in a similar position, I would get in touch with your undergrad professors right away; they'll probably be excited to support you, but if not you're starting a dialogue early with plenty of time to impress them. My GPA was high so my advisor did not recommend taking refresher courses. Instead, I focused on preparing for the math GRE; I wasn't too happy with my score in the end, but graduate advisors indicated how important it would be to me because a good score indicates that I haven't lost touch with mathematics (it was good enough that I received some pretty awesome fellowship/TA-ship offers). Also, in the fall, I visited 6 schools I was seriously interested in applying to prior to submitting my application. Where I was invited to speak with the graduate director (3 places), I made a good impression by emphasizing my commitment to math, the maturity I'd bring the the program as a returning student (better focus), and by connecting my 5 years in the military with my future in math (not because I did math but because both are a form of service). I was accepted to 2 of those 3, and the professors wrote me indicating how impressed they were with my excitement toward math and what I'd done before. Pay close attention on the forum and when you visit schools to which schools appreciate atypical backgrounds and which have a sort of age bias and do not. My advisor referred to my application tactic as carpet bombing, but I applied to a lot of schools and was very practical about choosing good safeties. I always compare the experience to J.K. Rowling's experience searching for a publisher (she was rejected 12 times before someone accepted her book!). Also, if you're a domestic student, apply to the awesome state schools; whether or not your comfortable with it, you have an advantage. If you have any more questions, I'd be happy to answer them.
Last edited by MKD on Tue Apr 23, 2013 8:30 am, edited 5 times in total.

abstruse
Posts: 8
Joined: Fri Mar 16, 2012 3:57 am

Re: 2013 Applicant Profiles and Admission Results

Post by abstruse » Fri Mar 15, 2013 4:43 pm

Undergrad Institution: Very Large Public University (middling math reputation)
Major(s): Math
Minor(s): unrelated language major
GPA: 3.92
Type of Student: domestic male

GRE Revised General Test:
Q: 800 (94%)
V: very well
W: 5.0 (92%)
GRE Subject Test in Mathematics:
M: 680 (56%)

Program Applying: Some applied math programs and some pure

Research Experience: Two research projects, one resulted in a submitted paper to a decent journal but haven't heard back from them yet.
Awards/Honors/Recognitions: prestigious national undergraduate scholarship, phi beta kappa

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: tutor, TA for a summer program
Any Miscellaneous Points that Might Help: I think that my letters were all good.
Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: N/A

Applying to Where:
Minnesota
Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Vanderbilt
Maryland AMSC
Michigan State


MIT
Caltech
Brown DAM
Michigan


I'd encourage other lurkers on this board to post their information now to help future classes.
Last edited by abstruse on Sun Mar 31, 2013 10:11 am, edited 1 time in total.

mathgirl16
Posts: 11
Joined: Sun Mar 17, 2013 7:51 pm

Re: 2013 Applicant Profiles and Admission Results

Post by mathgirl16 » Sun Mar 17, 2013 8:06 pm

Undergrad Institution: Midwest
Major(s): Mathematics
GPA: overall: 3.65
Type of Student: DWF

GRE Revised General Test:
Q: 156
V: 147
W: 3.5
GRE Subject Test in Mathematics:
M: Let's not talk about it

Program Applying: Mathematics

Research Experience: One paper under review and two conference presentations. I should have prepared better for the GRE.

Applying to Where:

Reach :
Michigan- Rejected
Minnesota- Rejected
University of Illinois (Urbana)- Rejected
Purdue- Rejected

Reasonable:
University of Iowa- Withdrew... took too long.
Michigan State University- Rejected A little disappointed on this one.

Safeties:
DePaul University- Accepted - No word on funding. (Already declined)
Loyola University- Accepted- Recommended for funding. (Already declined)
Wayne State University- Accepted- Recommended for funding. (Already declined)
Northern Illinois University- Accepted- Full funding plus TA. (Attending!!!)
Last edited by mathgirl16 on Wed Apr 17, 2013 9:53 am, edited 5 times in total.

LearningMath
Posts: 3
Joined: Sun Mar 10, 2013 3:18 pm

Re: 2013 Applicant Profiles and Admission Results

Post by LearningMath » Tue Mar 19, 2013 5:48 pm

Undergrad Institution: Good US Liberal Arts
Major(s): Math, Psychology
GPA: 3.94, Math 3.96
Type of Student: International Female

GRE Revised General Test:
Q: 168 (97%)
V: 156 (69%)
W: 4.5 (73%)
GRE Subject Test in Mathematics:
M: 580 (30%)

Program Applying: Applied Math

Research Experience: Honor Thesis in Number Theory
Awards/Honors/Recognitions: some but nothing unusual
Pertinent Activities or Jobs: TA

PhD Applied Math programs:
USC
UT Austin - rejected
UMass - admitted
UIC
Oregon State - admitted
U of Houston - admitted
Last edited by LearningMath on Fri Mar 22, 2013 2:37 am, edited 1 time in total.

longtm1989
Posts: 54
Joined: Sat Mar 24, 2012 5:01 pm

Re: 2013 Applicant Profiles and Admission Results

Post by longtm1989 » Fri Mar 22, 2013 2:17 am

Undergrad Institution: Small Liberal Art (unranked)
Major(s):Mathematics
Minor(s):Finance
GPA:3.9/4.0
Type of Student: International Male

GRE Revised General Test:
Q:164
V:152
W:4.5
GRE Subject Test in Mathematics:M:840 (88%)


Program Applying: Pure math (Algebraic Geometry/Number Theory)

Research Experience: Almost none. I attended an REU at Utah University, PCMI Summer School, UCLA Summer School in Logic
Awards/Honors/Recognitions:AMS Math in Moscow Scholarship
Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: I attended the Budapest Semester in Math, and the Math in Moscow Program

Applying to Where:

Ohio State: Waitlisted.
Northwestern: Waitlisted.

Wisconsin: Rejected.
Brown: Rejected.
Berkeley: Rejected.
Yale: Rejected.

Uconn: Accepted, 20k TA , declined.
Michigan: Pending.
Columbia: Pending.
ALGANT master in Europe: Accepted, Cat A scholarship 99% of attending.

y45askel
Posts: 44
Joined: Wed Feb 22, 2012 5:14 pm

Re: 2013 Applicant Profiles and Admission Results

Post by y45askel » Fri Mar 22, 2013 11:21 am

mathgirl16 wrote:Undergrad Institution: Midwest
Major(s): Mathematics
GPA: overall: 3.65
Type of Student: DWF

GRE Revised General Test:
Q: 156
V: 147
W: 3.5
GRE Subject Test in Mathematics:
M: Let's not talk about it

Program Applying: Mathematics

Research Experience: One paper under review and two conference presentations. I should have prepared better for the GRE.

Applying to Where:

Reach :
Michigan- Submitted
Minnesota- Rejected
University of Illinois (Urbana)- Rejected
Purdue- Submitted

Reasonable:
University of Iowa- Submitted
Michigan State University- Submitted

Safeties:
DePaul University- Accepted - No word on funding. (Already declined)
Loyola University- Accepted- Recommended for funding. (Already declined)
Wayne State University- Accepted- Recommended for funding. (Already declined)
Northern Illinois University- Accepted- Full funding plus TA. (Top choice so far)
When did you find out about Wayne State Funding?

mathgirl16
Posts: 11
Joined: Sun Mar 17, 2013 7:51 pm

Re: 2013 Applicant Profiles and Admission Results

Post by mathgirl16 » Fri Mar 22, 2013 11:37 am

y45askel wrote:
mathgirl16 wrote:Undergrad Institution: Midwest
Major(s): Mathematics
GPA: overall: 3.65
Type of Student: DWF

GRE Revised General Test:
Q: 156
V: 147
W: 3.5
GRE Subject Test in Mathematics:
M: Let's not talk about it

Program Applying: Mathematics

Research Experience: One paper under review and two conference presentations. I should have prepared better for the GRE.

Applying to Where:

Reach :
Michigan- Rejected
Minnesota- Rejected
University of Illinois (Urbana)- Rejected
Purdue- Rejected

Reasonable:
University of Iowa- Withdrew... took too long.
Michigan State University- Rejected A little disappointed on this one.

Safeties:
DePaul University- Accepted - No word on funding. (Already declined)
Loyola University- Accepted- Recommended for funding. (Already declined)
Wayne State University- Accepted- Recommended for funding. (Already declined)
Northern Illinois University- Accepted- Full funding plus TA. (Attending!!)
When did you find out about Wayne State Funding?
Email from the director. He said I was on the list recommended for funding.
Last edited by mathgirl16 on Wed Apr 17, 2013 9:52 am, edited 3 times in total.

phku
Posts: 7
Joined: Fri Feb 15, 2013 12:58 am

Re: 2013 Applicant Profiles and Admission Results

Post by phku » Tue Mar 26, 2013 2:27 am

Undergrad Institution: Smaller State School
Major(s): Mathematics
Minor(s):
GPA: 3.2
Type of Student: DWM

GRE Revised General Test:
Q: 160
V: 152
W: 4
GRE Subject Test in Mathematics:
M: Didn't take.

TOEFL Score: N/A

Program Applying: Pure Math

Research Experience: Number Theory and Algebra, 3 conferences.
Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Nothing out of the ordinary. Deans list.
Any Miscellaneous Points that Might Help: I'm a little older (but not that old), and have a checkered past. One of those, "Pulled myself up by my bootstraps." kind of stories. Failed out of undergrad first time around (I liked to party, quite a bit...), went back to school 7 years later to finish up.

Applying to Where:
Florida Atlantic University (PhD) - Admitted and accepted offer. (20k+ TAship stipend, tuition waivers)
University of Denver (PhD) - Admitted and declined offer. (No funding)
Boise State University (MS) - Admitted and declined offer. (13k TAship stipend, tuition waivers, health insurance)

University of Texas - Arlington (PhD) - No idea, withdrew application it took so long. (Withdrew app)

I didn't apply to any programs that I knew were probably out of my reach. I'm extremely happy about where I will be going in the Fall because it will be a completely new experience for my wife and I. My research interests line up perfectly with their program, and I would have picked them over the other three schools even if they had all offered full funding. I wanted to post this for others so they realize that they don't need a 170 quant, a 4.0 GPA, and the MGRE to get into a decent program. A sterling SoP, and excellent LoR's go a long way. Good luck to everyone this year, and in the future.

tajohans
Posts: 5
Joined: Thu Mar 07, 2013 5:21 pm

Re: 2013 Applicant Profiles and Admission Results

Post by tajohans » Tue Mar 26, 2013 1:28 pm

Undergrad Institution: Chalmers University of Technology (Sweden, years 1-3, 5), and one exchange year at University of Waterloo (Canada, year 4)
Major(s): Math
Minor(s): Computer Science, and some Engineering
GPA: 4.85/5 (C) and 90.0/100 (W)
Type of Student: International male

GRE Revised General Test:
Q: 169 (98%)
V: 157 (73%)
W: 3.5 (30%)
GRE Subject Test in Mathematics:
M: 860 (91%)

TOEFL Score: R29/L30/S26/W28

Program Applying: Pure math unless indicated otherwise. Interested in probability and discrete math.

Research Experience: 4 months research for my Master's thesis. Not published.
Awards/Honors/Recognitions: IMO contestant for Sweden in 2008.
Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Tutor since 3rd year. Have tought classes of 200 students.
Any Miscellaneous Points that Might Help: Took the equivalent of 6 years' courses in 4 years. Grad courses in analysis, algebra, discrete math, probability and statistics. Programming has been a huge part of my education, as math courses at Chalmers almost always involve some programming.

Applying to Where:
MIT - Rejected on 2/14
Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) - ACO - Waitlisted on 3/25, Accepted on 4/10. Will attend!
University of Toronto - Accepted on 3/7, Declined on 3/28
University of Chicago - Statistics - Waitlisted on 2/27, Rejected on 4/9
University of Minnesota - No response as of 4/15
New York University (NYU) - Rejected on 4/10
Columbia University - Rejected on 4/8

And my safety:
Chalmers University of Technology - Accepted on 3/16. Declined.
Last edited by tajohans on Mon Apr 15, 2013 3:30 am, edited 5 times in total.

number9
Posts: 3
Joined: Tue Mar 26, 2013 9:51 am

Re: 2013 Applicant Profiles and Admission Results

Post by number9 » Tue Mar 26, 2013 8:36 pm

Been lurking around here for awhile, figured it was time to join and share my stats:

Undergrad Institution: Small Liberal Arts
Major(s): Math, Actuarial Science
Minor(s): Economics
GPA: 3.99
Type of Student: DWF

GRE Revised General Test:
Q: 164 (90%)
V: 162 (89%)
W: 4.5 (73%)
GRE Subject Test in Mathematics:
M: 560 (27%) <---Not proud of this. But, just goes to show that you can have a crap GRE score and still get into some really awesome schools.

Program Applying: Pure Math PhD

Research Experience: Year-long project in math bio that led to a national conference presentation and publication. Summer school program in pure math at a highly ranked math school.
Awards/Honors/Recognitions: National award for math and science, a couple other awards and departmental scholarships
Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Tutor for 3 years, involved with math honor society, writing an honors thesis
Any Miscellaneous Points that Might Help: Taking a couple of independent studies to cover areas of math my school doesn't have classes for
Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: I'm told I have an interesting background story, although I'm not sure if it's really that unique.

Applying to Where:
University of Chicago - Rejected 02/08/13
University of Wisconsin -- Madison - Rejected 02/19/13
University of Illinois -- Urbana Champaign - Waitlisted 03/01/13, Accepted 03/21/13 with TA-Ship, Withdrawn
Purdue - Accepted 03/05/13 with TA-Ship and scholarship, Withdrawn
University of Illinois -- Chicago - Rejected 03/30/13
Notre Dame - Rejected 04/15/13
University of Iowa - Accepted 03/07/13 with TA-Ship, ATTENDING!
University of Wisconsin -- Milwaukee - Accepted 03/08/13 with TA-Ship and additional award, Withdrawn
Northern Illinois University - Accepted 03/01/13 with TA-Ship, Withdrawn
Last edited by number9 on Mon Apr 15, 2013 12:03 pm, edited 5 times in total.

Lin_Feng
Posts: 7
Joined: Sat Mar 23, 2013 1:21 am

Re: 2013 Applicant Profiles and Admission Results

Post by Lin_Feng » Thu Mar 28, 2013 6:18 pm

Undergrad Institution: Good Liberal Arts

GRE Revised General Test:
Q: 170
V: 158 +- 3.0
W: 5.0 +- 1.0
MGRE: 840 +-30

Domestic Male

Somewhat relevant work and research experience.
Other unique factors, which may have some impact.

Applying to Where:
Princeton PACM: Admit
Maryland AMSC: Admit
Michigan AIM: Wait-List
NYU Courant: Pending
Minnesota (Applied): Pending
Colorado (Applied): Admit (declined)
Wisconsin: Reject
Illinois: Reject

Admits to other safeties, which I will not list, as they would likely reveal my geographic area.

atimora
Posts: 10
Joined: Tue Apr 02, 2013 4:15 pm

Re: 2013 Applicant Profiles and Admission Results

Post by atimora » Tue Apr 02, 2013 5:32 pm

Undergrad Institution: LAC in northeast
Major(s): Math and Linguistics
Minor(s): Physics
GPA: ~3.5 (4.0 in last 3 semesters)
Type of Student: International

GRE Revised General Test:
Q: 170
V: 170
W: 5.0
GRE Subject Test in Mathematics:
M: :(

Program Applying: Pure Math

Research Experience: REU
Awards/Honors/Recognitions: nothing
Pertinent Activities or Jobs: no jobs
Any Miscellaneous Points that Might Help: nothing

Applying to Where: (Color use here is welcome)
MIT - rejected
Cornell - rejected
UMass Amherst - rejected
UConn - rejected

CWRU - accepted without funding
Tufts - rejected
Pittsburgh - pending in april
Syracuse - waitlisted
WPI - accepted without funding

Hopeless...
Last edited by atimora on Mon Apr 22, 2013 9:23 pm, edited 2 times in total.

bsbnj
Posts: 13
Joined: Wed Mar 06, 2013 10:45 am

Re: 2013 Applicant Profiles and Admission Results

Post by bsbnj » Thu Apr 04, 2013 7:42 pm

Undergrad Institution: Medium-size state school
Major(s): Mathematics and Secondary Education K-12
Minor(s):
GPA: a horrible 2.955
Type of Student: DWM

GRE Revised General Test:
Q: 156
V: 149
W: 3.5
GRE Subject Test in Mathematics
M: n/a

TOEFL Score: n/a

Program Applying: Pure Math

Research Experience: no experience
Awards/Honors/Recognitions:
Pertinent Activities or Jobs: math team
Any Miscellaneous Points that Might Help:
Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: I was told that my recs were exceptional; I am getting 2 bachelor degrees in 4 years + a teacher certification

Applying to Where?
Drexel University - rejected in February
Colorado State University - rejected 3/8
University of Denver - accepted 1/28 - no funding - will decline
University of New Mexico - accepted 4/4


Well, above is the good, the bad and the ugly. My undergrad is NOT indicative to what I know that I can do. Even with all my screw ups...I still managed to get into 2 out of 4 schools.

fall2013
Posts: 1
Joined: Tue Apr 09, 2013 9:20 am

Re: 2013 Applicant Profiles and Admission Results

Post by fall2013 » Tue Apr 09, 2013 4:24 pm

I am very thankful for all the options I have; they are beyond my expectation.

Lesson learned:
People always tell you research interest match is really important but I had not completely realized its importance until I was in this process. During one phone interview, all I was asked was mainly about doing research (of course there were some other fun conversational questions such as "Have you visited the campus?").

Undergrad Institution: Very small public university
Major(s): Mathematics
Minor(s): Nutrition
GPA: 4.0
Type of Student: International Asian (not Chinese or Indian) female

GRE Revised General Test:
Q: 94%
V: 69%
W: 30%


Program Applying: PhD in Applied Mathematics

Research Experience: REUs (some are just so nice to offer full generous financial support for international students), honors thesis with presentations at conferences
Awards/Honors/Recognitions: University's scholarships and awards
Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Tutor, teaching intern, peer advisor
Any Miscellaneous Points that Might Help: I became a math major in summer 2011 when I learned very basic single variable calculus. Then I completed a B.S. degree in 2 years with 7 graduate classes.
Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: Have not taken many advanced math classes such as topology (not sure if this matters in positive or negative way). My university does not even offer real analysis so I had to bike to another university to learn it without getting credits because I could not pay their tuition.

Applying to Where:
Cornell: Waitlisted
University of Washington: Rejected (offered unfunded MS)
Maryland College Park: Requested for further information

Boston University: Rejected
Stony Brook University: Accepted
Rice University: Accepted with a lot of $$$ - Attending
UC Irvine: Rejected
ASU: Accepted without funding
Notre Dame: Rejected

SMU: Waitlisted
UT Dallas: Waitlisted
San Diego State: Accepted
Last edited by fall2013 on Wed Jul 31, 2013 8:28 pm, edited 8 times in total.

MathFreaked
Posts: 48
Joined: Fri Feb 22, 2013 8:49 pm

Re: 2013 Applicant Profiles and Admission Results

Post by MathFreaked » Wed Apr 10, 2013 7:14 pm

Undergrad Institution: Big State
Major(s): Computer Engineering
Minor(s): Mathematics
GPA: 3.96/4.00 overall, 3.96/4.00 major
Type of Student: Domestic White Male

Masters Institution: Medium State
Major(s): Mathematics (focus in Applied)
GPA: 3.93/4.00

GRE Revised General Test:
Q: (800) 166 (94%)
V: (530) 155 (65%)
W: 4.5 (73%)
GRE Subject Test in Mathematics:
M: 600 (39%) I didn't send this out to everyone (only those starred * below).

TOEFL Score: NA

Program Applying: Applied Math (mostly, I applied to some places thinking I might want to do some Combinatorics/Optimization type stuff)

Research Experience: Some computational neuroscience research at my masters institution. Nothing published.
Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Deans list, a few student of the year types of awards in undergrad, part of an entrepreneurship program, and placed at a school business plan competition. Nothing really as a masters student.
Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Two internships in computer engineering, one with a large, well known company and the other with a local business during undergrad. Also did a lot of tutoring for upper level EE and CS courses. TA position currently, will have 4 semesters of teaching experience (3 of which I was the primary lecturer).
Any Miscellaneous Points that Might Help: I'm DWM, that's unique right?
Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: I passed my comprehensive exam for my masters at the PhD level (masters comp is equivalent to PhD prelim at current institution, with higher requirements for a PhD level pass).

Applying to Where: (alphabetical order)
*Carnegie Mellon University - Math / REJECTED (04.04.13 via email)
Cornell University - Applied Math (CAM) / REJECTED (03.14.13 via email)
North Carolina State University (Raleigh) - Applied Math / REJECTED (03.15.13 unofficial via email in reply to my query)
Northwestern University - Applied Math (ESAM) / WAITLISTED (01.26.13: informal phone interview, 02.09.13 waitlisted via phone, 03.06.13 update via phone still on waitlist, 04.02.13 update via phone still on waitlist)
*Princeton University - Applied Math (PACM) / REJECTED (02.15.13 via email)
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute - Applied Math / ADMITTED (03.19.13 by email after contacting the department, 04.02.13 TA $18.5k)
Rutgers University (New Brunswick) - Math / REJECTED (03.14.13 via website, 03.15.13 via email to check website)
University of Arizona - Applied Math / ADMITTED (02.06.13 Skype interview, 02.10.13 invited to visit via email, 02.28.13 formal admittance via email, 04.10.13 TA $15.7k + $3k summer) ATTENDING!
*University of Washington - Applied Math / REJECTED (02.07.13 via email) -- note: I was told that they have a strict cutoff they use for the MGRE score. I obviously sent them mine before I found out how bad I did.

(I also applied to my current institution, and they held a place for me until I got accepted elsewhere)

I completed all my applications in December, and almost had a panic attack in late January thinking I wouldn't get accepted anywhere. I have never really applied anywhere I wasn't sure I'd get in, so I decided to really reach this time. I then got a little freaked out (inspiration for my username) after finding this site and concluding that my profile didn't really compare favorably to most on here. Luckily I was able to get a few acceptances, and have the option to leave my current institution for bigger and better things!
Last edited by MathFreaked on Mon Apr 15, 2013 2:00 am, edited 1 time in total.

m_s
Posts: 24
Joined: Fri Oct 26, 2012 1:15 pm

Re: 2013 Applicant Profiles and Admission Results

Post by m_s » Thu Apr 11, 2013 9:25 pm

Undergrad Institution: Big in my country
Major(s): Mathematics
Minor(s):
GPA: 3.7, Expected: 3.76
Type of Student: International Male

GRE Revised General Test:
Q: 167
V: 160
W: 4.0
GRE Subject Test in Mathematics:
M: 840 (88%)

TOEFL Score: (114 = R28/L30/S26/W30)

Program Applying: Applied Mathematics (numerical PDEs)

Research Experience: none
Awards/Honors/Recognitions: expected to graduate in the 2% of class
Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Tutoring High School students
Any Miscellaneous Points that Might Help: Took many courses in Pure and Applied Mathematics (some can be considered as graduate) and also some in Computer Science, Engineering and Physics (studies last 5 years in my scool)
Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter:

Applying to Where:

University of Washington,Seattle (Applied)
University of British Columbia
University of Maryland,College Park AMSC - ATTENDING
Carnegie Mellon University
University of Minnesota,Twin Cities
University of Tennessee,Knoxville


University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign-Withdrew
Duke-Withdrew
Purdue
-Later Rejected

Berkeley
Brown DAM
Princeton PACM
Univercity of Chicago
UCLA
New York University,Courant - Offered admission for unfunded Master
Columbia Fu Foundation, Applied Mathematics



University of Toronto
Last edited by m_s on Tue Apr 16, 2013 12:45 pm, edited 2 times in total.

MattyC
Posts: 1
Joined: Fri Apr 12, 2013 7:15 pm

Re: 2013 Applicant Profiles and Admission Results

Post by MattyC » Fri Apr 12, 2013 7:46 pm

Greetings, aspiring wizards!
As this forum provided me with precious and strangely hard to find data on the less-than-transparent :| process of admissions to math phd programs, I am happy to report my results:

Undergrad Institution: Big state (top tier for math)
Major(s): Mathematics and Physics
Minor(s):
GPA: 3.00 :oops:
Type of Student: Domestic, Male, A+W

Graduate Institution: Big Private (top tier for math)
Major(s): Mathematics Master's Degree (M.S.)
Minor(s):
GPA: 3.75
Type of Student: Same as above


GRE Revised General Test:
Q: 170 (99%)
V: 167 (97%)
W: 3.5 (30%) :?:
GRE Subject Test in Mathematics:
M: 670 (54%) :|

TOEFL Score: n/a

Program Applying: Pure Math PhD

Research Experience: None whatsoever
Awards/Honors/Recognitions: None whatsoever
Pertinent Activities or Jobs: 5 years working as a quantitative developer in finance
Any Miscellaneous Points that Might Help: I am 34 - this apparently matters, though I don't know why exactly. If anything I'm more disciplined, and more sure of what I want to do (math!!!) But I think it definitely didn't help my chances.
Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: Unlike previous attempts that went nowhere, this time I was very proactive: I emailed professors, met with two of them to chat about potentially becoming their advisee, and when I was waitlisted, visited the department chair (whom one of the previously mentioned professors had indicated was on the admissions committee) no less than 3 times to make my case. I was also told that to get in, you should be talking to professors at schools way before you even apply! Seems it was solid advice.

Applying to Where:
SUNY Stony Brook - Pure Math / Rejected 3/18/2013 (Accepted my rejection. What was I to do?)
CUNY Grad Center - Pure Math / Waitlisted / Accepted on 4/10/2013 (Accepted my acceptance! :D )

I am elated that I will be able to continue to pursue my lifelong dream, and let this serve as a message of encouragement to those older applicants out there like me: You know you've got the goods - but you will have to work hard to show it. Get out there and talk to people, make yourself known. And most importantly, do not give up hope! You can succeed, and you deserve to succeed!

Thanks again to all members of this forum, who kept me afloat during difficult times. How I have looked forward to this post!
Matt

waiting512
Posts: 61
Joined: Sat Dec 10, 2011 10:41 pm

Re: 2013 Applicant Profiles and Admission Results

Post by waiting512 » Tue Apr 16, 2013 3:27 pm

Undergrad Institution: Tier II Liberal Arts School (Not known for math)
Major(s): Mathematics, Spanish
Minor(s): Philosophy
GPA: 4.0
Type of Student: Domestic, White Male

GRE Revised General Test:
Q: 168 (97%)
V: 166 (96%)
W: 4.5 (74%)
GRE Subject Test in Mathematics:
M: 720 (66%)

TOEFL Score: N/A

Program Applying: Pure Math

Research Experience: None
Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Typical Academic Awards, Best Math Students, Points on Putnam and VA Tech Exam
Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Tutor in undergrad. Also worked for a year at a University.

Applying to Where: (Color use here is welcome)
Emory - Rejected 2/13
Florida - Accepted 2/14
Georgia Tech - Waitlisted Early April (Had to email three times; no official notification)
Vanderbilt - Waitlisted Early March
Ohio State - Rejected 4/12 (Very poor communicators)
Indiana University - Bloomington - Waitlisted in March Accepted off wait list 4/15 - Will Attend

kender
Posts: 1
Joined: Wed Feb 13, 2013 6:59 pm

Re: 2013 Applicant Profiles and Admission Results

Post by kender » Wed Apr 17, 2013 1:10 am

Undergrad Institution: European, goodish math - one year exchange in the states, top math.
Major(s): Math
GPA: 3.90
Type of Student: International white male

GRE Revised General Test:
Q: 167
V: 156
W: 4.5
GRE Subject Test in Mathematics:
M: 780 (78%) (it looks like a good score, but I wish I studied for it, it could have made a difference in top schools maybe)

TOEFL Score: 114

Program Applying: Pure Math - geometric topology / low-dimensional topology

Research Experience: no original results, but worked with professors. a year on pde's, later on several months on knot theory
Awards/Honors/Recognitions: school-wide and nation-wide, nothing big though
Pertinent Activities or Jobs: tutor for a few and ta for several semesters
Any Miscellaneous Points that Might Help: several grad classes

Applying to Where:
Georgia Tech - waitlisted
Indiana Bloomington - accepted TAship+fellowship (early March) - attending
Michigan - rejected
Michigan State - accepted TAship (early March)
Stony Brook - rejected
UC Berkeley - rejected
UC Davis - accepted TAship+fellowship (late January)
UI Chicago - I don't know what the hell happened but their application system is pretty old and faulty
UT Austin - rejected

it looks like everything I've written in terms of numbers is vague but that's because I didn't try hard to remember & check things out, sorry for that.

fezza
Posts: 1
Joined: Wed Apr 17, 2013 4:30 am

Re: 2013 Applicant Profiles and Admission Results

Post by fezza » Wed Apr 17, 2013 4:38 pm

Undergrad Institution: Politecnico di Milano (MS in Civil engineering), University of Milano (BS in Mathematics)
Maiors: Mathematics and Structural engineering
GPA: 24/30 (Math courses)
Type of Student: Male from Italy

GRE Revised General Test:
Q: 158 (74%)
V: 149 (40%)
W: 2.0
GRE Subject Test in Mathematics:
M: very low, submitted only to a few schools

TOEFL Score: 86 = R24/L24/S18/W20

Program Applying: Pure Math (Geometric topology, 3-manifolds)

Research Experience: Graduate summer school SMI in Perugia
Any Miscellaneous Points that Might Help: One recommender from a good US school, my thesis advisor is famous in his field. Amazing SOP.
Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: Not traditional student, I have been warking as Civil engineer since 2005 while I was studing math. Good fit with school where I have been accepted/wait listed.

Applying to Where:
UC Davis - Rejected 2/20
Illinois at Urbana-Champaign - Rejected 2/26
U Utah - Rejected 2/28
Louisiana state (LSU) Waitlisted 2/28 Admitted 4/10 GA-Ship Attending!!
UCSD - Rejected 3/2
Colorado State - Rejected 3/7
Florida State (FSU) - Waitlisted 3/15
Stony Brook - Rejected 3/18
UCSB - Rejected 3/19
U of South Florida - Admitted 4/5 - TA tuition waiver 80%
Auburn - Admitted 4/10 No funding

U of Miami - Pending 4/16
U of Georgia - Pending 4/16

Moral of the story: even if you are old, your GPA is low, your GRE is a disaster, your TOEFL is ridicolous and you don't have any publications you still have chances to get admitted in a good program...with funding!
Good luck to everyone!!

sandsilos
Posts: 5
Joined: Mon Jan 28, 2013 1:48 pm

Re: 2013 Applicant Profiles and Admission Results

Post by sandsilos » Mon Apr 22, 2013 1:52 pm

Undergrad Institution: Columbia University
Major(s): Applied Math
Minor(s): None
GPA: 3.97
Type of Student: Domestic Asian Male

GRE (Not revised) General Test:
Q: 800 (94%)
V: 730 (98%)
W: 4.0 (49%)
GRE Subject Test in Mathematics:
M: 800 (81%)

Program Applying: PhD Programs in Pure Math, Applied Math, and Operations Research

Research Experience: REU in Computational Biology, and another in decision modeling. One paper not yet published, two presentations at conferences.
Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Summa, Dean's list
Pertinent Activities or Jobs: TA for one year
Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: Decent recs, a few grad classes.

Applying to Where:

Applied Math:
New York University (Courant) - Rejected
MIT - Rejected
Brown University - Accepted, Attending!
University of Minnesota - Twin Cities - Never heard back
Princeton University (PACM) - Rejected
Stanford University - Rejected
University of Texas - Austin - Waitlisted, did not hear anything further
Georgia Institute of Technology - Accepted (Declined)
University of Chicago - Rejected
Cornell University - Accepted (Declined)

Pure Math:
Harvard University - Rejected
Yale University - Rejected
Northwestern University - Accepted (Declined)
University of Pennsylvania - Accepted (Declined)

Operations Research:
Carnegie Mellon University (Tepper OR/ACO) - Accepted with additional award (Declined)
Columbia University - Rejected


If you show very special interest in their program, it can really bode well! =)

2help
Posts: 12
Joined: Fri Mar 22, 2013 7:29 pm

Re: 2013 Applicant Profiles and Admission Results

Post by 2help » Tue Apr 23, 2013 12:21 am

fezza wrote:Undergrad Institution: Politecnico di Milano (MS in Civil engineering), University of Milano (BS in Mathematics)
Maiors: Mathematics and Structural engineering
GPA: 24/30 (Math courses)
Type of Student: Male from Italy

GRE Revised General Test:
Q: 158 (74%)
V: 149 (40%)
W: 2.0
GRE Subject Test in Mathematics:
M: very low, submitted only to a few schools

TOEFL Score: 86 = R24/L24/S18/W20

Program Applying: Pure Math (Geometric topology, 3-manifolds)

Research Experience: Graduate summer school SMI in Perugia
Any Miscellaneous Points that Might Help: One recommender from a good US school, my thesis advisor is famous in his field. Amazing SOP.
Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: Not traditional student, I have been warking as Civil engineer since 2005 while I was studing math. Good fit with school where I have been accepted/wait listed.

Applying to Where:
UC Davis - Rejected 2/20
Illinois at Urbana-Champaign - Rejected 2/26
U Utah - Rejected 2/28
Louisiana state (LSU) Waitlisted 2/28 Admitted 4/10 GA-Ship Attending!!
UCSD - Rejected 3/2
Colorado State - Rejected 3/7
Florida State (FSU) - Waitlisted 3/15
Stony Brook - Rejected 3/18
UCSB - Rejected 3/19
U of South Florida - Admitted 4/5 - TA tuition waiver 80%
Auburn - Admitted 4/10 No funding

U of Miami - Pending 4/16
U of Georgia - Pending 4/16

Moral of the story: even if you are old, your GPA is low, your GRE is a disaster, your TOEFL is ridicolous and you don't have any publications you still have chances to get admitted in a good program...with funding!
Good luck to everyone!!
Hi fezza , I am attending LSU too, good to see someone here who is going to the same department :D

cwm733
Posts: 4
Joined: Sat May 26, 2012 9:50 pm

Re: 2013 Applicant Profiles and Admission Results

Post by cwm733 » Tue Apr 23, 2013 11:10 pm

Undergrad Institution: Large state school
Maiors: Mathematics and Biomedical Engineering
GPA: 3.98 / 4.00
Type of Student: White male

GRE Revised General Test:
Q: 168 (97%)
V: 164 (93%)
W: 5.5 (96%)
GRE Subject Test in Mathematics:
M: 890 (95%)

Program Applying: Mathematics (typically pure, sometimes applied, depending on school)

Research Experience: One summer in computational biology, one year in computational chemistry, one semester in finance, one year senior thesis on stochastic control. No publications.
Awards/Honors/Recognition: Miscellaneous fellowships and honors societies.
Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Worked part-time as a Quantitative Financial Analyst at a financial litigation consulting firm for over a year, where I developed proprietary quantitative analyses and analyzed structured products at various levels of complexity.
Any Miscellaneous Points that Might Help: Seven graduate mathematics courses. Second major in engineering and a minor in economics.
Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: Should have had strong recommendation letters.

Applying to Where:
Berkeley - Accepted Attending!
Brown - Accepted
Carnegie Mellon - Did not submit
Chicago - Accepted
Columbia - Accepted
Harvard - Rejected
Michigan - Did not submit
MIT - Rejected
NYU - Accepted
Princeton - Rejected
Stanford - Rejected
UCLA - Accepted
UT Austin - Accepted
Yale - Rejected

mindreader
Posts: 90
Joined: Sat Oct 13, 2012 11:12 am

Re: 2013 Applicant Profiles and Admission Results

Post by mindreader » Wed Apr 24, 2013 9:38 am

Adding my profile in the hope that it might be of benefit to others
Undergrad Institution: "Top" university in South East Asia (Frankly it only ranks well because of research. Teaching wise, some mediocre professors who only care about their work, mostly so-so professors, and a handful of good ones. I also encountered a slew of TAs/professors whose english speaking skills hindered their teaching, sadly.)
Major(s): Math - Applied Math Track
Minor(s): None
GPA: 3.9 ish/4. (We use a different scale)
Type of Student: International. I come from a country that is underrepresented in math.

GRE Revised General Test:
Q: 166
V: 154
W: 5.5 (Writing's my forte)
GRE Subject Test in Mathematics:
M: 820 (85%). Was pleasantly surprised since I only answered 49 problems with 1 or 2 unsure answers.

TOEFL Score: 115

Program Applying: Applied Math mostly. interested in theory and applications of different kinds of Diff Equations

Research Experience: 3 research projects - 1 on exponential Brownian motion (journal publication with supervisor, 2nd author), 1 on optimization methods in control (at EEE, Imperial College), and 1 on extreme events modeling (conference paper, 3rd/5 authors)
Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Dean's List for 2 years, funded bachelor's degree
Pertinent Activities or Jobs: 1 year working at the math resource center helping students with their math problems. my school does not allow undergrads as TAs
Any Miscellaneous Points that Might Help: My school doesn't offer advanced courses such as functional analysis, measure theory, etc.. due to bad planning, i have not taken an abstract algebra course for the Math GRE since I'm in the applied track. I have taken most of the fundamental courses, however, even though my math background is slightly "weak" compared to those who have taken loads of grad courses. my math GRE score is high because my calculus background is strong.
Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter:
I'm not from China or India or any communist (or ex communist) country. Students who hail from such countries excel in math, for example, those from eastern European countries. (I don't mean communist in a deregatory way! It just so happened that most communist countries do well in the IMO which is suggestive of the mathematical culture in the respective countries!) Not that it matters but I guess it sets me apart since only a few people from my country aspire to do a math related PhD or a PhD for that matter.

Applying to Where:
PhD (in order of preference):
Brown DAM - rejected
Cornell CAM - waitlisted, accepted on April 15, ATTENDING! (with usual TA support for 5 years etc.)
Carnegie Mellon Math - Accepted. Had to decline unfortunately. Was already contented with it until the offer from Cornell arrived. Cornell's applied math is just more broad and because I'm still completely unsure about my interests, I'm giving myself some allowance. The program at Cornell is also flexible in that you can choose theoretical applied math or applied applied math. It took me a week to get over my decision for Carnegie Mellon...
Columbia APAM - rejected Didn't care anymore

Masters:
Accepted at CU Boulder, UMich Ann Arbor, Johns Hopkins all applied math. No funding unfortunately.

Also accepted at EPFL with CHF16000 fellowship. Had to decline since I already got an offer from Carnegie Mellon that time. It was also a hard decision to make since even though it's a 2 year masters program, they offer an intensive French language course.

Haven't heard from McGill yet but doesn't matter anymore.

Moral: I applied for master's programs as a back-up plan since I knew that my background is not extensive. The US schools I applied to mentioned that funding is available but unfortunately I didn't get any. I am not an olympiad medalist whatsoever nor have I taken loads and loads of grad courses but I still got in. I guess you should not be discouraged to apply even though your application is not as glorious as others because you never know that you might get a chance somehow. Also, a back-up plan would be useful and European schools are generous with funding for masters degrees.



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