Fall 2013 Application Sweat Thread

cooltrainer · Post by **cooltrainer** » Thu Mar 28, 2013 9:20 pm

Lin_Feng wrote:
Manyfolds wrote:Nah, can't decide. You have any opinions?
Choose UCLA. I didn't apply there, but I applied to NYU (and they haven't rejected me yet).

Feng, you should not choose UMD AMSC because they have not rejected many of us yet

math_applicant · Post by **math_applicant** » Sat Mar 30, 2013 5:25 am

what do you guys think are the benefits/drawbacks of working with a group of young faculty ?

Gasquet · Post by **Gasquet** » Sat Mar 30, 2013 12:14 pm

So, have you folk heard about schools that don't officially send rejections at all(and just don't reply to emails)? I remember seeing several posts from previous years on GC that mention something in the lines of 'no reply, so assume it is a reject' which are dated after April 15th.

Take Stony Brook AMS(Applied) for example.
http://thegradcafe.com/survey/index.php ... &o=&pp=250
Other than the two latest posts, there isn't a single rejection there. Do you really think it is possible that none of the people in the previous years who got rejected posted there?

Getting back on point, how common do you think it is for schools to do this?

dangxing · Post by **dangxing** » Sat Mar 30, 2013 2:04 pm

Gasquet wrote:So, have you folk heard about schools that don't officially send rejections at all(and just don't reply to emails)? I remember seeing several posts from previous years on GC that mention something in the lines of 'no reply, so assume it is a reject' which are dated after April 15th.

Take Stony Brook AMS(Applied) for example.
http://thegradcafe.com/survey/index.php ... &o=&pp=250
Other than the two latest posts, there isn't a single rejection there. Do you really think it is possible that none of the people in the previous years who got rejected posted there?

Getting back on point, how common do you think it is for schools to do this?

CMU do the same thing. They never reply me and never send out rej

Legendre · Post by **Legendre** » Sat Mar 30, 2013 3:54 pm

math_applicant wrote:what do you guys think are the benefits/drawbacks of working with a group of young faculty ?

I worked with 3 top groups so far and this is my experience/opinion.

Benefits:

- They are eager to publish and will do their best to push out papers - hopefully with you as a co-author.
- They might not be as sick of the supervision process as old timers, and give advice/help + time/attention more eagerly.
- They are closer to your age and easier to deal with or more casual.
- IMHO older, more famous faculty needs student who are brilliant and independent. I am just a regular mathematician and so I tend to avoid those.

Drawbacks:

- Older and perhaps famous faculty have the contacts/networks to help you get jobs.
- Likewise, their letters of recommendations might be better for job search.

math_applicant · Post by **math_applicant** » Sat Mar 30, 2013 5:03 pm

Legendre wrote:
math_applicant wrote:what do you guys think are the benefits/drawbacks of working with a group of young faculty ?
I worked with 3 top groups so far and this is my experience/opinion.

Benefits:

- They are eager to publish and will do their best to push out papers - hopefully with you as a co-author.
- They might not be as sick of the supervision process as old timers, and give advice/help + time/attention more eagerly.
- They are closer to your age and easier to deal with or more casual.
- IMHO older, more famous faculty needs student who are brilliant and independent. I am just a regular mathematician and so I tend to avoid those.

Drawbacks:

- Older and perhaps famous faculty have the contacts/networks to help you get jobs.
- Likewise, their letters of recommendations might be better for job search.

Thanks for sharing that! that actually makes sense. do you have any idea about how to know whether the young faculty are doing quality work vs just trying to push out a quantity of papers especially when you are still a beginner to judge yourself? For older faculty, this tends to be easier since they got awards and are recognized in many forms.

Eowyn · Post by **Eowyn** » Sat Mar 30, 2013 9:48 pm

Gasquet wrote:So, have you folk heard about schools that don't officially send rejections at all(and just don't reply to emails)? I remember seeing several posts from previous years on GC that mention something in the lines of 'no reply, so assume it is a reject' which are dated after April 15th.

Take Stony Brook AMS(Applied) for example.
http://thegradcafe.com/survey/index.php ... &o=&pp=250
Other than the two latest posts, there isn't a single rejection there. Do you really think it is possible that none of the people in the previous years who got rejected posted there?

Getting back on point, how common do you think it is for schools to do this?

I have not heard back anything from the University of Toronto, Mathematics. I have not emailed them only because I am not interested anymore in going there. But still, it is really odd that it takes them so long to send out results. Especially, if you look at Gradcafe (http://thegradcafe.com/survey/index.php ... a&o=&pp=25), you'll find that there are quite a few acceptances, but there are four individuals who have written that they came to know about their rejection only after emailing the grad admissions, and one more who came to know that he/she had been waitlisted, once again upon inquiry.

Legendre · Post by **Legendre** » Sun Mar 31, 2013 6:01 pm

math_applicant wrote: Thanks for sharing that! that actually makes sense. do you have any idea about how to know whether the young faculty are doing quality work vs just trying to push out a quantity of papers especially when you are still a beginner to judge yourself? For older faculty, this tends to be easier since they got awards and are recognized in many forms.

As far as I know, the younger faculty do try to do their best to do high quality work. No one from any of the 3 groups I worked with have never expressed the attitude of "sacrifice quality to get the paper out faster". In fact, I regularly see them delay a paper to make it better. But the groups I have worked with are at "top tier" competitive universities, not sure if the attitude is different in less competitive places.

IMHO older faculty generally are not that interested in publishing anymore (tenure, want to play mentor role, tired etc). I feel that the student has to have brilliant ideas that really interests the older faculty for him to want to collaborate. Once again these are senior faculty at competitive places.

At less competitive places, IMHO the politics is less cut throat (e.g. the politics is quite crazy at Oxbridge) and so the senior faculty might actually be easier or more eager to work with.

qbranch · Post by **qbranch** » Sun Mar 31, 2013 11:46 pm

I'm not sure how everyone else's past week was, but mine was dead. Not a single post to gradcafe for any of my remaining schools. Is this next week going to be busy, or will that not start until the following week?

Gasquet · Post by **Gasquet** » Mon Apr 01, 2013 12:11 am

qbranch wrote:I'm not sure how everyone else's past week was, but mine was dead. Not a single post to gradcafe for any of my remaining schools. Is this next week going to be busy, or will that not start until the following week?

Looking at last years posts on GC, I would say that this week is going to be busy too.

marco · Post by **marco** » Mon Apr 01, 2013 12:34 am

Gasquet wrote:
qbranch wrote:I'm not sure how everyone else's past week was, but mine was dead. Not a single post to gradcafe for any of my remaining schools. Is this next week going to be busy, or will that not start until the following week?
Looking at last years posts on GC, I would say that this week is going to be busy too.

Here's hoping! I would really like to get this over with. Hopefully next week has good things to come.

dangxing · Post by **dangxing** » Mon Apr 01, 2013 7:42 am

April! Hope get results this week!

longtm1989 · Post by **longtm1989** » Mon Apr 01, 2013 3:06 pm

Rejection from Michigan pure math. It's almost the end of the application season.

marco · Post by **marco** » Mon Apr 01, 2013 3:16 pm

longtm1989 wrote:Rejection from Michigan pure math. It's almost the end of the application season.

Damn that sucks, though to have been rejected so late in the game means you must have almost got in.
Still sucks though so Im sorry to hear this. I just wish my schools would just tell me something already.

longtm1989 · Post by **longtm1989** » Mon Apr 01, 2013 3:26 pm

marco wrote:
longtm1989 wrote:Rejection from Michigan pure math. It's almost the end of the application season.
Damn that sucks, though to have been rejected so late in the game means you must have almost got in.
Still sucks though so Im sorry to hear this. I just wish my schools would just tell me something already.

Email them. I emailed Northwestern two days ago, and they told me they have enough acceptances. What schools are you waiting for?

marco · Post by **marco** » Mon Apr 01, 2013 3:30 pm

longtm1989 wrote:
marco wrote:
longtm1989 wrote:Rejection from Michigan pure math. It's almost the end of the application season.
Damn that sucks, though to have been rejected so late in the game means you must have almost got in.
Still sucks though so Im sorry to hear this. I just wish my schools would just tell me something already.
Email them. I emailed Northwestern two days ago, and they told me they have enough acceptances. What schools are you waiting for?

Im waiting on University of Minnesota, University of Maryland AMSC program, Duke University and NYU. I have emailed most of them, Minnesota and Maryland have both replied that I should hear news by this week, Duke never responded.

wickerfurniture · Post by **wickerfurniture** » Mon Apr 01, 2013 4:55 pm

quick question. do taxes come out of our stipend?

qbranch · Post by **qbranch** » Mon Apr 01, 2013 5:04 pm

wickerfurniture wrote:quick question. do taxes come out of our stipend?

Yes. My stipend this year is $1875 (give or take, then take out 10% for retirement and a little more for health insurance), and I bring home about $1275 (Ohio taxes). I believe you can turn down the retirement, but with my setup, the school matches what I put in.

math_applicant · Post by **math_applicant** » Mon Apr 01, 2013 5:15 pm

qbranch wrote:
wickerfurniture wrote:quick question. do taxes come out of our stipend?
Yes. My stipend this year is $1875 (give or take, then take out 10% for retirement and a little more for health insurance), and I bring home about $1275 (Ohio taxes). I believe you can turn down the retirement, but with my setup, the school matches what I put in.

How could you find out about this retirement issue ? Also, I know that OSU covers 85% of the insurance premiums, do you mean that the remaining 15% is more than 10% of the stipend ? and finally the numbers don't really add up, if you take out 10% retirement + say 15% insurance out of the 1875 you get a little bit over 1400 not 1275, not that i am knit picking but I wonder if there is another item that it is taken out of the stipend.

qbranch · Post by **qbranch** » Mon Apr 01, 2013 6:15 pm

math_applicant wrote:
qbranch wrote:
wickerfurniture wrote:quick question. do taxes come out of our stipend?
Yes. My stipend this year is $1875 (give or take, then take out 10% for retirement and a little more for health insurance), and I bring home about $1275 (Ohio taxes). I believe you can turn down the retirement, but with my setup, the school matches what I put in.
How could you find out about this retirement issue ? Also, I know that OSU covers 85% of the insurance premiums, do you mean that the remaining 15% is more than 10% of the stipend ? and finally the numbers don't really add up, if you take out 10% retirement + say 15% insurance out of the 1875 you get a little bit over 1400 not 1275, not that i am knit picking but I wonder if there is another item that it is taken out of the stipend.

Not a little bit more percent, a little bit more money. Last year, I paid $28/month for health insurance (I have added a wife and kid this year). $210 came out in taxes and $55 for student fees. Then $185 came out for my retirement account, leaving $1375 ($1275 is this year with the increased insurance premium).

The two retirement accounts they recognize (for gta's) are STRS (state teachers retirement system) and OPERS (Ohio public employees retirement system). If you already had a STRS account, you could use that and OSU would match your contributions. If you didn't already have a STRS, you could open an OPERS, but I don't think OSU matches. Also, you could decline a retirement account altogether.

math_applicant · Post by **math_applicant** » Mon Apr 01, 2013 6:25 pm

qbranch wrote:
Not a little bit more percent, a little bit more money. Last year, I paid $28/month for health insurance (I have added a wife and kid this year). $210 came out in taxes and $55 for student fees. Then $185 came out for my retirement account, leaving $1375 ($1275 is this year with the increased insurance premium).

The two retirement accounts they recognize (for gta's) are STRS (state teachers retirement system) and OPERS (Ohio public employees retirement system). If you already had a STRS account, you could use that and OSU would match your contributions. If you didn't already have a STRS, you could open an OPERS, but I don't think OSU matches. Also, you could decline a retirement account altogether.

Thanks for the clarification! just one last quick question: are the 210$ tax + 55$ fees monthly ? because this sounds a lot.

qbranch · Post by **qbranch** » Mon Apr 01, 2013 6:34 pm

math_applicant wrote:
qbranch wrote:
Not a little bit more percent, a little bit more money. Last year, I paid $28/month for health insurance (I have added a wife and kid this year). $210 came out in taxes and $55 for student fees. Then $185 came out for my retirement account, leaving $1375 ($1275 is this year with the increased insurance premium).

The two retirement accounts they recognize (for gta's) are STRS (state teachers retirement system) and OPERS (Ohio public employees retirement system). If you already had a STRS account, you could use that and OSU would match your contributions. If you didn't already have a STRS, you could open an OPERS, but I don't think OSU matches. Also, you could decline a retirement account altogether.
Thanks for the clarification! just one last quick question: are the 210$ tax + 55$ fees monthly ? because this sounds a lot.

Not a problem. Yeah, those are monthly.

qbranch · Post by **qbranch** » Wed Apr 03, 2013 12:43 pm

I got an email from Indiana this morning asking if I was still interested in an offer from them.

waiting512 · Post by **waiting512** » Wed Apr 03, 2013 1:10 pm

I also got that response from Indiana. Have you gotten a response yet? What did you respond?

qbranch · Post by **qbranch** » Wed Apr 03, 2013 2:23 pm

waiting512 wrote:I also got that response from Indiana. Have you gotten a response yet? What did you respond?

Just a basic

Yes, I am still interested in receiving an offer from Indiana University. Thank you.

I haven't heard anything else.

waiting512 · Post by **waiting512** » Wed Apr 03, 2013 2:25 pm

I haven't either. If you do, post it here please!

Thanks.

Lin_Feng · Post by **Lin_Feng** » Wed Apr 03, 2013 3:52 pm

Anybody have a sense of the admit rate following "Are you still interested?" type emails at this point in the year?

atimora · Post by **atimora** » Wed Apr 03, 2013 4:23 pm

I wish I had at least one admit with funding this year. I am waiting on three schools that haven't responded to my email. So frustrating. Do schools make more offers after April 15th?

qbranch · Post by **qbranch** » Wed Apr 03, 2013 4:28 pm

atimora wrote:I wish I had at least one admit with funding this year. I am waiting on three schools that haven't responded to my email. So frustrating. Do schools make more offers after April 15th?

Yeah, they do. Though I wouldn't count on it (except I totally would and am, and will probably be disappointed when I don't get one).

Are there any post April 15th offers for your schools on gradcafe in past years?

atimora · Post by **atimora** » Wed Apr 03, 2013 5:42 pm

No, the latest ones are dated April 10th at one institution, April 5 at another school. I don't see any late acceptances at Tufts but I see people getting rejected already this year upon inquiry.

dollar · Post by **dollar** » Thu Apr 04, 2013 8:55 am

To anyone who has been rejected from umich: would you mind checking if your status on wolverine access been updated? Cheers.

maffling · Post by **maffling** » Thu Apr 04, 2013 9:21 am

I love how massive this thread is. I guess it'l all be over after the 15th. I'm still waiting to hear from Oregon State and I reaaallly hope to get accepted off the waitlist for Wesleyan. These past 3 months have been soooo tense. Any other stragglers for you guys?

MathFreaked · Post by **MathFreaked** » Thu Apr 04, 2013 10:06 am

maffling wrote:I love how massive this thread is. I guess it'l all be over after the 15th. I'm still waiting to hear from Oregon State and I reaaallly hope to get accepted off the waitlist for Wesleyan. These past 3 months have been soooo tense. Any other stragglers for you guys?

I remember somewhere around the 1000 comment mark of this thread that someone said they wanted to have the 17**th comment (I don't remember the exact number, somewhere in the 1700s range though), and someone else replied that there was no way that this thread would get that big. It appears that they may be mistaken!

I think it'll more all be over by like the 20th. Gotta let all those waitlisted people have a chance to fill the vacant spots!

I'm still waiting to hear from CMU, although I pretty much just don't care about them at this point. Just waiting to hear on one funding offer, and to see if I get off another waitlist.

LearningMath · Post by **LearningMath** » Thu Apr 04, 2013 10:59 am

maffling wrote:I love how massive this thread is. I guess it'l all be over after the 15th. I'm still waiting to hear from Oregon State and I reaaallly hope to get accepted off the waitlist for Wesleyan. These past 3 months have been soooo tense. Any other stragglers for you guys?

I got an acceptance from Oregon State and already declined. Have you emailed them to ask about application status?

maffling · Post by **maffling** » Thu Apr 04, 2013 2:41 pm

LearningMath wrote:
maffling wrote:I love how massive this thread is. I guess it'l all be over after the 15th. I'm still waiting to hear from Oregon State and I reaaallly hope to get accepted off the waitlist for Wesleyan. These past 3 months have been soooo tense. Any other stragglers for you guys?
I got an acceptance from Oregon State and already declined. Have you emailed them to ask about application status?

I just emailed a few people about it. Thanks for the prompt decline! and for telling me about it.

maffling · Post by **maffling** » Thu Apr 04, 2013 2:44 pm

LearningMath! we are MGRE buddies!

qbranch · Post by **qbranch** » Thu Apr 04, 2013 3:09 pm

I got rejected from Cincinnati today! I can't believe it! I was sure I would get in there. I've already gotten in somewhere better, so I wasn't going to go there, but it was like a punch in the gut.

I think I ended up with a bad letter writer, thank goodness he only agreed to write for 4 schools. From the 4 he wrote for, I have 4 rejections. From the other 3 schools I applied, I have 2 acceptances and a waitlist.

dollar wrote:To anyone who has been rejected from umich: would you mind checking if your status on wolverine access been updated? Cheers.

Mine says application is complete. Is that what you were asking about?

MathFreaked wrote: I remember somewhere around the 1000 comment mark of this thread that someone said they wanted to have the 17**th comment (I don't remember the exact number, somewhere in the 1700s range though), and someone else replied that there was no way that this thread would get that big It appears that they may be mistaken!

I think it'll more all be over by like the 20th. Gotta let all those waitlisted people have a chance to fill the vacant spots!

Do you happen to recall if it was 1729? +1 on the 20th comment.

atimora · Post by **atimora** » Thu Apr 04, 2013 3:42 pm

Is there anyone who got accepted to or rejected from Syracuse? I emailed the graduate director, but no responses so far. Keeping my hopes up since there are people who got in right before Apeil 15th.

MathFreaked · Post by **MathFreaked** » Thu Apr 04, 2013 5:15 pm

qbranch wrote:Do you happen to recall if it was 1729? +1 on the 20th comment.

That sounds right. I honestly don't remember though. Also, finally heard back from CMU today, speak of the devil!

Edit: found the original comment (on page 20):

Nr wrote:
BYA wrote:I was hoping to make the 1000th post. You guys are so fast .
Now imagine the waiting to get my first admit and the added longing to make the 2000th post.

Next year Fall applicants will have no problem waiting as even wading through this thread will take them days.
(Okay, I will admit that what I am really after is the 1729th post, everybody knows the importance of this number, right?)
I don't think this thread will make it to 1729 ...
Obviously most of the "sweating" is over in a few weeks
leaving a lot of people happy and (unfortunately) some not.

Unless you make lots of funny posts to increase the number of posts artificially ...

qbranch · Post by **qbranch** » Thu Apr 04, 2013 5:26 pm

MathFreaked wrote: That sounds right. I honestly don't remember though. Also, finally heard back from CMU today, speak of the devil9!

Good news?

MathFreaked · Post by **MathFreaked** » Thu Apr 04, 2013 5:43 pm

qbranch wrote:
MathFreaked wrote: That sounds right. I honestly don't remember though. Also, finally heard back from CMU today, speak of the devil9!
Good news?

Nope! I don't mind though. I've already got 2 acceptances (and a possible 3rd from a waitlist) that are making my decision tough enough, don't need anything else to make it harder!

dollar · Post by **dollar** » Thu Apr 04, 2013 7:31 pm

qbranch wrote:
dollar wrote:To anyone who has been rejected from umich: would you mind checking if your status on wolverine access been updated? Cheers.
Mine says application is complete. Is that what you were asking about?

Oh ok, that's what mine says as well but I haven't been told if I'm rejected or not. I was wondering if there is a difference between those that have been rejected and those that still have a chance. Thanks anyway

Gasquet · Post by **Gasquet** » Thu Apr 04, 2013 11:51 pm

I saw a couple of new rejects from UCLA on GC and since I still haven't heard anything, I sent Prof. Balmer an email again. He said that he expects to reject everyone on the wait-list by Monday.

marco · Post by **marco** » Thu Apr 04, 2013 11:54 pm

Gasquet wrote:I saw a couple of new rejects from UCLA on GC and since I still haven't heard anything, I sent Prof. Balmer an email again. He said that he expects to reject everyone on the wait-list by Monday.

What does that mean? I mean in terms of your case. Good luck Gasquet.

atimora · Post by **atimora** » Fri Apr 05, 2013 3:50 am

Here's hoping that I get funding from the only school that I have been accepted. Love the school (WPI) but still waiting to hear about funding. And I had thought getting accepted was the end of the story! ahhhh I am so confused

Gasquet · Post by **Gasquet** » Fri Apr 05, 2013 4:11 am

marco wrote:
Gasquet wrote:I saw a couple of new rejects from UCLA on GC and since I still haven't heard anything, I sent Prof. Balmer an email again. He said that he expects to reject everyone on the wait-list by Monday.
What does that mean? I mean in terms of your case. Good luck Gasquet.

I guess that means that I too will be rejected by Monday.
Thanks. All the "sweating" is about to be over now anyway. Just two weeks more and it will be done, either for good or for bad.

MathFreaked · Post by **MathFreaked** » Fri Apr 05, 2013 10:05 am

atimora wrote:Here's hoping that I get funding from the only school that I have been accepted. Love the school (WPI) but still waiting to hear about funding. And I had thought getting accepted was the end of the story! ahhhh I am so confused

I know that feeling! I assumed that most schools would send funding offers with their acceptances, I was apparently very incorrect in that assumption! Good luck to you.

jhpark0304 · Post by **jhpark0304** » Fri Apr 05, 2013 10:07 am

The deadline is coming so I just called the mathematics dept at NYU (212 998 3238). However, I was only able to hear some recorded messages (saying that "for further info, please visit our website"). Plus I emailed them already and got no response. Any news/thoughts/suggestions?

BYA · Post by **BYA** » Fri Apr 05, 2013 3:24 pm

@Mathfreaked, @qbranch, it was I who made that wish and I am still waiting to make the Ramanujan 1729th comment!

I wish everyone pieces of good news till then!

Gasquet · Post by **Gasquet** » Sat Apr 06, 2013 7:13 am

Finally got that UCLA reject. I'm the poster on GC. What is with the UC schools tradition of emailing at 2:55am local time?

Anyone else has not heard anything from Stony Brook AMS till now? They don't even reply to emails.