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Applied math programs for physics grad

Posted: Tue Oct 28, 2014 6:40 pm
by mathorphysics
I graduated from college with a physics degree, and took a bunch of higher-level math courses along the way - abstract algebra, analysis (intro), complex analysis, and representation theory. I figured I'd want to go to a physics grad school, so I took the physics GRE, and did reasonably well on the test - 84th precentile. Now that it's time to send in some applications, I am realizing that I want to focus more on the computational methods, and less on their applications. This seems to be more in line with the focus in applied math programs than in computational physics programs.

Basically, I have two questions:
1. Would applied math programs be willing to accept my qualifications, given my lack of a math degree? In particular, would they be ok with the physics gre instead of the math subject test?
2. Does anyone here have any recommendations on which applied math programs I should apply to? I'm going to apply to the applied math/physics dept in columbia, but I'm having a harder time finding other such programs.

Thanks!

Re: Applied math programs for physics grad

Posted: Wed Oct 29, 2014 9:38 am
by sabq
The answer to # 1: Yes, every program I have looked at will accept you into applied math (check their websites) and probably even for pure math.

Re: Applied math programs for physics grad

Posted: Wed Oct 29, 2014 2:25 pm
by MathCat
Certainly doing a physics undergrad is fine for applied math programs. Most websites explicitly state this. However, I'm not so sure that they would accept the physics GRE in place of the math test. You might have to contact the departments or apply to programs that don't require the math test if you haven't done it.

Re: Applied math programs for physics grad

Posted: Wed Oct 29, 2014 7:41 pm
by mathorphysics
Yeah, I think I will contact the respective departments and ask them how they feel about this.

Thanks for the comments!