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Weaknesses in my Profile

Posted: Tue Feb 13, 2018 5:08 pm
by djysyed
I have one year remaining and want to improve my profile in anyway I can for next year. If anyone sees any weaknesses, which I'm sure exist, I would totally appreciate any feedback or criticisms. What texts/courses would you recommend I look into for the summer and next year. Of course I will approach faculty and ask if they can supervise a reading course.

I'm aiming for Top 10 graduate programs for Homotopy Theory, Algebraic K-Theory and Algebraic Geometry.


Undergraduate Institution: Top 40 in Mathematics
GRE Scores:
V: 31%
Q: 94%
W: 60%
Math Subject: 73%

GPA:
Cumulative: 3.45
Major: 3.6


Program Applying: (Pure Math, specifically Homotopy Theory and Algebraic Geometry)

Research Experience: Never did research but have given a presentation on Category Theory and Sigma-Algebras.

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Bernard Kurtin ($1000 to top 3 undergrads)

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Former TA for Introduction to Proofs course. Tutor a few hours per week

Any Miscellaneous Points that Might Help: 4 grad classes: Algebra 1 and 2, Algebraic Topology (Category Theory and Homological Algebra heavy so far), and Measure Theory. Some of my recommendation writers are world famous but they don't know me very well so it's very hard to tell if this will work into my favor.

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: Honestly, what I wrote above is literally what I'm relying on.

Re: Weaknesses in my Profile

Posted: Tue Feb 13, 2018 5:36 pm
by nothing
Have you done any REU ?

Re: Weaknesses in my Profile

Posted: Tue Feb 13, 2018 5:45 pm
by Rise
If you have the money, you should retake both GRE's. The general one should be okay, but that's an unusually low verbal score. Your math GRE is very good, but not high enough for your goals.

Frankly, your GPA is very low for a top 10 program. Top 10's frequently reject even 4.0 students, so you need stellar research and letters to make up for this. You have two semesters left to do this. Apply for an REU even if it's not in your research interest (they love incoming seniors) and try your hardest to impress your advisor.

Re: Weaknesses in my Profile

Posted: Tue Feb 13, 2018 9:20 pm
by djysyed
nothing wrote:Have you done any REU ?
Nope, never knew what an REU was until the end of my second year.
Rise wrote:If you have the money, you should retake both GRE's. The general one should be okay, but that's an unusually low verbal score. Your math GRE is very good, but not high enough for your goals.
I plan on taking care of this during the summer and early fall. Definitely trying to break a 95% because I initially thought I would be staying at a nearby institution and getting a 70% sufficed.
Rise wrote:You need stellar research and letters to make up for this. You have two semesters left to do this. Apply for an REU even if it's not in your research interest (they love incoming seniors) and try your hardest to impress your advisor.
I've applied to three and two of which I realized were bad choices since they're UChicago and UMich. Luckily I applied to a third random school but I noticed even the random schools are extremely competitive. If I can, I'll definitely apply to more random schools in the next few days.

If everything goes perfectly, the most I can raise my GPA up to is a 3.65-3.70 (major 3.75ish). Is my coursework okay? I hope to add in a couple second year graduate courses if possible.

Re: Weaknesses in my Profile

Posted: Tue Feb 13, 2018 9:43 pm
by Rise
djysyed wrote: I've applied to three and two of which I realized were bad choices since they're UChicago and UMich. Luckily I applied to a third random school but I noticed even the random schools are extremely competitive. If I can, I'll definitely apply to more random schools in the next few days.

If everything goes perfectly, the most I can raise my GPA up to is a 3.65-3.70 (major 3.75ish). Is my coursework okay? I hope to add in a couple second year graduate courses if possible.
Good luck on those applications! You're right that even random schools are competitive. I had a near perfect GPA, strong letters, and graduate coursework and still only got into around 3-4 REU's at relatively unknown schools out of 15+.

A GPA of 3.65-3.70 is solid, but low for the elite schools. Your coursework seems excellent, and adding even more difficult graduate courses to your resume is always desirable.