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Looking for some more safety schools....

Posted: Tue Oct 05, 2021 10:43 pm
by aoveson
Hi friends!

I am narrowing down my list of schools to apply to and I keep coming back to the same problem: I only have one real safety school. So I'm going to post my stats and I'm hoping you all can help me brainstorm some programs that might work as safety schools for me.

Undergrad Institution: Private University in Utah, not super known for math
Major: Applied and Computational Math
GPA: 3.75 out of 4.00 (Math 3.83)
Type of Student: DFW

GRE Revised General Test:
Q/V/W: 170 (96%) / 163 (92%) / 4.5 (80%)

GRE Subject Test in Mathematics:
M: 570 (30%) :oops:

Program Applying: mostly applied math

Research experience: 3 months in one group my junior year, a paper came out of it but the group was massive. 1 year working one-on-one with a professor in Spectral Graph Theory, paper will be submitted for publication in December
Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Several scholarships (from the school in general, from the math department, private, etc.), 2x outstanding achievement in mathematics award.
Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Worked as a TA for calc 1, 2 and Partial Differential Equations. Worked part-time as a data analyst for a fintech company for almost a year. Currently rewriting parts of the Applied Math curriculum at my college.
Any Miscellaneous Points that Might Help: I think my letters of rec will be really good. I've taken a few math grad courses (matrix analysis, real analysis, topology) and gotten good grades in them.
Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: President of the Applied Math major. Board member for WiSTEM chapter. Bilingual (lol not Spanish or Chinese or any super useful language though)


Help me out! I'm planning on applying to Tulane as a safety school, but with a ~3.7 GPA and a subject test score that low, nothing really feels safe.

Re: Looking for some more safety schools....

Posted: Sat Nov 13, 2021 3:17 pm
by trivialgroup
While there's no specific applied math PhD here, you might want to look at the University of Missouri in Columbia. If you're interested in dynamical systems, PDE, or fluid mechanics, there are a few professors here who are pretty active in those areas. The program as a whole is really great, and very friendly. AS well, there is a funded applied math Master's, so that might not be a bad idea for a safety.

As well, your basic stats (i.e. gpa, GRE) are the same or better than mine for the most part, and your other qualifications are much, much more impressive than what I had, and I still got in, so your chances would be pretty good, I think.

I may not be the best person to give suggestions considering I'm not in applied math, but I thought I'd throw in my two cents at least. Good luck!

Re: Looking for some more safety schools....

Posted: Sat Nov 13, 2021 5:54 pm
by shawnsh
Maybe consider Tufts University. They are mostly recruiting students interested in applied math this year.

Re: Looking for some more safety schools....

Posted: Sat Nov 13, 2021 10:54 pm
by defen
Washington State might be a good safety. The department skews heavily to the applied side.

Re: Looking for some more safety schools....

Posted: Tue Nov 30, 2021 4:15 am
by pkzrd
Texas A&M, Florida State, U Delaware, Pitt, Oregon State, NC State, Iowa State and maybe Penn State, Maryland