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Am i being realistic with admissions prospects

Posted: Tue Mar 01, 2022 8:45 pm
by lilm
I've been out of undergrad for ~2 years and am thinking about going for an applied math PhD. This is a new plan though, so while I was in undergrad I basically did little to no preparation for the grad school track. Now I'm wondering what's realistic here...I've surfed the admissions results already but it seems like everyones resume is light years better than mine, so does that mean I won't get in anywhere LOL

Here's my stats:

Undergrad: top 25 U.S. private school
Major: applied math
Overall GPA: 3.98
Major GPA: 3.84

Masters: top 50 U.S. public school
Program: computer science (online version)
Estimated GPA by graduation: ~3.8

Programs Interested In: probably applied math, but maybe pure / stats depending on the program, am mainly interested in operations research or some application of math in biology / medicine

Research Experience: worked a summer job as a research assistant, but it basically amounted to data cleaning, planning on doing a master's thesis though, but worried that it'll be limited b/c the program is online
Awards/Honors/Recognitions: nothing relevant to math
Pertinent Activities or Jobs: currently a software engineer
Any Miscellaneous Points that Might Help: none that I can think of
Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: my tour in industry...it'll take me another year to finish the master's at minimum, so by that point I'll be 3-4 years out of school

Does anyone have any thoughts on if this is even remotely competitive? I feel confident that I can score decently well on the GRE and the GRE math subject test when the time comes to go take it and if it's necessary. I just really want to know if this is all a pipe dream considering I have 0 research experience and will be out of school for so long when applying. I've done some investigating into top schools like Cornell and Duke, but I feel like I ought to get a good sense of where I stand before I hype myself up for no reason. Thanks everyone!!

Re: Am i being realistic with admissions prospects

Posted: Tue Mar 01, 2022 10:26 pm
by Aftermath
This really depends on the quality of your recommendations. If you made connections with your professors and they remember you fondly, then your chances will be decent, probably not in the range or Cornell or Duke, but decent. If you were a wallflower who only got good grades but never stood out, then you may have trouble making the basic requirements for any PhD program. What I would do is try to match your industry experience to potential research topics/advisors, and then try to make a cohesive story about why how your industry experience informed your decision to pursue a PhD.

Re: Am i being realistic with admissions prospects

Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2022 1:16 pm
by lilm
Any idea what kinds of industry jobs are research-like and accept non-PhD applicants?

Re: Am i being realistic with admissions prospects

Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2022 2:14 pm
by ijustwanttodomath
lilm wrote:
Wed Mar 02, 2022 1:16 pm
Any idea what kinds of industry jobs are research-like and accept non-PhD applicants?
If you're in the U.S., try looking at government jobs for the federal government or at national labs. You can work your way up to positions that usually require a PhD if they were hiring externally. You can even reach out to faculty at prospective universities--lots of demand for people with solid programming skills.

For true industry jobs, it's kind of difficult to really do any research-based jobs without a PhD if you don't have research experience coming in. If you can do a more research-focused master's thesis, that might improve your prospects. A lot of companies have their research jobs hidden by unrelated titles, the only advice I can give you is to look at the openings for companies you're interested in and click through a bunch garbage until you find positions you're interested in.