Penn State vs UMass Amherst

Forum for the GRE subject test in mathematics.
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throwaway2
Posts: 3
Joined: Fri Apr 07, 2023 8:28 am

Penn State vs UMass Amherst

Post by throwaway2 » Fri Apr 07, 2023 8:32 am

Throwaway b/c reasons.

Anyone have any thoughts about Penn State vs UMass Amherst for analysis (maybe geometric, or maybe pdes - idk)? Having visited both departments, they pretty much feel equal in terms of faculty, students, etc. Penn State is offering slightly more, but it's also in the middle of nowhere.

I may end up just having to flip a coin...

Boplicity
Posts: 32
Joined: Tue Feb 07, 2023 11:46 pm

Re: Penn State vs UMass Amherst

Post by Boplicity » Fri Apr 07, 2023 9:50 am

throwaway2 wrote:
Fri Apr 07, 2023 8:32 am
Throwaway b/c reasons.

Anyone have any thoughts about Penn State vs UMass Amherst for analysis (maybe geometric, or maybe pdes - idk)? Having visited both departments, they pretty much feel equal in terms of faculty, students, etc. Penn State is offering slightly more, but it's also in the middle of nowhere.

I may end up just having to flip a coin...
I have very similar interests and was accepted to both schools too. In fact, I think we've met twice already! If you are who I think you are, you seemed really cool and it'd be great to see you at Penn State next year!

Here are my brief thoughts about the schools. Almost all of the research at UMass seems pretty applied or close to it, but if you want to do applied math, that's what Penn State is really known for, so you'd probably have better connected professors there as well as a broader pool of advisers to choose from. After talking with my adviser, it also seems like Penn State is much more respected in math. However, if you want to go into industry, that part won't matter as much.

I think it mostly comes down to how important location is to you. Penn State seems like a stronger department, but you need to make sure you aren't miserable for the next 5-6 years.

macmath7
Posts: 15
Joined: Tue Jan 17, 2023 11:13 pm

Re: Penn State vs UMass Amherst

Post by macmath7 » Sat Apr 08, 2023 11:00 am

throwaway2 wrote:
Fri Apr 07, 2023 8:32 am
Throwaway b/c reasons.

Anyone have any thoughts about Penn State vs UMass Amherst for analysis (maybe geometric, or maybe pdes - idk)? Having visited both departments, they pretty much feel equal in terms of faculty, students, etc. Penn State is offering slightly more, but it's also in the middle of nowhere.

I may end up just having to flip a coin...
I'm having a similar problem in choosing between schools. What I'll say is that if you are worried about Penn State being in the middle of nowhere UMass Amherst is also in the middle of nowhere haha. They are both amazing schools so either way your choice will be a good one. Good luck!

Alexander
Posts: 10
Joined: Sat Jan 28, 2023 12:45 am

Re: Penn State vs UMass Amherst

Post by Alexander » Sun Apr 09, 2023 10:39 am

Penn State.

The sames reasons as previous answers

hilberthotel
Posts: 32
Joined: Wed Jan 25, 2023 9:57 am

Re: Penn State vs UMass Amherst

Post by hilberthotel » Thu Apr 13, 2023 1:38 pm

throwaway2 wrote:
Fri Apr 07, 2023 8:32 am
Throwaway b/c reasons.

Anyone have any thoughts about Penn State vs UMass Amherst for analysis (maybe geometric, or maybe pdes - idk)? Having visited both departments, they pretty much feel equal in terms of faculty, students, etc. Penn State is offering slightly more, but it's also in the middle of nowhere.

I may end up just having to flip a coin...
Hey, have you decided?

WarmMilkIsBest
Posts: 6
Joined: Thu Feb 23, 2023 3:59 pm

Re: Penn State vs UMass Amherst

Post by WarmMilkIsBest » Thu Apr 13, 2023 9:14 pm

I'm currently at UMass as an undergrad. If you're interested in analysis/pdes, Panayotis Kevrekidis is pretty amazing. I had him for two classes (one on pdes and one on dynamical systems/chaos theory), and it's very evident that he cares a lot about his students (good office hours, lots of extra study material, quick email responses, etc.), and I have no doubt he would be a really good advisor, plus he is very accomplished in his field (though it is more on the applied side of things). Personality-wise he is a very animated and passionate person and it is very easy to get along with him. There's also a lot of research going on regarding machine learning, which is adjacent to analysis imo. If machine learning interests you then you should look into Yulong Lu and Wei Zhu, who are also great professors and very nice people.

UMass is a little bit in the middle of nowhere, though there is the town of Amherst a walk away, which has restaurants and picnic areas, a library, and a cvs. Though if you want to do anything more interesting (or pick up groceries) a car is 100% needed. If you do have a car though then there are a lot more options for things to do, for example northampton is a 20min drive away, which has a lot more stores and is closer to being like a city. There's also a lot of activities like arcades, movie theaters, escape rooms, etc., kind of just littered around nearby in various stripmalls.

And then I know nothing about UPenn lol.

Good luck!

throwaway2
Posts: 3
Joined: Fri Apr 07, 2023 8:28 am

Re: Penn State vs UMass Amherst

Post by throwaway2 » Fri Apr 14, 2023 3:53 pm

hilberthotel wrote:
Thu Apr 13, 2023 1:38 pm
throwaway2 wrote:
Fri Apr 07, 2023 8:32 am
Throwaway b/c reasons.

Anyone have any thoughts about Penn State vs UMass Amherst for analysis (maybe geometric, or maybe pdes - idk)? Having visited both departments, they pretty much feel equal in terms of faculty, students, etc. Penn State is offering slightly more, but it's also in the middle of nowhere.

I may end up just having to flip a coin...
Hey, have you decided?
Yeah - rejected UMass this morning.

throwaway2
Posts: 3
Joined: Fri Apr 07, 2023 8:28 am

Re: Penn State vs UMass Amherst

Post by throwaway2 » Fri Apr 14, 2023 3:54 pm

WarmMilkIsBest wrote:
Thu Apr 13, 2023 9:14 pm
Panayotis Kevrekidis is pretty amazing.
Omg yes - I had a lovely talk with him, and he was incredible.



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