2024 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results

[mathph]

Guess I'll be the one creating this thread for our year ... finally it's our turn

For questions, comments, and discussions about results use the Sweat Thread

To check the latest updates on posts, please see: search.php?search_id=latesteditedposts

Previous threads: 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023

I will warn you, however, that mathematics graduate programs do not pick people with some sort of strict formula. That said, I believe that the years of data that are forming on this site are a good source to see where students might be competitive. Keeping that in mind, please adhere to the following format:

Code: Select all

[b]Undergrad Institution:[/b] (School or type of school (such as Big state/Lib Arts/Ivy/Technical/Foreign (Country?))
[b]Major(s):[/b]
[b]Minor(s):[/b]
[b]GPA:[/b]
[b]Math GPA:[/b]
[b]Type of Student:[/b] (Domestic/International (Country?), Male/Female?, Minority?)

[b]GRE Revised General Test:[/b]
[b]Q:[/b] xxx (xx%)
[b]V:[/b] xxx (xx%)
[b]W:[/b] x.x (xx%)
[b]GRE Subject Test in Mathematics:[/b]
[b]M:[/b] xxx (xx%)

[b]TOEFL Score:[/b] (xx = Rxx/Lxx/Sxx/Wxx) (if applicable)

[b]Program Applying:[/b] (Pure Math/Applied Math/Statistics/Operation Research/Biostatistics)

[b]Research Experience:[/b] (At your school or elsewhere? What field? How much time? Any publications or conference talks etc...)
[b]Awards/Honors/Recognitions:[/b] (Within your school or outside?)
[b]Pertinent Activities or Jobs:[/b] (Such as tutor, TA, etc...)
[b]Math Courses Taken:[/b] (Such as abstract algebra, advanced calculus)
[b]Any Miscellaneous Points that Might Help:[/b] (Such as connections, famous recommenders, female or minority status etc...)
[b]Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter:[/b]

[b]Applying to Where:[/b] (Color use here is welcome)
[u]School[/u] - Program / Admitted/Rejected/Waitlisted/Pending on (date) / Accepted/Declined
[u]School[/u] - Program / Admitted/Rejected/Waitlisted/Pending on (date) / Accepted/Declined
[u]School[/u] - Program / Admitted/Rejected/Waitlisted/Pending on (date) / Accepted/Declined
[u]School[/u] - Program / Admitted/Rejected/Waitlisted/Pending on (date) / Accepted/Declined
[u]School[/u] - Program / Admitted/Rejected/Waitlisted/Pending on (date) / Accepted/Declined
[u]School[/u] - Program / Admitted/Rejected/Waitlisted/Pending on (date) / Accepted/Declined
[u]School[/u] - Program / Admitted/Rejected/Waitlisted/Pending on (date) / Accepted/Declined
[u]School[/u] - Program / Admitted/Rejected/Waitlisted/Pending on (date) / Accepted/Declined
[u]School[/u] - Program / Admitted/Rejected/Waitlisted/Pending on (date) / Accepted/Declined
[u]School[/u] - Program / Admitted/Rejected/Waitlisted/Pending on (date) / Accepted/Declined
[u]School[/u] - Program / Admitted/Rejected/Waitlisted/Pending on (date) / Accepted/Declined
[u]School[/u] - Program / Admitted/Rejected/Waitlisted/Pending on (date) / Accepted/Declined
[u]School[/u] - Program / Admitted/Rejected/Waitlisted/Pending on (date) / Accepted/Declined
[u]School[/u] - Program / Admitted/Rejected/Waitlisted/Pending on (date) / Accepted/Declined
[u]School[/u] - Program / Admitted/Rejected/Waitlisted/Pending on (date) / Accepted/Declined

[mathph]

Undergrad Institution: ___(MyHomeState)___ State University
Major(s): Math and Physics
Minor(s): null
GPA: 3.81
Math GPA:
Type of Student: Domestic White Male

GRE Revised General Test:
Q: 168 (87%)
V: 156 (70%)
W: 4.0 (57%)
GRE Subject Test in Mathematics:
M: 860 (86%)

Program Applying: Pure Math

Research Experience: Senior paper in topology. One pending publication with a faculty member in my department in topology. One submitted publication with another faculty member in combinatorics. Completed 1 REU at another Private Tier 1 university. Also writing a senior paper for my second major (physics) in classical field theory but might quit if it gets too difficult since I can graduate regardless.
Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Volunteered for the math department on a few occasions. Received 2 department scholarship and one distinguished dean's scholarship.
Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Tutored college algebra and precalculus. Graded for college algebra.
Math Courses Taken: Calculus 2-3 (received Calc 1 credit from AP), ODE, Linear Algebra, Numerical Analysis, PDE, Intro to Proofs, Discrete Math, Advanced Calculus 1-2, Modern Algebra 1-2, Topology, Complex Analysis, Combinatorics, Number Theory, Probability, Mathematical Statistics 1-2, Problem-Solving seminars.
Any Miscellaneous Points that Might Help: My advisor and letter writers are from some of the schools that I'm applying to, but surely that's too common to be helpful.
Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter:

Applying to Where: (Color use here is welcome)

(Dream/Donations)
Brown -
Harvard -
MIT -
Princeton -
Stanford -
UC Berkeley -
UCLA -
Yale -

(Reach?)
Michigan -
Minnesota -
Rutgers -
UIUC -
UT Austin -
UW Madison -

(Match??)
IU Bloomington -
Penn State -
Ohio State -
TAMU -
UC Davis -
UC Santa Barbara -
UIC -

(Safeties???)
Iowa -
Iowa State -
Kentucky -
Nebraska -
Oregon State -
SUNY Buffalo -

[abcd]

Undergrad Institution: Top university in the country (middle east asia)
Major(s): Mathematics
Minor(s): Data Science
GPA: 3.71
Math GPA: 3.9ish
Masters GPA: 3.85
Type of Student: International Male

GRE Revised General Test: Not taking since most universities do not require it.

GRE Subject Test in Mathematics: Will be taking in November.
M: 880 (90%)

TOEFL Score: (108 = R30/L29/S23/W26) (That 23 sucks man!)

Program Applying: (Analytic Number Theory)

Research Experience: Currently doing a master's thesis in analytic number theory. Did some reading projects in Algebraic Geometry and Topology.
Awards/Honors/Recognitions: 2nd position in national level undergraduate mathematics contest, merit scholarship for masters, high achiever award, Dean's honor roll etc...
Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Did TAships of Cal-I, Real Analysis-I, and Linear Algebra with Differential Equations
Undergraduate Math Courses: Cal-I, Cal-II, Cal-III, Mathematical Statistics-I, Mathematical Statistics-II, Discrete Mathematics and Applications, Elementary Number Theory, Mathematical Computing, Real-Analysis-I, Real Analysis-II, ODE-I, ODE-II, Linear Algebra, Calculus of Variations, Differential Geometry-I, PDEs, Numerical Analysis-I, Fluid Mechanics, Complex Analysis, Functional Analysis, Group Theory, Rings and Fields, Integral Equations, Mathematical Modelling, Metric and Topological Spaces
Graduate Math Courses:: Mathematical Analysis, Advanced Complex Analysis, Advanced Algebra, Algebraic Geometry, Advanced Differential Geometry, Advanced Topology
Any Miscellaneous Points that Might Help: One of my recommender is famous at least in the number theory and analysis circles and he is my thesis supervisor. The other two have taught me courses (one of them is my co-supervisor of thesis and knows me very well).
Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: Got my name in the acknowledgement section of a book by a pretty famous mathematician (Prof. T T)

Applying to Where: (Color use here is welcome)

(Dream)
Oxford - Submitted - Rejected. (Oxford being xenophobic.)
Princeton - Submitted - Rejected. (Princeton being Princeton.)
Cambridge - Submitted - Rejected. (Cambridge being xenophobic.)
UCLA - Submitted - Rejected. (UCLA being UCLA.)

(Target)
UIUC - Submitted - Rejected.
UCI - Submitted - Ghosted. (Got an email saying that I will likely receive an offer and that I would love the beaches of California but never heard back from them.)
Kansas State - Submitted - Accepted!! (22/01)
Ohio State - Submitted - Rejected.
Rutgers - Submitted - Ghosted.
Maryland - Submitted - Ghosted.
Rice - Submitted - Rejected.
Texas A&M - Submitted - Accepted!! (25/01) (Have yet to hear back about the funding.)
Kentucky - Submitted - Waitlisted.
Penn State - Submitted - Accepted!! (27/02)
Stony Brook - Submitted - Ghosted. (Submitted the application without paying the application fee. Graduate administrator said she would ask the Director to take a look at it.)

[vfefe]

Before I post - I've noticed a lot of post in previous years threads have been deleted.

Is this for privacy issues? Should I be worried that I could get doxxed?

My profile is definitely distinctive.

[mathph]

Before I post - I've noticed a lot of post in previous years threads have been deleted.

Is this for privacy issues? Should I be worried that I could get doxxed?

My profile is definitely distinctive.

that's a good question, there could be many reasons, but likely most fall under one of the following:

- privacy concerns
- lack of confidence aka inferiority complex
- 'crab mentality'

just hide the stuff that makes you fingerprintable...?

[paatpaatpaat]

Undergrad Institution: Top 30 worldwide (Australia)
Major(s): Applied Mathematics & Statistics
Minor(s): Biomedical Sciences
GPA: First-Class Honours (85+)
Math GPA: First-Class Honours (90+)
Type of Student: International (Australia), Asian male

GRE Revised General Test: (not taken)
GRE Subject Test in Mathematics: (not taken)

Program Applying: Applied & Computational Math/Biomathematics

Research Experience: One year-long research at a cancer research wet lab (pending one second-author publication); MSc research thesis on cancer modelling.
Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Chancellor's scholar, Vacation research scholarships, MSc academic scholarships etc.
Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Private high-school tutor & TA at Calc 1, 2, Lin. Alg.
Undergraduate Math Courses Taken: Calc 1-3, Linear Algebra 1 & 2, Measure-Theoretic Probability, Real Analysis, Complex Analysis, Differential Equations, Group Theory, Numerical methods & Scientific Computing, Linear Statistical Models, Applied Mathematical Modelling, Stochastic Modelling, Metric & Hilbert Spaces, Methods of Mathematical Physics
Graduate Math Courses Taken: Mathematical statistics, Stochastic Calculus, Mathematical Statistical Mechanics, Advanced Methods: Differential Equations, Advanced Methods: Transforms, Bayesian statistical learning, Multivariate statistics, High-dimensional numerical analysis, Random Matrix Theory
Any Miscellaneous Points that Might Help: I know I want to apply maths & stats to cancer research, and so I'm only applying for programs who share a similar interest and have groups who work in this area. The programs I'm applying for are all very good fit.
Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: (1) I received straight A's for all of the math courses mentioned above except for one, and the one for which I didn't receive an A is Metric and Hilbert Spaces, for which I only got a B . This might raise some red flags? (2) None of my recommenders are very well-known worldwide, though they are all professors and associate professors who are renowned domestically in Australia.

Applying to Where: (Color use here is welcome)

Reach:
Princeton (PACM) -
JHU (Applied Maths & Statistics) -
UT Austin (Oden Institute) -

Target:
UCLA (Biomathematics) -
UWash (Applied math) -
UMich (Applied & Interdisciplinary Math) -
U Maryland (Applied math & Statistics, and Scientific Computation) -
Northwestern (Applied Math) -

Safety:
Australian PhD

[fiveier.analysis]

Undergrad Institution: Mid-sized Public (w/o PhD program)
Major(s): Mathematics, Biology
Minor(s): Anthropology, Chemistry
GPA: 3.57
Math GPA: 3.43
Type of Student: Domestic/Female/White

GRE Revised General Test:
Q: 166 (80%)
V: 169 (99%)
W: 5.5 (98%)
GRE Subject Test in Mathematics:
M: 880 (89%)

Program Applying: Pure Math (Combinatorics, Algebraic Geometry, Algebraic Number Theory)

Research Experience:
(i) Currently working on an honors thesis in mathematical logic
(ii) One paper published in mathematical logic with professor advising me on (i)
(iii) One paper published in graph theory with another professor
(iv) One paper submitted in analytic number theory, pending minor revision. I mostly did computational work/verification of formulas.
(v) Completed 2 REUs, one of which is with professor mentioned in (iv). The other is at my home institution, end product is a poster presentation at the end of summer.
(vi) Worked with a professor in data science and got 2 papers published, both have 5-10 authors so not sure how much weight they carry.

Awards/Honors/Recognitions:
Bunch of department and university scholarships.

Pertinent Activities or Jobs:
Attended many seminars, colloquiums and talks.

Math Courses Taken:
Matrix theory, number theory, ordinary differential equations, introduction to analysis, fourier analysis, abstract algebra, partial differential equations, numerical methods, numerical linear algebra, mathematical biology, optimization and parallel computing. Directed study in complex anlaysis, topology and algebraic topology.

Any Miscellaneous Points that Might Help:
Female. The professor mentioned above in (iv) is "a big name" in his field of research.

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter:
Two of my letters are coming from (i) and (iv) above. I don't know if the letter from (iv) is going to be super strong but he is famous, at least in analytic number theory.

I'm a bit weary asking for (iii) to write me a letter because it didn't seem like she liked me at all. My gut is telling me that she's very annoyed with me, and she]s always reluctant to spend time explaining things to me. I think she was only using me to compute/verify data for her paper and at the end she only added me as a secondary author as supposed to a coauthor.

Actually, I've attempted the subject GRE three times. Honestly it's a test that you'll just have to study for, hard. It's probably the easiest way to make your application stand out imho. The professor mentioned above in (iv) told me their department uses the subject GRE in general to, for a lack of a better term, weed off applicants. I don't remember the exact wording, but something along the lines "it demonstrate that you as an applicant can focus on one task and perform well" and "we get way more applications than we have funding so not doing well in the subject GRE put you in a significant disadvantage".

Applying to Where: (Color use here is welcome)

Reach:
Duke -
MIT -
UChicago - rejected
UC Berkeley -
UCLA -
UPenn -
Yale -

Target:
GaTech -
Michigan -
Minnesota -
UIUC -
UT Austin -
UW Madison -
Waterloo - rejected

Safety:
Florida -
Florida State -
Indiana Bloomington -
Iowa -
Iowa State -
Michigan State -
Ohio State - accepted
Penn State -

Super Safety:
Delaware - accepted
Hawaii - cancelled

[anticategories]

Undergrad Institution: Private
Major(s): Math
Minor(s): Chem, Physics
GPA: 3.22
Math GPA:
Type of Student: Domestic Male

GRE Revised General Test:
Q: 170 (93%)
V: 166 (96%)
W: 5.0 (91%)
GRE Subject Test in Mathematics:
M: 920 (95%)

*I took the GRE general over 12 months ago and either the percentile changes over time, or that my brain's memory storage is failing

Program Applying: Pure Math - Harmonic Analysis

Research Experience:

• Did research in high school with a professor at a local university, published 1 paper in combinatorics/graph theory together and another in algebraic combinatorics after high school during summer before college.
• Completed 2 REUs. First one's online, ended up being a 'learning project' i.e. the final paper was a summary for algebraic topology. The second one did the 'learning project' again but in harmonic analysis.
• Did research with 2 faculty members at my home institution in functional analysis. Submitted 1 paper each with them separately, 1 in functional analysis the other in fourier analysis.
• Did research with faculty member with my REU advisor in harmonic analysis. Published 1 paper as a secondary author in harmonic analysis. Published 3 more papers later as coauthors with the professor and other experts in the field, 2 in harmonic analysis, the other in geometric measure theory.
• Currently working on a paper with a professor at another university whom I connected with during a conference and introduced by another faculty member. Paper is being typed up almost ready for submission.
• Also currently working on graduation thesis requirement in abstract harmonic analysis.

Awards/Honors/Recognitions:

• Got into USAMO 3 times but were never selected for the 'preIMO summer camp' nor the IMO.
• Putnam honorable mention.
• Won a national scholarship for college. Technically won 2 but can only accept 1. Also bunch of high school scholarships but the national scholarship effectively refunded these smaller high school scholarships.

Pertinent Activities or Jobs:
None. Never tutored nor TA'ed for any classes, unless you count siblings and friends.

Math Courses Taken:

• Undergraduate
  Real Analysis, Complex Analysis, Fourier Analysis, Probability Theory, Linear Algebra, Algebra 1-2, Number Fields, Algebraic combinatorics, Differential Geometry, Functional Analysis
• Graduate
  Advanced Real Analysis, Advanced Complex Analysis, Harmonic Analysis, Several Complex Variables, Differential Analysis, Analytic Number Theory, Lie Groups and Lie Algebras, Riemann Surfaces, Geometric PDEs, Modular Forms, Class Field Theory, Algebraic Topology

Any Miscellaneous Points that Might Help:
All 3 letter writers are very well-known in their fields - algebraic combinatorics, number theory and harmonic analysis. They all have their wikipedia pages and won bunch of prizes, so hope that helps. Some of the courses I've taken are at another university, which I'm applying to so that might also help.

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter:
I got some pretty bad grades in freshman year which partially contributed to my low GPA. I underestimated the difficulty of higher level undergraduate and graduate level math courses. Fortunately my professors (and some grad students) were really patient and helped me out. They spent quite a lot of time explaining things to me. I also did comparatively worse on 'algebra courses' - categories didn't make much sense to me and still doesn't. I barely passed graduate algebraic topology and for some reasons I just couldn't figure out Lie groups (and a bunch of other stuff) for a long time and did poorly in some classes.

Applying to Where: (Color use here is welcome)

1. Princeton - Program / Admitted/Rejected/Waitlisted/Pending on (date) / Accepted/Declined
2. UCLA - Program / Admitted/Rejected/Waitlisted/Pending on (date) / Accepted/Declined
3. Caltech - Program / Admitted/Rejected/Waitlisted/Pending on (date) / Accepted/Declined
4. MIT - Program / Admitted/Rejected/Waitlisted/Pending on (date) / Accepted/Declined
5. Yale - Program / Admitted/Rejected/Waitlisted/Pending on (date) / Accepted/Declined
6. UW Madison - Program / Admitted/Rejected/Waitlisted/Pending on (date) / Accepted/Declined

[cocoaalmondbutter]

Undergrad Institution: Small liberal arts and sciences honors college at a large state university
Major(s): Interdisciplinary Mathematical Sciences with an Emphasis in Biology
GPA: 3.977 (Only non-As were in Organic Chemistry and Genetics)
Math GPA: 4.00
Type of Student: Domestic, Male, White

GRE Revised General Test:
Q: 160 (61%)
V: 152 (50%)
W: 4.0 (56%)

Program Applying: Pure Math, Applied Math, and Biostatistics

Research Experience: I will have a published Honors Thesis in Group Theory by the time I graduate.
Awards/Honors/Recognitions: (Within your school or outside?)
Pertinent Activities or Jobs: I am the tutor for Physics, Learning Assistant (LA) for Calculus, and a Mathnasium tutor.
Math Courses Taken: Honors Calculus I-III, Matrix Theory, Abstract Algebra, Complex Analysis, and Differential Equations. I have also taken two coding classes (R and gretl).
Any Miscellaneous Points that Might Help: My recommenders are alumni at two of the schools I am applying to.

Applying to Where:
University of Tennessee - Ph.D. in Mathematics / Pending on 10/19/2023
Florida State University - Ph.D. in Biomathematics / Pending on 10/19/2023
Florida Atlantic University - M.S. in Mathematics / Pending on 10/19/2023
University of Florida - Ph.D. in Mathematics / Pending on 10/19/2023
University of Georgia - Ph.D. in Mathematics / Pending on 10/19/2023
Clemson University - Ph.D. in Mathematical Sciences / Pending on 10/19/2023
University of South Carolina - Ph.D. in Mathematics / Pending on 10/19/2023
University of Alabama - Ph.D. in Mathematics / Pending on 10/19/2023

[The Knave]

My university reports my “Major GPA,” which is my GPA for courses required by my major (math). This includes some chemistry and physics courses, and excludes some math courses I’ve taken as “general electives.” My university does not report a GPA just for math courses. Is this “Major GPA” my “Math GPA”?

[newtonjeep]

My university reports my “Major GPA,” which is my GPA for courses required by my major (math). This includes some chemistry and physics courses, and excludes some math courses I’ve taken as “general electives.” My university does not report a GPA just for math courses. Is this “Major GPA” my “Math GPA”?

Usually these are separate, and you'll have to calculate your math courses only GPA using whatever grading scheme your university uses.

[deligne]

Undergrad Institution: Best in the country
Major(s): Mathematics and Computer Science
GPA: 4.00
Type of Student: International Male

GRE Revised General Test: didn't take

GRE Subject Test in Mathematics:
M: 900 (93%)

TOEFL Score: >105

Program Applying: Number Theory and Algebraic Geometry

Research Experience: multiple published papers in analytic number theory.
Pertinent Activities or Jobs: TA for multiple core courses for undergraduates.
Graduate Math Courses Taken: Commutative Algebra, Algebraic Geometry, Algebraic Number Theory, Arithmetic of Elliptic Curves,...
Any Miscellaneous Points that Might Help: read multiple classic papers on modular forms, modular curves, and Galois representations; read 1 influential algebraic geometry paper; recommenders know me well.
Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: selected to write IMO TSTs (team selection tests) multiple times; young, unknown recommenders.

Applying to Where:
Harvard - Rejected (Jan 30th)
Princeton - Rejected (Feb 8th)
MIT - Admitted (Feb 2nd)
Stanford - Rejected (Feb 7th)
UChicago - Admitted (Jan 8th) Declined (April 14th)
Columbia - Rejected (Mar 13th)
UMichigan - Interview (Jan 31st) Withdrawn (Feb 3rd)
UCSD - Admitted (Jan 26th) Declined (Feb 8th)
UToronto - Rejected upon email inquiry (Mar 18th)
Cambridge Part III - Conditional offer (Feb 21st)
UBonn (Masters) - Admitted (Jan 30th) Declined (Feb 3rd)

[Euler29]

Undergrad Institution: Top tier engineering institute in Asia
Major(s): Artificial Intelligence
Minor(s): N/A
GPA: 3.33
Type of Student: International Male

GRE Revised General Test: Not taking since most universities do not require it.

GRE Subject Test in Mathematics: N/A

TOEFL Score: (110= R27/L29/S30/W24)

Program Applying: Analytic Number Theory

Research Experience: Have published 5 papers on analytic number theory and completed two independent studies in analytic number theory and p-adic number theory respectively.
Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Dean's list for research for two consecutive years, a prestigious fellowship meant for supporting young mathematicians, Won awards in a couple of high school competitions.
Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Been a TA for multivariate calculus, a reviewer for AMS, contributed talks at some conferences
Graduate Math Courses Taken: Functional Analysis, Complex Analysis, Advanced Linear Algebra, Introductory Algebraic Geometry, Advanced Number Theory, Point-set Topology
Any Miscellaneous Points that Might Help: I mailed some prospective advisors out of anxiety and got positive responses from a few. My recommenders know me well. Two of them are in number theory. Rest are my professors.
Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: My GPA is somewhat low mainly due to non-mathematical courses. My first two years were online and one semester went partially online which brought down my grades. I improved my grades significantly in junior year when I also took graduate math courses.

Applying to Where: (Color use here is welcome)

I am removing the information from here since anyway my bio won't help anyone. Most of my universities were T15 with safeties as UIUC and Purdue and Kansas State as super safety or whatever. I got offers only from UIUC and Kansas State and withdrew from some Canadian ones. Anyway, I think my lack of math background made me unfit for top programs.

[matejxx1]

Undergrad Institution: Mid-sized Public (w/o PhD program)
Major(s): Mathematics, Biology
Minor(s): Anthropology, Chemistry
GPA: 3.57
Math GPA: 3.43
Type of Student: Domestic/Female/White

GRE Revised General Test:
Q: 166 (80%)
V: 169 (99%)
W: 5.5 (98%)
GRE Subject Test in Mathematics:
M: 880 (89%)

Program Applying: Pure Math (Combinatorics, Algebraic Geometry, Algebraic Number Theory)

Research Experience:
(i) Currently working on an honors thesis in mathematical logic
(ii) One paper published in mathematical logic with professor advising me on (i)
(iii) One paper published in graph theory with another professor
(iv) One paper submitted in analytic number theory, pending minor revision. I mostly did computational work/verification of formulas.
(v) Completed 2 REUs, one of which is with professor mentioned in (iv). The other is at my home institution, end product is a poster presentation at the end of summer.
(vi) Worked with a professor in data science and got 2 papers published, both have 5-10 authors so not sure how much weight they carry.

Awards/Honors/Recognitions:
Bunch of department and university scholarships.

Pertinent Activities or Jobs:
Attended many seminars, colloquiums and talks.

Math Courses Taken:
Matrix theory, number theory, ordinary differential equations, introduction to analysis, fourier analysis, abstract algebra, partial differential equations, numerical methods, numerical linear algebra, mathematical biology, optimization and parallel computing. Directed study in complex anlaysis, topology and algebraic topology.

Any Miscellaneous Points that Might Help:
Female. The professor mentioned above in (iv) is "a big name" in his field of research.

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter:
Two of my letters are coming from (i) and (iv) above. I don't know if the letter from (iv) is going to be super strong but he is famous, at least in analytic number theory.

I'm a bit weary asking for (iii) to write me a letter because it didn't seem like she liked me at all. My gut is telling me that she's very annoyed with me, and she]s always reluctant to spend time explaining things to me. I think she was only using me to compute/verify data for her paper and at the end she only added me as a secondary author as supposed to a coauthor.

Actually, I've attempted the subject GRE three times. Honestly it's a test that you'll just have to study for, hard. It's probably the easiest way to make your application stand out imho. The professor mentioned above in (iv) told me their department uses the subject GRE in general to, for a lack of a better term, weed off applicants. I don't remember the exact wording, but something along the lines "it demonstrate that you as an applicant can focus on one task and perform well" and "we get way more applications than we have funding so not doing well in the subject GRE put you in a significant disadvantage".

Applying to Where: (Color use here is welcome)

Reach:
Cornell - submitted October 14
Duke - submitted
UC Berkeley - submitted
UC San Diego -
UCLA -

Target:
Michigan - submitted
Minnesota -
UIUC -
UW Madison -
Washington - submitted
Waterloo -

Safety:
Florida -
Florida State -
Iowa -
Iowa State -
Michigan State -
Ohio State -
Penn State -

Super Safety:
Delaware -
Hawaii -

It looks like cornell is not accepting new students this year

[fiveier.analysis]

interesting yeah their website changed

I already submitted my application on applyweb and it went through. I also paid the application fee!!

Does anyone also submitted an application and heard anything back from the grad college or the department? I emailed just now but probably won't get a response until Monday

[MathDad]

Here is a link to the announcement:
https://math.cornell.edu/graduate-admis ... pplication

[mathph]

interesting yeah their website changed

I already submitted my application on applyweb and it went through. I also paid the application fee!!

Does anyone also submitted an application and heard anything back from the grad college or the department? I emailed just now but probably won't get a response until Monday

Dude I'm pretty sure Cornell as a school is not out to 'steal' your application fee however it might be.

But, with that said, I'm not sure if you'll get a straight up 'denial' as a justification to your application or that you will actually get your money back. If I have to guess it's probably a denial but no refunds. File a credit card chargeback if you dare

Good luck lol

[anticategories]

interesting yeah their website changed

I already submitted my application on applyweb and it went through. I also paid the application fee!!

Does anyone also submitted an application and heard anything back from the grad college or the department? I emailed just now but probably won't get a response until Monday

Dude I'm pretty sure Cornell as a school is not out to 'steal' your application fee however it might be.

But, with that said, I'm not sure if you'll get a straight up 'denial' as a justification to your application or that you will actually get your money back. If I have to guess it's probably a denial but no refunds. File a credit card chargeback if you dare

Good luck lol

Well I guess if you know you're never going to be a student at Cornell it probably doesn't matter.

[zeusdm]

Undergrad Institution: Small Liberal Arts College
Major(s): Mathematics, Linguistics
GPA: 3.865
Math GPA: 4.000
Type of Student: International, Male

GRE: Did not take any GRE.
TOEFL: Not applicable.

Program Applying: Pure Math

Research Experience: Summer REU 2023, Research Experience during Study Abroad, Summer REU 2022. Two published papers, plus three arXiv manuscripts. Six talks at four conferences.
Awards/Honors/Recognitions: 2x Putnam Top 200, 2x IMO Medal
Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Grader/Tutor for Linear Algebra, Algebra, Topology. Math Olympiad Instructor for High-School Students. Volunteering for Math Olympiad Coordination.
Math Courses Taken: Algebraic Combinatorics, Complex Analysis, Combinatorics of Hypergraphs, Conjecture and Proof, Representation Theory, Functional Analysis, Extremal and Probabilistic Combinatorics, Real Analysis, Abstract Algebra.
Any Miscellaneous Points that Might Help: Senior Thesis, Study Abroad
Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter:

Applying to Where:
Minnesota, Twin Cities
Michigan: Interview (jan-31)
MIT
CUNY
Washington
Northeastern
Oregon
Virginia
UMass, Amherst: Accepted (jan-26)
Wisconsin, Madison
Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Dartmouth: Interview (jan-18)
Carnegie Mellon
Cambridge, Part II
University of Waterloo
Simon Fraser University
McMaster University
York University

[fiveier.analysis]

interesting yeah their website changed

I already submitted my application on applyweb and it went through. I also paid the application fee!!

Does anyone also submitted an application and heard anything back from the grad college or the department? I emailed just now but probably won't get a response until Monday

Dude I'm pretty sure Cornell as a school is not out to 'steal' your application fee however it might be.

But, with that said, I'm not sure if you'll get a straight up 'denial' as a justification to your application or that you will actually get your money back. If I have to guess it's probably a denial but no refunds. File a credit card chargeback if you dare

Good luck lol

Well I guess if you know you're never going to be a student at Cornell it probably doesn't matter.

I'm almost certain at this point I'm not seeing a penny back despite having submitted an application.

Emailed the department and was directed to contact admissions.

Then, admissions told me to contact applywebs.

Applwebs told me to contact the grad school admissions. ad infinitum

[The Knave]

Undergrad Institution: Private university (US News Top 30 colleges in the U.S.)
Majors: Mathematics, Global Affairs
Minor: French
GPA: 3.88
Math GPA: 3.91 (self-calculated)
Type of Student: Domestic white male

GRE Revised General Test:
Q: 169 (91%)
V: 170 (99%)
W: 5.5 (98%)
GRE Subject Test in Mathematics:
M: 870 (88%)

Program Applying: Pure Math, with specialization in logic

Research Experience: Organized and led a very small-scale student-led summer research project. Writing an expository senior thesis in logic.
Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Top 500 on Putnam competition. Departmental award for top first-year math major. Departmental award for top sophomore/junior math major.
Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Graded and tutored for proof-based undergraduate math courses. Attended two graduate summer schools in logic.
Math Courses Taken: (I list the number of semesters taken in each area, including both in-progress and planned courses.)
Undergraduate-level: 4 calculus, 2 linear algebra, 1 real analysis, 1 topology, 1 philosophy of math.
Graduate-level: 4 logic, 2 abstract algebra, 1 real analysis, 2 geometry/topology, 1 algebraic geometry.

Applying to Where:
Reach:
Carnegie Mellon University - admitted 1/23
University of Chicago - rejected 1/8
current institution - admitted 2/6

Match:
University of Wisconsin—Madison - admitted 2/9

Safety:
Indiana University Bloomington - withdrawn 3/25
Ohio State University - admitted 1/9
Purdue University - admitted 2/14
University of Illinois Chicago - admitted 1/26

[fiveier.analysis]

Dude I'm pretty sure Cornell as a school is not out to 'steal' your application fee however it might be.

But, with that said, I'm not sure if you'll get a straight up 'denial' as a justification to your application or that you will actually get your money back. If I have to guess it's probably a denial but no refunds. File a credit card chargeback if you dare

Good luck lol

Well I guess if you know you're never going to be a student at Cornell it probably doesn't matter.

I'm almost certain at this point I'm not seeing a penny back despite having submitted an application.

Emailed the department and was directed to contact admissions.

Then, admissions told me to contact applywebs.

Applwebs told me to contact the grad school admissions. ad infinitum

Update: After much back and forth, I got frustrated and contacted the dean of admissions or whatever. I'm getting a refund check in the mail because they said they cannot refund me the transaction as it is done by AppleWebs.

So if you applied and paid the fee to Cornell before they closed down the application, escalate and you should get your money back.

[schakraborty091199]

Undergrad Institution: Big Public University Top 50 and Community College
Masters Institution:[/b] Big Public University Top 20
Major(s): Math
Minor(s):None
GPA:3.11 (Undergrad Only No Transfer) - explained in SOP family issues caregiver role
Math GPA:3.51 (w/ Transfer)
Math Grad GPA: 3.944
Type of Student: Domestic, Female, Immigrant

GRE Revised General Test:321
Q:161
V:160
W:6.0
GRE Subject Test in Mathematics: Did not submit
M:Did not submit


Program Applying: Applied Math

Research Experience:1 preprint, 6 posters, 2 talks (one at premier conference in field) 27 months of research experience in 3 labs in undergrad and 1 in masters
Awards/Honors/Recognitions:School research awards in undergrad and grad, 1 publication, 3 scholarships from sorority
Pertinent Activities or Jobs: TA - 2 years, Grader - 1 year, Course Instructor - 1 semester, Tutor - 7 years, National Lab Internship, Ambassador for Company, Data Analyst, Graduate Researcher, Undergraduate Research Assistant
Math Courses Taken: Abstract Algebra I, II, Real Analysis I, II, Numerical Analysis, Computational Math I, II, Applied Math I, II, Stochastic Computational Methods, Mathematical Fluids, Computational Fluid Dynamics, Measure Theory, Measure-Theoretic Probability Theory, Probability Theory, Calc 1-3, ODE, Linear Algebra, Abstract Linear Algebra, Applied Linear Algebra, Discrete Math, Machine Learning, Complex Analysis (Undergrad), Graduate Complex Analysis
Any Miscellaneous Points that Might Help: Famous recommender in their field, 2 research professors, 1 teaching professor, National Lab Internship, On National Board of Sorority, Graduate Mentor for Undergraduates, Math Club President, Undergraduate Research Society Secretary
Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter:family issues caregiver role, inconsistent education with gaps, applied to fellowships, student editor of undergraduate research journal, went to IU Bloomington invited in-person program for grad school applications and met with professors (was competitive to get into)

Applying to Where: (Color use here is welcome)

Reach
- Northwestern - Waitlisted upon inquiry 2/6
- UChicago - Rejected (2/9)
- UT Austin- Submitted (12/12) Waiting
- UW Seattle - Deferred to Unfunded Masters - Declined 3/17
- Notre Dame - Interview Invite 2/13 - Interview 2/15 - Waitlist 2/21 - Accepted 2/23 - ATTENDING
- UMich - Waitlisted (3/17) - Email Inquiry - Rejected 3/27
- Duke - Rejected 3/29
- Georgia Tech - Rejected 3/29
- Vanderbilt - Submitted (12/12) Waiting
- Johns Hopkins - Rejected 3/12
- UPenn - (4/8) Rejected
- UW Madison - 2/9 Rejected

Target
- Purdue - Submitted (12/12) Waiting
- IU Bloomington - Shortlist Notification 3/6 - Accepted with funding 3/13 - Declined Offer 3/25
- UMN - Waitlist (2/16)
- UMD - Submitted (12/12) Waiting
- Penn State - Officially accepted with fellowship 2/13 - Declined Offer 3/17
- OSU - Rejected (Effectively, on longer waitlist not the shortlist) 2/22
- Rutgers - Waitlisted upon Inquiry (2/6)
- Michigan State - Accepted - Asked to send official transcripts 1/23 - Officially accepted with fellowship 2/13 - Declined Offer 2/26
- NCSU - Rejected (2/7)
- Alabama - Accepted with Accept Fellowship 3/25 - Declined 3/25
Wildcard
- Georgetown- Accepted 4/22 - Declined 4/23 (Only because it is a brand new program)

[coffeebeanbag]

Undergrad Institution: Foreign, good uni
Major(s):Mathematics
GPA: 3.9
Math GPA: 4.0
Type of Student: International

Program Applying: Pure Math

Research Experience: One research experience w/o result
Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Nothing significant
Pertinent Activities or Jobs: A few teaching experiences
Math Courses Taken:
Undergraduate level: A year of real analysis and abstract algebra, topology, other regular courses
Graduate level: A few courses
Any Miscellaneous Points that Might Help: Strong letters and a close match of interests with some places
Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: Sent an updated transcript that includes my fall grade to programs labelled with '*', along with a brief explanation for a bad grade of one course.

Applying to Where: (In no particular order)
Yale* - Submitted 12/15 Rejected 02/01
USC* - Submitted 12/15 Unofficial very positive email 02/03 Accepted! ($40k stipend + one year fellowship) 02/09 Declined
Northeastern - (PhD and MS) - Submitted 12/12 Withdrawn
UNC Chapel Hill - Submitted 12/12 Rejected 04/02
UT Austin* - Submitted 12/15 Unofficially rejected upon inquiry 03/26
Rutgers* - Submitted 12/15 Waitlisted upon inquiry 03/18
MIT - Submitted 12/15 Rejected 02/09
UPenn - Submitted 12/21 Invited to interview 02/23 Invited to another round of interview 02/25 Rejected 04/12
Stony Brook - Submitted 12/21 Waitlisted upon inquiry 03/15
UMass Amherst* - Submitted 12/30 Waitlisted 03/22 Withdrawn
UOregon - Submitted 12/30 Withdrawn
Boston University -Submitted 12/30 Unofficially accepted! 02/06 Accepted! ($41k first year) 02/21

Update 02/25: Just interviewed by upenn. I was not expecting an interview invitation at all and didn't prepare that much. I hope I get in regardless.
Update 03/01: Just interviewed again by upenn.
Update 04/12: Will likely commit to BU for a closer match of interests. I am interested in a niche field; my SOP makes it sound as though I am solely interested in that field, which might have both positive and negative impacts on my application season this year. It's very fortunate for me to have been admitted by BU.

[smkar]

Undergrad Institution: Asian top 100, not well known for mathematics.
Major(s):Mathematics
Minor(s): Physics
GPA: 3.97/4.0 (degree expected around 2024 April)
Math GPA: 4.0/4.0
Type of Student: International (Asian Male)

GRE Revised General Test: Not taken
GRE Subject Test in Mathematics: 890, Percentile: 92%
IELTS: Overall-7.0

Program Applying: Pure Math: Mainly Geometry/Topology and Mathematical Physics

Research Experience: Senior Thesis in Low dimensional topology, Undergraduate summer school(PCMI USS)
Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Gold Medal at IMC for university students
Teaching: A few volunteer teaching experiences
Math Courses Taken(Senior): Topology, Differential Geometry, Functional Analysis, Galois Theory, Commutative Algebra, Group Theory, Measure Theory, P.D.E., Complex Analysis.

Applying to Where: (In no particular order)

Dream
Princeton - Submitted 12.14 Rejected
Harvard - Submitted 12.14
Brown - Accepted unofficially (1.25)
Yale - Submitted 12.14
UC Berkeley - Submitted 12.11
Caltech- Submitted 12.14

Target
Maryland- Submitted 12.14
OSU- Submitted 12.4
Minnesota - Submitted 12.15
Dartmouth - Submitted 12.13
Washington(Seatle) - Submitted 12.15
Michigan,Ann Arbor - Submitted 12.15
CMU - Submitted 12.16

Safe
UCSC: Withdrawen 1.26

[calcifer]

I've spent far too long on this forum than I care to admit, so I guess it's my turn to pay it forward.

Undergrad Institution: us T20 for math
Major(s): math
Minor(s): computer science
GPA: 3.76
Type of Student: domestic

GRE Revised General Test: not taken
GRE Subject Test in Mathematics: not taken

TOEFL Score: n/a

Program Applying: pure math

Research Experience: 3 summers of research (2 reu programs), one accepted paper, one in-progress.
Awards/Honors/Recognitions: nope
Pertinent Activities or Jobs: grader for 1 semester and pretty involved in the math department.
Math Courses Taken: algebra, analysis (real and complex), topology, differential geometry, combinatorics, discrete math, algorithms, dynamical systems, grad lie algebras, grad algebraic topology, grad riemannian geometry, multiple topics courses and multiple reading courses with profs (letter writer) and postdocs.
Any Miscellaneous Points that Might Help: letter writers are very famous in the field I am applying to
Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: not particularly but i'm applying to a pretty niche subfield so hopefully that makes my application non-generic

Applying to Where: (Color use here is welcome)

U Chicago - Rejected 01.08
Maryland - Emailed gauging interest 1.18, Admitted 1.22
UC Davis - Emailed gauging interest 1.19, rescinded
Georgia Tech - Admitted 1.22
Harvard - Rejected 01.30
Duke - Offered interview 01.12, Admitted 1.31
Rutgers - Unofficially admitted 2.2
USC - Shortlisted 2.2, admitted 2.9
Stanford - Rejected 2.7
UCLA - Rejected 2.8
MIT - Rejected 2.9
UT Austin - Shortlisted 2.13, admitted 2.19
Columbia - Waitlisted 2.21
Berkeley - applied
Northwestern - applied

[frame]

Undergrad Institution: R2 state school with small math PhD program
Major(s): Mathematics
GPA: 3.80
Math GPA: 3.86
Type of Student: Domestic male

Research Experience: Three REUs and about two years of research with a professor at my institution. One publication with two in preparation. Eight presentations including two at the JMM.
Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Numerous departmental awards/fellowships. Was nominated for the Goldwater but didn't win nationally. Applied for the GRFP.
Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Grader for various undergrad math classes.
Math Courses Taken: Standard undergrad graduation requirements plus ten graduate level courses: Measure Theory, Fourier Analysis, Functional Analysis I and II, General Topology, Smooth Manifolds, Commutative Algebra, Group and Field Theory I and II, Algebraic Number Theory.

Applying to:

Unless stated otherwise, these are pure math PhD programs.

More competitive:
Berkeley - rejected 3/1
Brown - rejected 1/29
Cornell (Applied Math) - admitted 2/2, committed 4/1
UC San Diego - rejected 2/15
Washington - rejected 2/5
Minnesota - rejected from PhD program, unofficially accepted to unfunded Master's, declined 2/16
Michigan - withdrew 4/1
Wisconsin-Madison - rejected 2/9
Illinois, Urbana-Champaign - rejected 2/9
Maryland - rejected 2/22 (email inquiry)

Less competitive:
UC Davis - waitlisted 2/22 (email inquiry), withdrew 3/20
Georgia - rejected 2/26 (email inquiry)
Virginia - rejected 2/12
Purdue - admitted 2/20, declined 3/20
Wake Forest University (Master's) - invited to interview 1/31, interviewed 2/8, admitted 3/8, declined 3/20

[magicSheen]

Undergrad Institution: Top 15 Public University
Major(s): Computer Science
Minor(s):
GPA: 3.80
Math GPA: 3.82
Type of Student: Domestic White Male

GRE Revised General Test: N/A
GRE Subject Test in Mathematics: N/A


Program Applying: Some pure math and some applied math

Research Experience: REU at my own university, potential paper in progress but nothing yet
Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Dean's List, President's List.. nothing special
Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Directed readings in Analysis and Topology, Multiple Research Internships, but more engineering, Leadership role in data science club @ my university
Math Courses Taken: abstract algebra, real analysis, graph theory, combinatorics, Complexity Theory, Advanced Linear Algebra, graduate courses in algorithms and AI
Any Miscellaneous Points that Might Help: one of my recommenders have connections at some places I am applying to
Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: three W's on my transcript, two being in math courses in the same semester due to personal reasons.

Applying to Where: (Color use here is welcome)


Reach:
UIC - Mathematics PhD/ Submitted
Ohio State - Mathematics PhD / Submitted
Vanderbilt - Mathematics PhD/ Submitted

Target:
NC State - Mathematics PhD/ Submitted
University of Georgia - Mathematics PhD/ Submitted
LSU - Mathematics PhD / Submitted Accepted (02/08/2024)
University of Kentucky - Mathematics PhD/ Submitted waitlisted
Clemson - Mathematical Sciences PhD /Submitted Accepted 2/14/2024)
University of Florida - Mathematics PhD/ Submitted
Florida State - Mathematics PhD/ Accepted (1/25/2024)
Auburn - Mathematics PhD/ Submitted
Arizona State University - Applied Mathematics / Submitted

[george_person]

Undergrad Institution: (R1 State School)
Major(s): Computer Science, Mathematics
Minor(s):
GPA:3.9
Math GPA:3.8
Type of Student: Domestic White Male

GRE Revised General Test:
Q: 167 (83%)
V: 165 (95%)
W: 4.0 (56%)
GRE Subject Test in Mathematics:
M: Did not take

TOEFL Score: (xx = Rxx/Lxx/Sxx/Wxx) (if applicable)

Program Applying: Applied Math

Research Experience:
One publication in a non-math area, where I programmed a small plugin for a image processing application for a pharmacology lab. Senior year did one guided research project, but no publications.
Awards/Honors/Recognitions:
Got a math research award for undergraduates - basically just a few hundred dollars to work on a research project - no publication.
Honor roll, etc
Pertinent Activities or Jobs:
Tutored Calc III, graded for the same class
Math Courses Taken:
Graduate courses: Linear Algebra II, Real analysis, Abstract Algebra
Undergraduate courses: The usual stuff, some complexity theory as well
Any Miscellaneous Points that Might Help:
None, I did a lot of internships though
Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter:

Applying to Where: (Color use here is welcome)
Case Western - PhD Program/ Admitted/Rejected/Waitlisted/Pending on (date) / Accepted/Declined
Ohio State - PhD Program/ Admitted/Rejected/Waitlisted/Pending on (date) / Accepted/Declined
Purdue - PhD Program for Applied Math/ Admitted/Rejected/Waitlisted/Pending on (date) / Accepted/Declined
Toronto - Master's Program/ Admitted/Rejected/Waitlisted/Pending on (date) / Accepted/Declined
McGill University - Master's Program/ Admitted/Rejected/Waitlisted/Pending on (date) / Accepted/Declined
UIC - PhD Program/ Admitted/Rejected/Waitlisted/Pending on (date) / Accepted/Declined
McMaster University - Master's Program/ Admitted/Rejected/Waitlisted/Pending on (date) / Accepted/Declined

[cotran2]

Undergrad Institution: (R1 State School)
Major(s): Mathematics
Minor(s):
GPA:3.48
Math GPA:3.56
Type of Student: Immigrant Asian Male

GRE Revised General Test:
Q: None
V: None
W:None
GRE Subject Test in Mathematics:
M: Did not take

TOEFL Score: (xx = Rxx/Lxx/Sxx/Wxx) (if applicable)

Program Applying: Applied Math, ECE

Research Experience:
8 publications (2nd author) (7 in signal processing, speech conferences, 1 in geoscience). 4 arxiv (1 first author). 3 patents. 2 submission in HCI conferences.
2 REU
2 2-year research experience (1 signal processing, BCI lab - 1 in applied math doing optimization + geoscience)
Awards/Honors/Recognitions:
1 award ($40k GPU grant from a company) + 2 NSF stipend
Pertinent Activities or Jobs:
Current working at Meta research lab ( 2 years) + pass working at a research data scientist (2 years -> patents + arxiv papers)
Math Courses Taken:
Graduate courses: Probability Theory, Abstract algebra, Theory of Machine Learning
Undergraduate courses: Real Analysis, Topology, Linear Algebra, ODE, PDE, Numerical analysis (bad grade)
Any Miscellaneous Points that Might Help:
Co founded a science fair (year long) for underpriviledge students in my home country, led 2 summer program teaching data science + math pre-req
Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter:

Applying to Where: (Color use here is welcome)
UWashington Amath (top one for me) - PhD Program/ Admitted/Rejected/Waitlisted/Pending on (date) / Accepted/Declined
Stanford EE PhD Program / Admitted/Rejected/Waitlisted/Pending on (date) / Accepted/Declined
UCLA EE- PhD Program / Admitted/Rejected/Waitlisted/Pending on (date) / Accepted/Declined
UC Berkeley ECE - PhD Program Program/ Admitted/Rejected/Waitlisted/Pending on (date) / Accepted/Declined
UCSD EE- PhD Program / Admitted/Rejected/Waitlisted/Pending on (date) / Accepted/Declined

[KhanComplex]

Undergrad Institution: Private school, US news rank 15-25
Major(s): Computer Science, Physics
Minor(s): n/a
GPA: 3.73/4.0
Math GPA: 3.74. Major GPAs are a little higher.
Type of Student: Domestic white male

GRE Revised General Test:
Q: 170 (94%)
V: 170 (99%)
W: 5.5 (98%)
GRE Subject Test in Mathematics:
M: 970 (97%)


Program Applying: Pure math, emphasis on logic when departments have someone doing logic, also interested in algebra/alg. geo.

Research Experience: Did a purely independent research project in a very niche area of logic after graduation, solved a minor open problem in this area. This resulted in one arXiv preprint submitted to a journal, sole author.
Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Dean's list about half the semesters, top 200 in Putnam, did well-ish in a national computer science competition but wasn't close to winning
Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Did a lot of volunteer tutoring, also TAd one semester for a CS course
Math Courses Taken: Linear algebra, PDEs, complex analysis, measure theory, 3 semesters of abstract algebra, algebraic topology, differential geometry, cryptography. Also took some upper-level CS classes in logic and related areas, and a few graduate physics classes.
Any Miscellaneous Points that Might Help:
Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: Withdrew from undergrad due to doing badly during COVID, got a job and came back, graduated in 2023. Withdrawal is visible on transcript and addressed in statement. Best letter writer is a theoretical computer scientist who has done some stuff pretty close to pure math.

Applying to Where (in no particular order): (Updated 13 Apr)
Yale rejected (1 Feb)
Berkeley rejected (1 Mar)
Duke rejected (29 Mar)
Rutgers no response
Carnegie Mellon rejected (28 Feb)
Northwestern rejected (9 Feb)
U Minnesota rejected (19 Feb)
Harvard rejected (30 Jan)
MIT rejected (9 Feb)
Georgia Tech no response
UCLA rejected (12 Mar)
Caltech rejected (13 Feb)
U Wisconsin Madison rejected (9 Feb)
UT Austin received email saying they're considering me, gauging whether I was still interested in attending (29 Feb); admitted unofficially via email (2 Mar); admitted officially via portal (4 Mar)
U Michigan AA rejected (4 Feb)
U Pennsylvania no response
Johns Hopkins rejected (4 Feb)
U Maryland College Park received email saying they're considering me, gauging whether I was still interested in attending (19 Jan); admitted unofficially via email (22 Jan); admitted officially via portal (24 Jan)
Columbia rejected (22 Feb)
Brown rejected (29 Jan)
U Virginia rejected (12 Feb)

[FandG]

Limited information due to privacy reasons.

GPA: 3.71/4.00
Type of Student: International White Male

GRE Revised General Test: didn’t take.
GRE Subject Test in Mathematics: didn’t take.

TOEFL Score: (103 = R26/L29/S26/W23) (if applicable)

Program Applying: Mathematics (Pure)

Applying to Where: (Color use here is welcome)

Penn State - summited (11/08/2023)
Ohio State - summited (11/14/2023)
Colorado State - summited (11/08/2023)
University of Arizona - summited (12/14/2023)
University of Iowa - summited (11/17/2023)
University of Nebraska-Lincoln - summited (11/21/2023)
University of Oregon - summited (12/21/2023)
Kent State University - summited (11/26/2023) (accepted 01/03/2024)
University of Utah - summited (12/18/2023)
Louisiana State University - summited (12/14/2023)
University of Massachusetts—Amherst - summited (12/14/2023)
Indiana University—Bloomington - summited (12/14/2023)
University of Pittsburgh - summited (12/18/2023)

[IGPLanglands]

Undergrad Institution: A state university people here often applied to
Grad Institution: A much less popular state university among applicants
Major(s): Math
Minor(s): None
Undergrad GPA: 3.93
Undergrad Math GPA: 3.89
Grad GPA: 4
Type of Student: International Asian trans man

GRE Revised General Test:
Q: 169 (91%)
V: 163 (92%)
W: 4.5 (81%)
GRE Subject Test in Mathematics:
M: 810 (76%)

TOEFL Score: didn't take

Program Applying: number theory

Research Experience: One publication in a peer-reviewed journal and one pre-print that possibly doesn't matter at all. Other than these, just reading with professors.
Awards/Honors/Recognitions: A departmental monetary award and graduation honors that no one will care
Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Currently a TA. Having been a grader and tutor in college.
Math Courses Taken: I have lost count of them. After all, I am applying as a transfer student.
Any Miscellaneous Points that Might Help: One of my three letters is very strong. Another one is likely very strong though I am not completely sure. Not sure about the remaining one.
Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: Can't think of any.

Applying to Where: (ordered by the deadlines)
UChicago
Stanford
Berkeley
Duke
Columbia
UCLA
UMich
Princeton
MIT
Harvard
CalTech
JHU
UPenn

[probabelitist]

Undergrad Institution: Private, top 20
Major(s): Applied Math, (Pure) Math (double-major)
Minor(s): -
GPA: 3.91/4.00
Math GPA: -
Type of Student: International South Asian male

GRE Revised General Test: did not take
GRE Subject Test in Mathematics:
M: did terribly, so not submitting

TOEFL Score: 116/120 (26 in writing, 30 all else - only submitting where required, like CMU)

Program Applying: Mostly pure math (probability focus)

Research Experience: 1 online summer REU, resulting in 1 (submitted) publication in probability (~10 students). Some semester-long reading projects, in category theory, abstract harmonic analysis/alg. num theory, optimal transport, MCMC. Currently writing senior thesis in OT. 1 expository paper on OT, submitted to undergraduate journal.

Worked for ~ 6 months (2 full time) in bioinformatics lab.

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Not much - just deans list every semester.
Pertinent Activities or Jobs: TA for master's level intro. prob (1 semester); TA for Multivariable Calculus (2 semesters).
Math Courses Taken: (Undergraduate) (pure math) Honors Analysis (2 sems), Honors Algebra (1 sem), Topology, Calc. on Manifolds
(applied math) probability, stats, optimization, graph theory, cryptology
(graduate) probability theory (2 sems), theoretical machine learning (1 sem), algebra (1 sem), measure theory (1 sem). Will have taken additional graduate algebra 2, complex analysis by graduation

Any Miscellaneous Points that Might Help:
Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: I was a bit "late" to the math major: due to the nature of my high school math courses, I didn't know how to read or write proofs until my sophomore year of college (or that this was even possible to learn!). I switched into math from another STEM major at that point. Prior to that, I scored poorly on Calc. 3 and Lin Alg in my freshman year.


Applying to Where: (Color use here is welcome)
NYU Rejected
CMU Rejected
MIT Rejected
GTech Rejected
UWash Rejected
Berkeley Rejected
Brown (applied math) Rejected
UW Madison Rejected
Columbia Rejected
Duke
UCSD Accepted
UMD Accepted off of waitlist (05/04)
Purdue 550 applications for 25 spots, unsure about my position on the (wait?)list, Accepted off of waitlist (04/04)
Utah Waitlisted upon inquiry
UVA Waitlisted via portal update
U of Connecticut Interview upon inquiry (03/27), Accepted off of waitlist (04/01), Attending!!!
Cambridge (part III) Rejected

Edit: So many waitlists

[trivial_bundle]

Undergrad Institution: American Liberal Arts
Major: Mathematics
GPA: 4.0
Math GPA: 4.0
Type of Student: International Middle Eastern Man

GRE Subject Test in Mathematics:
M: 820 (78%)

Program Applying: Symplectic & Low Dimensional Topology

Research Experience: Five research projects in total, mostly centered around differential geometry and low dimensional topology. Four papers in total (one accepted, one submitted and two in preparation): one in algebraic combinatorics, two in low dimensional topology, one in complex geometry.
Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Nothing special.
Pertinent Activities or Jobs: TA for Galois theory.
Math Courses Taken: Real Analysis I-II, PDEs, Complex Analysis, Functional Analysis, Galois Theory, Commutative Algebra, Homological Algebra, Algebraic Geometry I-II, Riemannian Geometry I-II, Differential Topology I-II, Algebraic Topology I-II, several topics/independent study courses (Symplectic Geometry, Low Dimensional Topology, Ricci Flow, Pseudoholomorphic Curves etc.)
Any Miscellaneous Points that Might Help: Nothing in particular.
Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: One letter writer is well-known in the low dimensional topology community.

Applying to Where:
Stanford - rejected 2/7
MIT - rejected 2/9
Harvard - rejected 1/30
Princeton - rejected 2/8
Stony Brook - unofficially accepted 2/21 - officially accepted 2/23
Berkeley
UCLA - rejected 2/8
Duke - interview invite 1/17 - accepted 1/31
Georgia Tech - accepted 1/22
UT Austin - shortlisted 2/13 - accepted 2/27
Columbia
Boston College - waitlisted via email 1/31
MSU - accepted 2/13 - declined 2/23
Rutgers - accepted 2/13 - declined 2/16
UIUC - waitlisted via email 2/15 - withdrew 2/23
UC Davis
UGA - interview invite 2/5 - declined 2/23

[MathMinds10]

Undergrad Institution: American liberal arts
Major(s): Math (pure)
Minor(s): N/A
GPA: 3.75/4
Math GPA: 3.8/4
Type of Student: Domestic white female

GRE Revised General Test:
Q: 163 (70%)
V: 166 (96%)
W: 5.0 (91%)
GRE Subject Test in Mathematics:
M: N/A

Program Applying: Mostly pure math, some applied

Research Experience: 2 REUs, one at my home university another at a large public school with a top 40 math program. Presented 1 at the 2023 JMM and the other at a regional conference. Another major research project presented at an overseas conference. Internship doing mathematical biology for a hospital. Separate research assistant doing data analysis.
Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Dean's list, nothing crazy
Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Grade differential equations for 2 years
Math Courses Taken: Analysis, algebra, probability, statistics, number theory, logic, programming w/ math focus
Any Miscellaneous Points that Might Help: I met with at least one faculty member at every school I applied to. I kept in contact throughout the application process and many have offered to keep an eye on my application. For some schools I also met with grad students. For a few schools I showed up and toured in person.
Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: I have a rough home life that makes for a strong diversity essay.

Applying to Where:

Reach
NYU - Accepted to unfunded master's 3/11, Declined 4/5
UMich - Waitlisted 3/27, Accepted 4/12, ATTENDING!
Northwestern - Rejected 2/9
UPenn - Waitlisted 4/2

Match
UW-Madison - Rejected 2/9
Carnegie Mellon - Rejected 2/28
Georgia Tech - Waitlisted 4/1, Accepted 4/5, Declined 4/13
Johns Hopkins - Rejected 3/12
Minnesota Twin Cities - Waitlisted 2/7, Declined 4/6
Ohio State - Accepted 1/10, Declined 4/5
Indiana - Shortlisted 3/6, Declined 3/6

Lower match / safety (?)
Purdue - Accepted 2/15, Declined 2/21
CUNY - Accepted 2/15, Declined 3/20
WashU- St Louis - Withdrew 2/15
Northeastern - Withdrew 2/15
Boston University - Waitlisted 2/21, Declined 3/6

Notes:
To future students -- I really think that meeting with people at all of these places helped a lot. The top half of your distribution is likely getting many applicants with great GPAs, GREs, and research experience -- you can set yourself apart by showing a ton of interest. It also helps to ask faculty or current students what they think is unique about the program, because then you can write a really killer statement. Best of luck!

[Dystopian]

Deleted

[Oliver_w8]

Undergrad Institution: University of Vermont
Majors: Mathematics BS, Philosophy BA
GPA: 3.92
Math GPA: 3.94
Type of Student: Domestic white male

Master's Institution: University of Vermont
Major: Mathematics MS
GPA: 4.00

GRE Revised General Test:
Q: 169 (94%)
V: 162 (90%)
W: 4.5 (80%)
GRE Subject Test in Mathematics: N/A


Program Applying: Pure Math, Philosophy

Research Experience: Undergraduate thesis in philosophy (tangentially related to logic but not substantively mathematical in any way).
Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Junior & senior departmental awards, dean's list(s)
Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Undergraduate peer tutor (2 years), grader (2 years), graduate instructor (1 semester), visiting lecturer in mathematics (1 year, full-time) adjunct professor (2 years, two universities, full-time).
Math Courses Taken: 4 semesters of abstract algebra through commutative algebra; real analysis, complex analysis, & measure theory; point-set, algebraic, and differential topology; a pair of reading courses/independent studies in set theory; a course on the classification of finite simple groups; ode and advanced ode; and a course on non-euclidean geometries.
Any Miscellaneous Points that Might Help: One of my math recommenders is half of Dummit & Foote. One of my philosophy recommenders is pretty widely known.
Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: My master's was through an accelerated program so I've only attended university for 3 years, 2 full-time undergrad and 1 full-time grad/part time undergrad. I took a year off post-grad (& also applied last three cycles) but am now working full-time teaching until I'm accepted somewhere.

Applying to Where: (in no particular order)
University of Vermont - Math admitted 2/6 declined 3/21
Cornell University - Math not accepting
Brown University - Math rejected 1/29
Yale University rejected 2/1
Dartmouth University - Math rejected 2/19
Princeton University - Math rejected 2/8
Rutgers University - Math rejected 3/13 after inquiry
New York University - Philosophy rejected 3/21
University of Minnesota - Math rejected 2/20
University of Michigan - Math rejected 3/4
University of Wisconsin-Madison - Math rejected 2/9
University of Notre Dame - Math waitlisted 2/27 withdrew 4/1
California Institute of Technology - Math rejected 2/13
Stanford University - Math rejected 2/7
University of California San Diego - Math rejected 2/15
University of California Riverside - Math admitted 2/28 accepted 4/1
University of California Berkeley - Logic & Methodology of Science rejected 3/1
Massachusetts Institute of Technology - Math rejected 2/9
Boston College - Math rejected 3/12
Oxford University - Math rejected 3/14
École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne - Math rejected 3/18
Stockholm University - Math inquiry made

[strider]

Undergrad Institution: Top 20 Private
Major(s): Mathematics
GPA: 3.96/4.0
Math GPA: 4.0/4.0
Type of Student: Domestic Asian male

No GRE

Program Applying: Pure math

Research Experience: No publications. All the research is at my school. One with no output in the physics department. Two research and reading projects with different advisors that are still ongoing. Some pretty okay research that's been posted on the arxiv and is being submitted for publication. Some other minor research that's not really big publication worthy.
Awards/Honors/Recognitions: One big national research scholarship. One good senior scholarship from the university. One great departmental scholarship. Two other departmental scholarships.
Pertinent Activities or Jobs: TA-ed five times for various honors undergraduate classes - I'm really passionate about that, and put a lot of time into it. Mathematics course design consultant for another course at my university. Served as a tutor for underprivileged students for a couple summers.
Math Courses Taken: 13 graduate classes. Several advanced undergraduate classes.
Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: Finished a BS/MS dual degree in mathematics. Will be teaching a self-created graduate level class this spring.
Any Miscellaneous Points that Might Help: None other than what's listed, really. I think my recommenders know me pretty well, but I think they've seen more impressive students.

Applying to Where, in no particular order. All mathematics PhD.
University of Chicago (UChicago): Accepted (Jan 8th) ATTENDING
University of Maryland, College Park (UMD): Accepted (unofficial Jan 18th, official Jan 22nd)
Princeton University: Rejected (Feb 8th)
New York University (NYU): Rejected (Feb 26th)
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT): Accepted (Feb 2nd)
Rutgers University: Pending

[maxo]

Undergrad Institution: Top 20 Private
Major(s): Mathematics
GPA: 3.96/4.0
Math GPA: 4.0/4.0
Type of Student: Domestic Asian male

No GRE

Program Applying: Pure math

Research Experience: No publications. All the research is at my school. One with no output in the physics department. Two research and reading projects with different advisors that are still ongoing. Some pretty okay research that's been posted on the arxiv and is being submitted for publication. Some other minor research that's not really big publication worthy.
Awards/Honors/Recognitions: One big national research scholarship. One good senior scholarship from the university. One great departmental scholarship. Two other departmental scholarships.
Pertinent Activities or Jobs: TA-ed five times for various honors undergraduate classes - I'm really passionate about that, and put a lot of time into it. Mathematics course design consultant for another course at my university. Served as a tutor for underprivileged students for a couple summers.
Math Courses Taken: 13 graduate classes. Several advanced undergraduate classes.
Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: Finished a BS/MS dual degree in mathematics. Will be teaching a self-created graduate level class this spring.
Any Miscellaneous Points that Might Help: None other than what's listed, really. I think my recommenders know me pretty well, but I think they've seen more impressive students.

Applying to Where, in no particular order. All mathematics PhD.
University of Chicago (UChicago): Accepted (Jan 8th)
University of Maryland, College Park (UMD): Pending
Princeton University: Pending
New York University (NYU): Pending
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT): Pending
Rutgers University: Pending

Can I ask what area of math you wrote about in your personal statement for UChicago?

[strider]

Can I ask what area of math you wrote about in your personal statement for UChicago?

Sure, I just wrote about a few things that interest me. Descriptive set theory, functional analysis, dynamics of topological groups, and harmonic analysis. I tailored it a bit to some professors there as well.

[ssl]

Undergrad Institution: Foreign, top 200 worldwide
Major(s): Math
GPA: 3.56
Type of Student: International, female

GRE Revised General Test: didn't take
GRE Subject Test in Mathematics: didn't take

TOEFL Score: 116

Program Applying: All Pure Math

Research Experience: One paper published. Had a fellowship for 4 months in another country.
Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Awarded best student in cohort prize from my university, math olympiad medals, a few monetary grants
Pertinent Activities or Jobs: TA for one semester, participated in a math olympiad club in undergrad
Math Courses Taken: 11 graduate level courses
Any Miscellaneous Points that Might Help: Two (out of four) recommenders have prestigious prizes
Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter:

Applying to Where:
Chicago - Accepted (Jan 8th)
Berkeley - Rejected (Mar 1st)
Columbia - Rejected (Feb 22th)
Courant - Rejected (Feb 20th)
Princeton - Rejected (Feb 8th)
Maryland - Ghosted
Yale - Rejected (Feb 1st)
Northwestern - Withdrawn
UPenn - Ghosted
Brown - Rejected (Jan 29th)
UIUC - Accepted (Feb 5th)
Penn State - Accepted
Stony Brook - Accepted
JHU - Rejected (Feb 20th)

[MonsieurGalois]

Undergrad Institution: Foreign, top 350 worldwide according to QS
Major(s): Math
GPA: 3.98 (converted to US scale)
Math GPA: 4.00
Type of Student: Expat white male

Master's Institution: Ivy
Major: CS (coursework and totally irrelevant)
GPA: 4.00

GRE Revised General Test: Didn't take
GRE Subject Test in Mathematics: Didn't take

TOEFL Score: N/A

Program Applying: All pure math

Research Experience: One paper submitted, three REUs across two countries in low-dimensional topology and K-theory, and a full year thesis in operator algebras with some original work but nothing worth publishing.
Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Awarded multiple "best student in cohort" prizes from my university, some national and international research scholarships in mathematics, a prize for a contributed talk at a conference, and a top 5% placing in an international undergrad math competition.
Pertinent Activities or Jobs: TA for a couple of the calc sequence courses and founder/president of a student math club.
Math Courses Taken: (All A+) Graduate: Category theory, operator algebras, topology, measure theory, Galois theory & algebraic number theory, functional analysis, differential geometry, PDE theory; Undergraduate: Hilbert spaces, abstract algebra, linear algebra, real analysis, complex analysis, discrete math, ODEs, probability & inference, calculus sequence.
Any Miscellaneous Points that Might Help: It's been a couple years since I last formally studied math, but I've continued doing research in my spare time so hopefully this point won't count too heavily against me!
Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: The topic, strategies employed, proofs and write up of my submitted paper were all produced entirely independently in my spare time during my master's degree. One of my letter writers read through it and was thoroughly impressed, so I'm hoping that will be my saving grace with so many impressive published applicants this application round

Applying to Where:

Reach:
MIT - Rejected ( February 9 )
Princeton - Rejected ( February 8 )
Stanford - Rejected ( February 7 )
Yale - Rejected ( February 1 )
Berkeley - Rejected ( March 1 )
Columbia - Rejected ( February 22 )
University of Chicago - Waitlisted ( January 8 ) Accepted!!! ( April 9 ) ATTENDING!!!
Penn - Pending
Northwestern - Waitlisted ( February 20 )

Match:
Dartmouth - Interview ( January 18 ) Accepted!! ( February 2 )
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign - Accepted!! ( February 4 )
Vanderbilt - withdrawn ( February 3 )
Washington University in St. Louis - withdrawn ( February 5 )
University of Virginia - withdrawn ( February 5 )
Penn State - withdrawn ( February 5 ) Accepted w/ first year fellowship + additional 2k scholarship ( February 13 ) Guess they thought I was playing hard to get
Purdue - withdrawn ( February 5 )
Indiana University Bloomington - withdrawn ( February 3 )

[SeePlusPlus]

Undergrad Institution: Medium R1 school not known for math
Major(s): Mathematics
Minor(s): Statistics
GPA: 3.926
Math GPA: 4.0
Type of Student: White Domestic Male

GRE Subject Test in Mathematics: 540, did not submit this anywhere LMAO

Program Applying: Pure Math

Research Experience: Currently involved in a bio mathematics research project, since it was one of the only ones my school had
Awards/Honors/Recognitions: None? I think?
Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Was an RA, wrote about tutoring my residents, was a grader
Math Courses Taken: Calcs 1-3, ODEs and PDEs, a year of abstract algebra and a year of Real Analysis, topology, a year-long mathematical statistics sequence,
Any Miscellaneous Points that Might Help: One of my recommenders is a big name in optimization, but for a pure applicant that might not be as helpful, one of my recommenders is known as a good rec writer, and the other is my PI, and they have connections with some schools I’m applying to
Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: None? That I know of


Applying to Where:

Top choices:

Michigan Rejected
Ohio State basically rejected
Maryland emailed, rejected 2/28
Johns Hopkins Rejected, 2/19

Wouldn’t argue if I went here:

North Carolina Emailed, unofficially rejected
Boston College Rejected
Utah Waitlisted, 2/27
Connecticut Emailed, I’ve been put on a waitlist
Vanderbilt

At least I’m going somewhere:

Delaware
Georgia

[HurewiczFan2024]

Undergrad Institution: Flagship State School (Top 40-60)
Major(s): Math and Music Performance
Minor(s): Computer Science
GPA: 3.877
Math GPA: 4.0
Type of Student: Domestic white male

GRE Revised General Test:
Q: N/A
V: N/A
W: N/A
GRE Subject Test in Mathematics:
M: N/A

Program Applying: Pure Math

Research Experience: Two years of knot theory research in high school which resulted in several presentations (no publications), 3 years of algebraic geometry and combinatorics research in undergraduate which resulted in several presentations and a paper that is currently being written (received funding for summer project as well), two REUs, first one resulted in a publication in algebraic number theory where I am the sole author, second one resulted in several presentations and paper in topology and non-commutative algebra that is currently being written.
Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Math club president, two department scholarships
Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Private tutor for calculus, TA’d for undergraduate combinatorics class.
Math Courses Taken: (Graduate) Modern Algebra I & II, Linear Algebra, Rings and Modules, Toric Varieties, Topology I & II, Algebraic Topology, Homotopy Theory, Real Analysis I
(Undergraduate) Calculus sequence, Discrete Math, Linear Algebra, Modern Algebra I & II, Real Analysis I & II, Complex Analysis, Combinatorics & Graph Theory, Computational Methods
Any Miscellaneous Points that Might Help: Applying to several schools where letter writers have good work/personal connections.
Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: Music side of my degree is serious enough to where I could perform professionally/attend a conservatory for a Master's degree if I went down that rabbit hole, and this is reflected in my gig/employment experiences in my application.

Applying to Where:
Yale U - Rejected Feb 1
U Michigan - Rejected Mar 3
Brown U - Rejected Jan 29
Northwestern U - Submitted
U Pennsylvania - Invited to open house Jan 19
U Wisconsin - Rejected Feb 9
U Minnesota - Rejected Feb 20
Georgia Tech - Rejected
U Illinois - Rejected Feb 9
Johns Hopkins - Rejected Feb 19
U Maryland - Accepted Apr 3
Ohio State - Accepted Jan 9
Rice U - Rejected
Indiana U - Accepted Mar 18
Notre Dame - Waitlisted Feb 27
Dartmouth - Rejected
Boston U - Rejected Feb 25

[LetMeIn2401]

Undergrad Institution: Mid-sized Public (w/o PhD program)
Major(s): Mathematics, Biology
Minor(s): Anthropology, Chemistry
GPA: 3.57
Math GPA: 3.43
Type of Student: Domestic/Female/White

GRE Revised General Test:
Q: 166 (80%)
V: 169 (99%)
W: 5.5 (98%)
GRE Subject Test in Mathematics:
M: 880 (89%)

Program Applying: Pure Math (Combinatorics, Algebraic Geometry, Algebraic Number Theory)

Research Experience:
(i) Currently working on an honors thesis in mathematical logic
(ii) One paper published in mathematical logic with professor advising me on (i)
(iii) One paper published in graph theory with another professor
(iv) One paper submitted in analytic number theory, pending minor revision. I mostly did computational work/verification of formulas.
(v) Completed 2 REUs, one of which is with professor mentioned in (iv). The other is at my home institution, end product is a poster presentation at the end of summer.
(vi) Worked with a professor in data science and got 2 papers published, both have 5-10 authors so not sure how much weight they carry.

Awards/Honors/Recognitions:
Bunch of department and university scholarships.

Pertinent Activities or Jobs:
Attended many seminars, colloquiums and talks.

Math Courses Taken:
Matrix theory, number theory, ordinary differential equations, introduction to analysis, fourier analysis, abstract algebra, partial differential equations, numerical methods, numerical linear algebra, mathematical biology, optimization and parallel computing. Directed study in complex anlaysis, topology and algebraic topology.

Any Miscellaneous Points that Might Help:
Female. The professor mentioned above in (iv) is "a big name" in his field of research.

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter:
Two of my letters are coming from (i) and (iv) above. I don't know if the letter from (iv) is going to be super strong but he is famous, at least in analytic number theory.

I'm a bit weary asking for (iii) to write me a letter because it didn't seem like she liked me at all. My gut is telling me that she's very annoyed with me, and she]s always reluctant to spend time explaining things to me. I think she was only using me to compute/verify data for her paper and at the end she only added me as a secondary author as supposed to a coauthor.

Actually, I've attempted the subject GRE three times. Honestly it's a test that you'll just have to study for, hard. It's probably the easiest way to make your application stand out imho. The professor mentioned above in (iv) told me their department uses the subject GRE in general to, for a lack of a better term, weed off applicants. I don't remember the exact wording, but something along the lines "it demonstrate that you as an applicant can focus on one task and perform well" and "we get way more applications than we have funding so not doing well in the subject GRE put you in a significant disadvantage".

Applying to Where: (Color use here is welcome)

Reach:
Duke -
MIT -
UChicago - rejected
UC Berkeley -
UCLA -
UPenn -
Yale -

Target:
GaTech -
Michigan -
Minnesota -
UIUC -
UT Austin -
UW Madison -
Waterloo - rejected

Safety:
Florida -
Florida State -
Indiana Bloomington -
Iowa -
Iowa State -
Michigan State -
Ohio State - accepted
Penn State -

Super Safety:
Delaware - accepted
Hawaii - cancelled

Did you to the C/O program at Waterloo or the Pure Math program?

[sravi27]

Undergrad Institution: Big US State School (OOS Student)
Major(s): Applied Mathematics, Applied Statistics
Certificate(s): Applications of Data Science ( I don't think this is too relevant since it basically given through my main degrees)
GPA: 3.65
Total Math GPA: 3.58
Junior + Senior Year Math GPA: 3.76 (dealt with a lot of mental health issues my sophomore year; explained a bit in my SOP)
Type of Student: Domestic Indian Male

GRE Revised General Test: Didn't Take
GRE Subject Test in Mathematics: Didn't Take

TOEFL Score: (xx = Rxx/Lxx/Sxx/Wxx) N/A

Program Applying: Applied Math where possible, Math if not

Research Experience: Currently working on a research project with one of my letter writers. 1 year long research project in the Physics department, more ML and Particle Physics than intense Math. Finished this project by presenting in Undergraduate Research Symposium.
Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Standard Academic Honors; Dean's List, Semesters Honors
Pertinent Activities or Jobs: 2 Tech Internships, 1 Co-op (I wasn't intending on going to graduate school until this past summer)
Upper Div Math/Stat Courses Taken: Linear Algebra 1 and 2, Abstract Algebra 1, Real Analysis, Fourier Analysis, Ordinary Differential Equations, Partial Differential Equations, Numerical Methods, Vector Calculus, Probability, Statistical Theory, Applied Regression Analysis, Statistical Programming
Any Miscellaneous Points that Might Help: Strong Letter Writers (I think), 1 professor is a huge contributor in Complex Analysis

Applying to Where:
School - Ohio State / Rejected (02/22)
School - UNC Chapel Hill (Masters) / Ghosted
School - Columbia / Rejected (04/17)
School - University of Illinois Urbana Champaign / Rejected (02/09)
School - University of Illinois Chicago / Waitlisted (02/24) -> Accepted and Attending! (4/11)
School - University of Texas Dallas / Accepted! (02/14) Declined (4/12)
School - Vanderbilt / Ghosted
School - University of Georgia / Ghosted
School - Emory / Rejected (02/07)
School - Purdue / Rejected (04/17)
School - Notre Dame/ Rejected (02/23)
School - Indiana / Rejected
School - University of Kentucky/ Waitlisted (02/06) Withdrawn (4/12)
School - University of Pittsburg / Rejected (03/06)
School - NC State / Rejected (02/07)

Closing Thoughts: This was the most stressful, anxiety riddled 6-8 months of my life. So, if you are a future student browsing through this forum, I hope you understand you are not alone. Also, I am not a fan of how many schools straight up ghost students. I think it is unfair to students who pay a pretty hefty application fee to hear absolutely nothing in either direction for 5-6 months.

[mathluvr69]

Undergrad Institution: Small State school in the South US
Major(s): Math, Computer Science
Minor(s): N/A
GPA:3.75/4.0
Math GPA:3.9/4.0
Type of Student: DWF

GRE Revised General Test: Didn't take
GRE Subject Test in Mathematics: Choosing not to talk about this one

TOEFL Score: N/A

Program Applying: Pure Math

Research Experience: I studied with a professor researching Knot Theory my sophomore year for 6 months until she left my school, I wrote a research paper on Pythagorean Triples for my capstone, I'm currently working on a research project with two relatively well known professors in quantum mechanics
Awards/Honors/Recognition: Full ride scholarship awarded to one math student at my school every 4 years, mathematics senior award last year (as a junior, lol)
Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Journey's: Sales Associate (05/2021 - 08/2021), Gamestop: Senior Game Advisor (06/2022 - 01/2023), Peer Tutor (08/2023 - Present), Undergraduate Researcher (03/2021 - 08/2021), Math Plaza Tutor (08/2021 - Present), Teaching Assistant for Calc 1-3, Linear Algebra (08/2021 - Present), Computer Science Peer Tutor (08/2022 - Present), College of Engineering and Computer Science Ambassador (08/2023 - Present)
Math Courses Taken: Undergrad: Elementary Linear Algebra, Introduction to Differential and Difference Equations, Calc III, Introduction to Logic and Proof, Introduction to Analysis I, Communicating Mathematics (Capstone), Introduction to Modern Algebra, Applied Statistics, Basic Concepts of Geometry, Elementary Number Theory, Numerical Analysis I, Linear Algebra and Matrix Theory, Introduction to Quantum Information Science; Grad Level: Calculus of Variations, Ordinary Differential Equations, Introduction to Analysis II, Modern Algebra I
Any Miscellaneous Points that Might Help: Female, and some connections at some schools through my recommenders.
Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: Attended weekly research colloquiums for 3 semesters, founded math club here and was president for 2 years, president of PME here for 2 years, president of Film Club

Applying to Where:
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill - Submitted
University of Virginia - Rejected 2/12
North Carolina State University - Rejected 2/7
University of Georgia - Interview 2/7 Admitted 2/20
University of Tennessee, Knoxville - Submitted
Clemson University - Admitted 2/14
University of Alabama - Admitted 1/11

[Kiyoshi]

Undergrad Institution: private school
Major(s): Math
Minor(s):
GPA: 4.17/4.30
Math GPA:
Type of Student: International Male

Program Applying: Pure Math

Research Experience: Attended REU at my school twice.
Awards/Honors/Recognitions: None
Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Graded mathematical analysis, calculus on manifolds, ODEs, and complex analysis.
Math Courses Taken: Undergrad: mathematical analysis, calculus on manifolds, ODEs, linear algebra, groups and rings, Galois theory, representation theory of finite groups, real analysis, elementary functional analysis, complex analysis, analytic number theory, algebraic geometry, intro to geometry and topology, theory of PDEs, Differential geometry of curves and surfaces.
Grad: Modern Algebra I/II, real analysis, functional analysis, algebraic topology, homotopy theory, differential topology, differential geometry, low-dimensional topology, algebraic geometry. Readings/Research course on symplectic geometry, J-holomorphic curves and quantum cohomology, h-principle.

Any Miscellaneous Points that Might Help: All recommenders are well-known in their fields.
Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter:

Applying to Where: (Color use here is welcome)
MIT accepted 2/2
Stanford unofficially accepted 1/27
Harvard rejected 1/30
Princeton unofficially accepted 1/26
Berkeley unofficially accepted 2/9
UCLA officially accepted 2/9 declined
UC Davis unofficially accepted 1/26 declined
Stony Brook rejected 4/16
USC likely letter 2/3 waitlisted 2/15 declined
Duke withdrawn
UT Austin rejected 4/16
Rutgers unofficially accepted 2/12 declined immediately
Columbia withdrawn
Cambridge - Part III conditional offer 2/14

[SeaSalt]

Undergrad Institution: Best in the country
Major(s): Mathematics
GPA: 9.95/10
Type of Student: International Male

GRE Revised General Test: didn't take

GRE Subject Test in Mathematics:
M: 900 (93%)

TOEFL Score: 112

Program Applying: Ph.D. (Number Theory)

Research Experience: Senior thesis on cohomology of Shimura varieties; a paper in algebraic number theory with my advisor accepted in a somewhat prestigious journal; read many papers in arithmetic geometry and number theory.
Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Tutored five undergraduate courses.
Math Courses Taken: Graduate: Commutative Algebra 1 & 2, Algebraic Geometry 1 & 2, Algebraic Number Theory, Reductive Groups, Abelian Varieties, Modular Forms, Class Field Theory, Etale Cohomology, Rigid Analytic Geometry, p-adic Hodge theory
Any Miscellaneous Points that Might Help: two of my letter writers are famous; expecting strong letters.
Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: qualified the national stage of mathematics olympiad.

Applying to Where:
Harvard -
Princeton -
Stanford -
MIT -
UC Berkeley -
UCLA -
Columbia -