Do I have chances to get accepted into top Math school?

Forum for the GRE subject test in mathematics.
Post Reply
student27
Posts: 3
Joined: Tue Oct 02, 2012 1:28 pm

Do I have chances to get accepted into top Math school?

Post by student27 » Tue Oct 02, 2012 3:31 pm

I will be happy to hear an advise from graduate students. I am an international student (Europe) and I want to do a Phd in mathematics in the US. I have pretty a wide research experience, including two published papers, 4 submitted papers and 3 papers in preparation, and I will finish my Master (second degree) in couple of months. My 3 recommendation letters will be consisted of 2 letters from professors with whom I conducted a lot of research and another professor with whom I took several classes and got 100 in all of them. I also have I high GPA (95/100 which is summa cum lauda in my university). The problem is my GRE scores. Since I did my Calculus/differential equation/etc classes 5 years ago, the GRE subject test was pretty hard for me. Since a lot of years have passed from the time I took the relevant classes, I got only 750 on the GRE subject math test. My GRE general scores are 155V and 168Q, and my TOEFL is 105. I talked with several professors that suggested me to apply to top 10 graduate schools, and I even visited in several of them, and have 2 professors from a top 10 school that said that they encourage me to apply and that they will be happy to see me in their school. However, these professor didn't know my GRE scores. So now I don't sure what to do. I'm afraid that my GRE and GRE subject score are just not competitive enough for top 10 school. I will be happy to hear any thoughts regarding my situation.

kuz
Posts: 69
Joined: Wed Jan 18, 2012 3:32 am

Re: Do I have chances to get accepted into top Math school?

Post by kuz » Tue Oct 02, 2012 10:10 pm

It depends on the university. I had a pretty similar background (though fewer publications) and got 770 on the GRE subject test, and still got accepted by Princeton (though only waitlisted by Stanford), as they seem to care more about your research experience and aptitude than your GRE results. If you're worried, just cast a wide net and apply to lots of schools - the fact that you'll have a Masters degree will mean you have a good chance with most of them (though it does kinda depend on the university you're from). But your GRE score is still quite decent and shouldn't really drag you down much, if at all.

vonLipwig
Posts: 52
Joined: Sat Mar 17, 2012 9:58 am

Re: Do I have chances to get accepted into top Math school?

Post by vonLipwig » Tue Oct 02, 2012 10:51 pm

While I agree that you should apply to some universities that are not in the top tier as well, that research experience is extremely good. Very few applicants have a paper published, let alone two, even at the absolute top schools.

Legendre
Posts: 217
Joined: Wed Jun 03, 2009 1:05 am

Re: Do I have chances to get accepted into top Math school?

Post by Legendre » Sat Oct 06, 2012 10:21 am

Don't worry, it looks like you have a great profile. What is the percentile of your maths subject test? If it is above 60% I think you will have no problems.

I think so because I got interviewed by an ivy league university without taking the subject test, AND with no publications. :oops:

elektron1999
Posts: 11
Joined: Sun Apr 08, 2012 2:26 pm

Re: Do I have chances to get accepted into top Math school?

Post by elektron1999 » Sat Apr 13, 2013 1:11 pm

Please keep in mind that you are foreign.
Probably the other people who gave you advice in this post told you that your profile looks good (which it does)
but they did not keep in mind that standards of admission are MUCH HARDER for foreign students, especially if you studied your undergrad outside the US.

I think you still got chances, but take the GRE subject again, and get 80+
Also, apply to large programs, because they have more spots to offer. Applying to schools that only offer about 10 spots or less is usually a bad idea.

Good Luck!

colldood
Posts: 41
Joined: Wed Dec 01, 2010 11:45 pm

Re: Do I have chances to get accepted into top Math school?

Post by colldood » Sat Apr 13, 2013 6:31 pm

elektron1999 wrote:Please keep in mind that you are foreign.
Probably the other people who gave you advice in this post told you that your profile looks good (which it does)
but they did not keep in mind that standards of admission are MUCH HARDER for foreign students, especially if you studied your undergrad outside the US.

I think you still got chances, but take the GRE subject again, and get 80+
Also, apply to large programs, because they have more spots to offer. Applying to schools that only offer about 10 spots or less is usually a bad idea.

Good Luck!
What motivation do private schools have to be biased against foreign students? Apart from perhaps lack of familiarity with their institution, but suppose it's a reasonably well known university? Is this a known fact for private institutions or simply a guess?

kuz
Posts: 69
Joined: Wed Jan 18, 2012 3:32 am

Re: Do I have chances to get accepted into top Math school?

Post by kuz » Sun Apr 14, 2013 5:42 pm

elektron1999 wrote:Please keep in mind that you are foreign.
Probably the other people who gave you advice in this post told you that your profile looks good (which it does)
but they did not keep in mind that standards of admission are MUCH HARDER for foreign students, especially if you studied your undergrad outside the US.

I think you still got chances, but take the GRE subject again, and get 80+
Also, apply to large programs, because they have more spots to offer. Applying to schools that only offer about 10 spots or less is usually a bad idea.

Good Luck!
I'm a foreign student who got into an Ivy school with a GRE below 80 :wink: In fact, it's harder to get in to a good public school (e.g. Berkeley) as an international student due to funding reasons. For private schools it's less of an issue.



Post Reply