My chance of getting into PhD program in Operation Research

[xiaopeng]

Anyone is going to apply for Operation Research? Would you mind sharing your profile?

Thanks a lot.

Edited October 29, 2009 by xiaopeng

[kadiyala1987]

Anyone is going to apply for Operation Research? Would you mind sharing your profile?

Thanks a lot.

Hi

I am applying to Operations Research Programs for Fall 2010. I am focusing on schools with a strong background in areas of applied probability(stochastic processes, queueing theory etc). Glad to finally meet someone applying to OR. I am super nervous about the schools i have shortlisted.

My background:

I have an Bachelors degree in Electrical Engineering from India in 2008. Currently am pursuing MS in Applied Mathematics at Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis.

GPA

UG:6.9/10 , first class

graduate: 3.33/4(would be 3.5 by the end of this fall)

GRE

Q:790

V:380

W:4.0

TOEFL

110/120

1 intl conference proceedings, 1 poster at an annual meeting, 1 book chapter - for all of which i am the first author. Good recommendations from people in relevant areas.

------------------------

what about you?

Edited November 1, 2009 by Bharadwaj

[Deleted]

Hi,

Glad to meet people applying to OR as well. Bharadwaj, you have a strong application, except maybe for that verbal GRE. Where are you applying to?

As for me, background:

BS from a french engineering school

GPA: N/A

MSc in Financial Mathematics from Imperial College London (with Distinction)

GRE: Q 790

V 550

AW ?? (not received the results yet)

TOEFL: 114/120

2 strong recommendations from good faculty, one less personal.

No publications but a Master's thesis for which I received a high grade

Applying to:

Berkeley

Carnegie Mellon

Columbia

Cornell

Georgia Tech

Michigan

Northwestern

Stanford

UCLA

Please share your thoughts about Schools and application strength (or lack thereof)

[kadiyala1987]

Hi,

Glad to meet people applying to OR as well. Bharadwaj, you have a strong application, except maybe for that verbal GRE. Where are you applying to?

As for me, background:

BS from a french engineering school

GPA: N/A

MSc in Financial Mathematics from Imperial College London (with Distinction)

GRE: Q 790

V 550

AW ?? (not received the results yet)

TOEFL: 114/120

2 strong recommendations from good faculty, one less personal.

No publications but a Master's thesis for which I received a high grade

Applying to:

Berkeley

Carnegie Mellon

Columbia

Cornell

Georgia Tech

Michigan

Northwestern

Stanford

UCLA

Please share your thoughts about Schools and application strength (or lack thereof)

Hi Alvarom,

I really appreciate your comments on my profile. I must say, you have a solid background(Imperial is a big name to have). My undergraduate GPA is kind of screwed up, which I believe is going to hit my applications really hard.

But anyway, it seems to me like your interests are more towards the OR programs offered by the managements schools, is it ? please correct me if I am wrong. Your list looks really good but if you can segregate it based on your expectations (easy to get in, difficult and ambitious) and research interests, it would be a little helpful to analyze. Like I mentioned before I am focusing on queueing theory and my list of schools are (the segregation is obvious :-))

George Mason University

University of Massachusetts- Amherst.

Boston University

University of Minnesota

University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

Rutgers

Ohio State University

TAMU

Virginia Tech.

University of Illinois Urbana

[xiaopeng]

Hi

I am applying to Operations Research Programs for Fall 2010. I am focusing on schools with a strong background in areas of applied probability(stochastic processes, queueing theory etc). Glad to finally meet someone applying to OR. I am super nervous about the schools i have shortlisted.

My background:

I have an Bachelors degree in Electrical Engineering from India in 2008. Currently am pursuing MS in Applied Mathematics at Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis.

GPA

UG:6.9/10 , first class

graduate: 3.33/4(would be 3.5 by the end of this fall)

GRE

Q:790

V:380

W:4.0

TOEFL

110/120

1 intl conference proceedings, 1 poster at an annual meeting, 1 book chapter - for all of which i am the first author. Good recommendations from people in relevant areas.

------------------------

what about you?

Sorry, I was quite busy these days and didn't come here for a long time.

I think your file is strong except the relatively low GPA. You GRE Verbal is fine since you are applying to science/engineering.

Some information about me is the following:

GPA: 4.90/5.00, Major in Applied Math, first class honours, graduated in 3 years.

GRE general: V 710, Q 800, AW 3.5

GRE math subject: 900/900, Percentile 99%.

Honors: President Research Scholar; Full Undergraduate Scholarship.

Research Experience: one year research under the President Research Scholarship; Aug 2008 - Present: working as research assistant and in math department. Also, I have worked as a teaching assistant for 3 semesters.

Publication: 2 submissions to top journals on optimization (1 is under revision), 1 working paper and 1 proceeding.

Reference letters: all from my department.

I don't know how important the statement of purpose is... My English, especially the writing, is not good. I think it is tough for international students to get into top universities. So, I am very nervous... Any comments are welcome. Thanks.

[martizzle]

Nice...I am applying to OR PhD programs for the 2010 academic year too

No idea if they are in the right order, but based on what I want to do, I think this works for me:

(Average, Ambitious, Very Ambitious, Wishing/dreaming)

GA Institute of Technology

Univ of North Carolina - Chapel Hill

Princeton

Stanford

Cornell

Columbia

Carnegie Mellon

---

BS - Math & Physics, Lincoln Univ, PA (small black university in the US) 2008

GPA - 3.61; 3.91(math), 3.61(physics) --- not too many advanced courses

GRE - q 770/87%, a 620/89%, writing 3.5/20%

GRE math - 520/20%

Internships: Lincoln Univ (Biochem 2009), Univ of Michigan (Physics 2008), Lehigh Univ (Physics 2007), Elizabeth City State Univ (ECSU - Computational Science 2007 - May)

Research assistantships: Lincoln Univ (Biochem, two semesters), Lincoln Univ (math - number theory, 3 semesters)

Tutor: Math 2006-2008

Publications: 1 small one; reporter for physics national honors society

Presentations: MAA/AMS, EPaDel (MAA Sectional Mtg), OSAPS (APS Sectional Mtg), joint conference for NSBP & NSHP

Prizes: OSA/SPIE Best Presentation Award, Robert Ellis (NSBP) National Award for 'distinguished service/leadership in Physics' 2008

Recommendations: 1 exceptional, 2 excellent

Problems:

Low GRE subject score (affects UNC-Chapel Hill & GA Tech)

I do not have many advanced courses in math/stat: I only took Calc I,II,III, Differential Eq, Linear Algebra, Numerical Methods, Real Analysis, Statistics I,II [upside is I took Micro & Macro-Economics, Accounting]

I initially started undergrad at Temple Univ, where I totally messed up my grades trying to study Computer Engineering; then transferred to a lesser known school - Lincoln Univ, where I excelled. Some might say I may not be ready to compete/study at the level of a bigger school

[kadiyala1987]

Nice...I am applying to OR PhD programs for the 2010 academic year too

No idea if they are in the right order, but based on what I want to do, I think this works for me:

(Average, Ambitious, Very Ambitious, Wishing/dreaming)

GA Institute of Technology

Univ of North Carolina - Chapel Hill

Princeton

Stanford

Cornell

Columbia

Carnegie Mellon

---

BS - Math & Physics, Lincoln Univ, PA (small black university in the US) 2008

GPA - 3.61; 3.91(math), 3.61(physics) --- not too many advanced courses

GRE - q 770/87%, a 620/89%, writing 3.5/20%

GRE math - 520/20%

Internships: Lincoln Univ (Biochem 2009), Univ of Michigan (Physics 2008), Lehigh Univ (Physics 2007), Elizabeth City State Univ (ECSU - Computational Science 2007 - May)

Research assistantships: Lincoln Univ (Biochem, two semesters), Lincoln Univ (math - number theory, 3 semesters)

Tutor: Math 2006-2008

Publications: 1 small one; reporter for physics national honors society

Presentations: MAA/AMS, EPaDel (MAA Sectional Mtg), OSAPS (APS Sectional Mtg), joint conference for NSBP & NSHP

Prizes: OSA/SPIE Best Presentation Award, Robert Ellis (NSBP) National Award for 'distinguished service/leadership in Physics' 2008

Recommendations: 1 exceptional, 2 excellent

Problems:

Low GRE subject score (affects UNC-Chapel Hill & GA Tech)

I do not have many advanced courses in math/stat: I only took Calc I,II,III, Differential Eq, Linear Algebra, Numerical Methods, Real Analysis, Statistics I,II [upside is I took Micro & Macro-Economics, Accounting]

I initially started undergrad at Temple Univ, where I totally messed up my grades trying to study Computer Engineering; then transferred to a lesser known school - Lincoln Univ, where I excelled. Some might say I may not be ready to compete/study at the level of a bigger school

i think you have a great profile, so do not worry too much about it. What areas are you interested in OR? Even otherwise getting into the top notch programs would depend upon how well your interests match with the faculty interests at that university and if you have found a potential adviser. This might not be absolutely necessary but it always helps. If you can try contacting the faculty you are interested in working with before hand, and if they do respond positively, there is nothing more assuring than that.

Aas far as I know UNC Chapel Hill does not need Subject Math. The list of universities you have is great. I am assuming you are applying mostly to industrial engineering departments. GaTech is definitely the best ranked university, but Cornell and Columbia have really good programs too. You might want to check up on UCB, U of Michigan as well.

have you sent your applications yet?

[martizzle]

As far as I know UNC Chapel Hill does not need Subject Math. The list of universities you have is great. I am assuming you are applying mostly to industrial engineering departments. GaTech is definitely the best ranked university, but Cornell and Columbia have really good programs too. You might want to check up on UCB, U of Michigan as well.

have you sent your applications yet?

completed/sent: Stanford and Columbia

the rest are pending...yes, I'm applying to mostly IE departments. It's kind of interesting that I would rank the best ranked school as 'average.' I prefer Cornell and Columbia to GA Tech because they are in NY, I'm trying to get into financial engr (and NY is the center of the financial -investment/etc- industry), and they have better alumni connections/job connections in NY

If UNC-Chapel Hill doesn't require it, I guess I messed up my application by having my bad subject scores sent to them (along with the general); I've no idea why I thought they required it....I could have sworn I asked someone via email about that, but I can't seem to find that email well its already been sent....

I will definitely check up on UCB again, was thinking about it before....not too interested in U of Michigan though

[gorgeous1992]

Hello,

I am applying PhD Program in Operation Research or Optimization. I got my Bachelor Degree in China, and I am currently a Master student in Texas A&M (will graduate on May 2016), majoring Computational Mathematics. My undergrad major is also Mathematics.

GPA: 88/100(Undergrad)  3.89/4.00(Grad)

TOEFL:101/120

GRE: V 145, Q 166, AW 3.0

Have a paper submitted.

Now working as a TA in Calculus class and grading homework in PDE class.

 

I am applying:

UC Berkeley

Purdue

Michigan Ann Arbor

Virginia Tech

NC State

Lehigh

 

I am not so confident about my background so I am still looking for 2 more programs. 

Appreciate any suggestions!