Was waitlisted at Wash, Cornell, CMU, Yale. Looks like there's a good chance I won't make it in anywhere, so I was thinking of ways to improve my application. My undergrad was in Stats at a top 10. Undergrad GPA was 3.9 and GREs were (Q/V) 800/650. Have taken the standard Calc I-III, Linear Algebra (including upper level LA), Analysis, Probability/Stat Inference (but not measure theory based probability).
My grades in real analysis/calc III were not stellar (B/B+ respectively--not an excuse but it was because I was academically immature, and not because I didn't understand the material).
1. Study for/take the math GRE: It's 6 years since I've taken Calc/LA, so this may be a good way of proving to admission committees that my basics are solid. Incidentally, given my background how much do I need to study to get a "decent" percentile score? What constitutes a "decent" score? 60th percentile?
2. Take upper level math classes at NYU/Columbia: Thinking of either taking real analysis, measure theory, or PDE. (Can only realistically take one)
3. Take upper level CS courses at NYU/Columbia: My interest is in machine learning/AI, and given that a lot of machine learning algorithms require run-time analysis, I would be interested in taking a course on algorithms.
If I had infinite time I would do all 3 but I work full-time so I can only realistically do one.
Any suggestions?