frankdux

i'm in a bit of a bind here. 2 of my applications require FOUR letters of rec, instead of the usual three. problem is, i've been having an incredibly difficult time finding anyone for that 4th letter. i've had two other professors in the past who have written me letters before that aren't currently the three i'm having me write letters at present. and i've emailed these two individuals but have gotten NO response. (one of them i emailed three times and have since completely given up. at this point i'm probably becoming a nuisance.) i'm going in to math and i think i've basically already reached the limit of former math professors who would even remotely remember me. (the 3 who are currently writing me letters along with the 2 who haven't responded) should i go with some other professor who isn't in math? the only person i could think of would be my japanese instructor. i had her for 4 semesters and got an A each semester. she has written a letter for me before for a job teaching english in japan. unfortunately this isn't math, and she isn't a professor. seems like it would be a bit of a stretch. i also have former student teacher mentors who wrote me letters previously. this was during the student teaching semester of my combined masters degree + teaching certificate. ( i originally wanted to be a high school math teacher, but now i want to be a professor) but again, this feels like a stretch. i just dont know. thoughts? comments?

each correct answer = +1 each unanswered question = 0 each wrong answer = -.25 so basically you are punished for randomly guessing. but since each question has 5 choices, if you can eliminate 2 of those choices then its actually worth it to guess. and the test instructions explain this as well.

so i took the math test today. ugh. did mediocre. skipped a bunch of questions cause i just didn't have the time. i'm a pretty slow test taker i guess. i think i'm gonna have to look at some programs that don't require the subject test. i don't think i'll have an amazing score.

good luck! i'm taking the math test tomorrow morning. i've been studying a good 4 hours a day for the past 2 months or so. i'm shooting for at least a 700 out of 990, but of course i'd like to get in the 900's. i'll post again here after i've finished it and taken a nap.

and to top it off, you misspelled 'consistent' in your thread title. :wink:

usually the offers can be made all the way until april 15th. thats a sort of universal deadline for all schools. but yeah, i hear january is the earliest.

my scores were similar. 480V, 800Q, 4.5AW. i made the mistake of focusing almost entirely on memorizing all those stupid words and essentially ignored all the other parts of the verbal. if i were to do it again i'd focus a lot more on all the other sections while memorizing a few words here and there at the end of my study sessions. however, i'm looking to go into an applied math program, so i dont think the verbal is important for me.

here's a list you can start with: http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandr ... mba/search

1. huh? you graduated with an honors degree in physics and you want to go straight into a finance grad program out of college? i don't understand. did you minor in finance or business or anything? 2. apply to some SAFETY SCHOOLS!!! no matter how awesome you think you are, you won't get accepted to half those schools at least. it just ain't gonna happen. especially since you seem so much more science oriented. you'll need to demonstrate that you can achieve in the finance field what you've achieved with your science studies. and i'm sure those top tier schools have mountains of applications from people with qualifications as good or better than yours but with specific undergraduate studies in finance. so they'd have you beat.

i studied for a solid 2 months beforehand. i got 800Q, 480V, 4.5 AW. (i was a math major) i studied my ass off for the verbal part cause i knew it would hurt me. i memorized about 150 of the common words found on the test. i think 2 of them appeared on the actual test. i also ran out of time cause i read slowly. that verbal score really hurts. but i'm guessing it would really only hurt me if i applied to the absolute top programs. how many math programs are really going to look at the verbal score (an almost exactly average score at that) as an indication of research capabilities in math anyways?

could you go into a little more detail on exactly what happened? did you accidentally break the lock on the door? why did campus security escort you off? how did the professors react to this whole ordeal? did you get in to that school?

i'm looking to visit a school that waitlisted and eventually rejected me last year. its my top choice. i'm hoping to make a solid impression by attaching a face and personality to my application this year. how about you? any experiences to share?

i bought this book off of amazon to help me write my essay http://www.amazon.com/Graduate-Admissio ... 213&sr=8-1 i gotta say, its very strange. the book actually recommends you finding some sort of absolute extreme situation that happened in your life, and then try to tie it into what you want to study. the author gives 50 example essays written by students who were accepted into great programs. but so many of these essays start out with something insane like, "the foreign man had a gun pointed to my fathers face. i was only 5 years old... International Relations with a focus on criminal justice is my desired field of study." or "i earned my helicopter's license at age 11 and traveled from beunos aires to lima, peru entirely by myself... a Ph.D. in aeronautics and astronautics is what i wish to pursue". i'm a rather ordinary individual and don't have any amazing childhood feats of accomplishment. i'd honestly like to know how i can stand out without coming across so 'gimmicky'.

http://www.petersons.com/ they have some info, but it doesn't always seem reliable.

study your ass off for another six weeks and re-take it. as long as you get in all of your apps by december or so, you should be fine. do you have a gre practice book to study from? if not, buy one off of amazon. by the way, my verbal blew so dont feel bad. i got a 480 on that section. (but a perfect 800 on the Quant )

please give me advice on the procedure. (i'm referring to contacting potential professors i would like to work with at a phd program i would like to apply to) 1. when to do it 2. what exactly to say 3. how to follow up on not getting a response etc. thanks.

you can do what ever you want with the money the school gives you. i paid off bills, credit cards, and even took a vacation off of stipends during my previous masters. never thought twice about it. its money for you to live off of. how you choose to 'live' is up to you.

some questions for all of you: 1. when are you taking it? oct or nov? or did you take it in april? 2. what score are you aiming for? what would be the minimum you would consider to be good? 3. how are you studying? and how long are you studying for? me: 1. i think i'll probably take it in november. i'd prefer october to get it out of the way, but i think i could use the extra 3 weeks. 2. so its out of 990. i think i need at least an 850 to be competitive. 3. i study for about 3 hours a day. i started studying about a week ago, and the plan is to study every day until the exam for a total of about 70 days or so. i'm going through old textbooks as well as that GRE math subject study book - the highest ranked one on amazon.

1. is this looked at as a positive or a negative by most schools? 2. what can i do to increase my chances a second time around (given the fact i did not have the time to take any more classes or do any research or have anything published) ? i'm thinking i could do the following: a. take the GRE subject test (which i didnt take before cause the schools i applied to didnt require it) b. make contacts with prospective advisors c. re-work my statement of purpose

you have no future in academia. you should be operating a tilt-a-whirl at the state fair.

every professor i've ever talked to about graduate school has said that as long as you have at least a 3.5 you have a chance at getting into great schools. plus you already have research experience. that carries a great deal of weight. and you have a good grasp on what you want to do and what direction you are headed. you have a lot going for you. i'd recommend applying to some of those outstanding schools, but consider them your "reach" schools. and try to strike up some email communications with professors youre interested in working with at those schools before applying. just be sure to apply to plenty of middle of the road schools as well as a few safety schools. as far as finding more schools that would offer such programs, why not ask some of your current professors for some advice?

i'm 28 years old. did a bachelors in math and a masters in math education. and i've decided that i want to go on for a ph.d. in interdisciplinary/applied math with the goal of being a professor so that i may both teach and continue studying new mathematics. i am currently on the JET programme (www.jetprogramme.org) teaching english in japan. its a side-interest of mine that i've wanted to do since i was about 20. its a one year contract that is renewable for up to 5 years, but i decided one year was enough. anyways, when i first got out here i decided to make sure to put together a few grad school applications to set myself up for when i returned home. i think being in japan and being on a bit of a natural high about it made me a bit lazy in properly preparing for my future post-japan. as i result i only applied to two schools that really interested me and i applied fairly close to the deadlines. i was rejected by one school, but i was waitlisted at the school i really wanted to go to and told at the last minute that they couldn't offer me a spot. it really upset me, but i decided that this year i'm gonna apply to at least 10 schools or so. and in fact, i'm really excited about coming back home to america and to get back to studying and taking the GRE subject test - which i didnt take before. i only applied to 2 schools that didnt require the exam. so this time around i'm gonna do everything right. in fact, i'm gonna live off of my savings for a few months and not work, but instead focus entirely on studying for the GREs and filling out applications and contacting professors. i'm actually pretty excited about it. and i bet i'll get into at least one of those two schools that rejected me this time around.

^^^ thanks for that. you're right, it is a pretty new site. it's well layed out and i'll be sure to contribute my results when the time comes. but since its so new, there is very little data to give me any comparisons with my own scores.

As for retaking the GRE, do Math programs even care about the verbal? good question. it seems like most schools don't necessarily emphasize it. however, a low score can be a red flag. and my score is rather low.

me! me! bachelors in math from indiana university. gpa 3.67 masters in math education from university of illinois at chicago. gpa 3.64 gre general. 800q, 480v, 4.5aw i want to do a ph.d. in applied math. last year i applied to two schools. university of colorado at boulder and the university of arizona. i applied fairly close to the deadline. i got an interview at arizona and was waitlisted, but eventually rejected. flat out rejected from colorado. it was very pompous of me to apply to only 2 schools and dumb of me to apply within a few weeks of the deadlines. this year i think i'm gonna retake the general gre to do better on the verbal part, and i'll also take the math subject test. and i'll apply a good 2 months before the deadlines. and i've put together a new list of schools for myself for applied math: (the ones in bold are the ones i feel have an absolute perfect match for my interests, the rest are close.) safety: UC santa cruz middle of the road: univ of florida, uc boulder (again), Notre Dame, michigan state, arizona (again), uc davis, univ of minnesota, univ of michigan. reach: penn state, univ of maryland, univ of texas at austin comments, suggestions? maybe i could use some more safety schools.