frankdux

I wouldn't try to hide your 1st PhD. I would suggest that you do your best to explain how you realized you enjoyed math more through the course of your first PhD. And I'd also recommend being as specific as possible in what kind of math you enjoy. If you can come across as very focused and knowing exactly what you wish to accomplish by obtaining a 2nd PhD, then i think you'll be in decent shape. And I'd also hope that the math you wish to study is related to the math you used in your physics research. If there is a connection there, then it probably looks better on your behalf. If the math you are interested in is unrelated to your physics research, then it might look like your first PhD was very much a waste of your time and your university's time, and so an american university would probably be concerned that you might end up doing the same thing with them and end up wasting their time as well by not actually applying the PhD you would earn from them. What sort of math are you interested in? I'll be starting my PhD program in the fall. I'm interested in mathematical physics, and differential geometry & geometrical topology with applications towards relativity and spacetime topology.

all i can tell you is that many schools don't look very positively on students wanting a 2nd PhD (especially if its very soon after getting the first). it makes you look like a perpetual student.

if you enjoy math and you enjoy teaching you could potentially make more money just getting a masters in math and becoming a high school teacher - so long as you're in one of the better paying states and you're teaching in a middle to upper class suburb.

don't sell yourself short. you've got some research experience. also, this forum isn't an entirely accurate representation of the masses that apply. most people on here have a lot more research than most applicants. many people apply without any undergrad research experience and can still get funded acceptances somewhere.

every school is different. where i did my masters i didn't get my summer session refund until the FINALS week of the summer session!

i did the same thing. i had one paragraph tailored for each school. what's even more interesting is the one school that gave me a fully funded offer was the one school that required an SOP that was 500 words or less. this was about half of the length of the SOP i submitted everywhere else, and so i had to strip away the details and stick to the absolute basics. i guess less really is more, or maybe my SOP sucked in its original form.

if it's money you're really after, then you won't get far in a PhD program.

you'd probably want to give us more specifics regarding your app if you want some solid advice. how 'bad' were your grades? also, realize that there are tons of people applying who have stellar grades. what is it that your app has to make up for that? since the competition for getting in to MIT is incredibly fierce, even if you had a near perfect application, your odds still aren't that great for getting in. just realize that there are lots of other great schools besides MIT so be sure to apply to many schools so you at least get an acceptance somewhere.

the state of California is having serious economic and financial problems, even more serious than most other states. I'd take an educated guess and say that there may be less funding opportunities all across the country for international students at this point in time, but that california is definitely one of the worst states to try and find funding.

I remember my undergrad advisor telling me the minimum should be 2-2-2 (identical in format to the 3-3-3 rule described above). I applied to 10 and i thnk i aimed too high because now after it's all over i'd say i did a 1-4-5 routine. too many reach schools. thankfully i got a fully funded offer to a middle school. 3-3-3 seems fine. or maybe 2-4-2. when picking 'safeties' just make sure you'd still be really excited about going there if that was your only choice.

i have very similar stars as the OP described and i'm from a big ten school as well. also, i'll be starting my math PhD program in the fall. my 2 cents: if you can, get some more research in before you graduate or over the summer. research is a huge plus and will guarantee a solid letter of rec. whether or not you want to apply to top programs is up to you, but i'd let your math subject GRE score give you an indicator of whether or not you stand a chance - since your GPA is reasonable but probably close to a cutoff for a school like berkeley. if you want to be competitive at a top program then you should be looking to get a very high score. I didn't do so great on the math subject test so i didnt even bother applying to top 10 schools. (however, i did get an 800 on the math portion of the general GRE) i applied to schools in the 15-50 range. and only 4 out of the 10 i applied to required the subject test. my LOR's were probably a mixed bag and my SOP could have used some work cause i've been out of school for just a couple years but i didn't have much to say about my gap years. i got rejected from 8 schools (including the ones requiring the subject test), an unfunded acceptance from a school towards the bottom of my choices, and a fully funded offer to one of my middle choice schools that i happily accepted. i also remind myself that the poor economy made it tougher to get a funded offer this year, so i'm pretty happy with what i got and i'm really looking forward to starting up school again in the fall. summary: you can get a fully funded offer to a decent school and you'll probably have better luck than i did, but i believe that top 10 schools for you should be considered your reach schools and that you'll only really stand a chance if you have an outstanding gre subject score.

Apply to a broader range of programs. Considering the University of Chicago, Columbia, and University of Southern California as secondary schools is a bit overconfident, no matter how great your grades are. Also, when you apply to those top programs you'll be competing with people who do have the full physics background and possibly others who were double majors in related areas such as math or astronomy. Again, my advice: apply to a broader range of programs.

I used the book "Cracking the GRE." It's available on amazon. You'll also want to make yourself some flashcards for all those obnoxious words you'll want to memorize. But i've also heard there are computer programs out there that help you memorize those words.

the admissions stats on petersons are crap. plain and simple.

because other great schools are always out there, you're not getting any younger, and your original reasons for believing university A to be your dream school may become less sensible when you're staring at a rejection letter from school A and a fully funded offer from school B. only if you can find something truly worth your time during that inbetween year, and also that your dream program considers relevant as well. your application isn't automatically better just because you're a second-timer. you have to have something to show for yourself for that gap year. if you're doing the exact same job that you did the last time you applied, then what would possibly make you a better candidate the second time around? Also, I would hope the real dream is to be able to have the career you really want to have as a result of your education. Isn't that why you'd go to school anyways? I would hope your grad degree is just a stepping stone towards your real goal.

This is the absolute classic mistake - only applying to the 2 or 3 (or sometimes even just 1) schools that you really want to go to most of all. It's an even bigger mistake in this current economic climate, which is resulting in an increased number of grad school applications and a decreased amount of funding schools have to offer. Simply put, there are even more people applying for even less spots. Also, the odds are NEVER going to be in your favor by only applying to 3 top programs, even if you have a 4.0 with honors and stellar GRE scores. I made the exact same mistake last year. I applied to just the 2 schools that i wanted to go to most of all. Results: 1 immediate rejection, 1 waitlist that was an eventual rejection. So during this year's application phase I looked back and I realized just how dumb that was. Consequently, I broadened my horizons and decided to apply to at least 10 schools. Results: I got 8 rejections, 1 unfunded acceptance, and 1 fully funded acceptance to an awesome school that i happily accepted. It wasn't one of my first 2 schools that i applied to, but it's still an outstanding program at a Tier 1 school that offers research in my area of interest, and it comes with full funding. I can't complain about that. You seriously need to take the odds into account when applying. Yes, there are exceptions. Yes, there have been people on this board that have only applied to 1 or 2 schools and gotten fully funded offers. And yes, there are also people on this board who have applied to 8+ schools and got straight across the board rejections. The important thing to remember is that if you've put together a solid app, each additional school you apply to increases your chances of getting in somewhere. Whereas applying to only 2 or 3 schools is like playing russian roulette with your future no matter how fantastic your app is.

A 4.5 is fine. Besides, you scored over 1400. That's phenomenal. Move on to the rest of your application materials and stop second guessing yourself.

i haven't told a soul at my work. and i'm currently debating on giving a 2, 3, or 4 week notice. everybody there is pretty nice, but i think they could fill in at least half of my hours with other current employees rather quickly. and the last time i gave a 2 week notice at a job i was politely let go the following day.

1. apply to a range of schools with realistic expectations. but yeah, a 2.4 is typically not Top 10 material unless you have phenomenal life experience and research experience. 2. my LOR writers wrote 11. If they're professors, they'll usually understand. Just let them know beforehand the number of schools you'll be applying to and gauge their reaction accordingly. Also, be organized in how you get them the forms, or links to online forms that they'll be filling out. 3. if you're interested in a PhD, then hopefully the programs you're interested in will offer to fund you in the forms of teaching assistantships or research assistantships. if it's just a masters you're shooting for, then funding will be less likely, and then you'd have to resort to loans. in this case, it is really your call if the financial debt you will take on will be offset by the love (and pay) of the job you hope to obtain after school. 4. you don't always have to have an undergrad degree in the subject you want to study in grad school, but taking extra classes before grad school can be a great way to boost your undergrad gpa and get yourself some more current LORs, and possible research experience. perhaps there's a middle ground here. take a year or two of undergrad courses specifically in the field you want to study, then apply to grad school?

I'll share with you what i did my second time around: I applied to a lot more schools! My first time i only applied to 2 schools i was really interested in. (THE classic mistake!) The second time i applied to 10 schools. I also made sure to rework my SOP and tailor it more to each individual program i applied to, including namedropping some prospective profs i'd wanna work with. By the grace of the admissions gods i got 1 awesome fully funded offer to a great tier 1 program! (i also got a stack of 8 rejections and 1 other supposed acceptance with zero followup communication, so maybe i didn't improve my app quite enough the second time around.) So yeah, don't assume the odds are in your favor no matter how great your profile may be. Apply to lots of schools!

Your GPA is fine. Your research experience is a huge plus. And a GRE score over 1200 would be solid, but 1400+ would be outstanding. How are your LORs gonna be? I'd say its definitely worth it to apply to those schools, but if the economy doesn't improve and the 2010 admissions cycle is anything like the 2009 cycle, then i'd strongly recommend applying to a few lower schools as well. A lot of grad programs this year were forced to cut back on the number of admitted students because of lack of funding.

after already getting an awesome, out of nowhere, fully funded acceptance to a great school, i then received an email a few weeks later from another school telling me that i was accepted and i should have received info about it. i emailed saying i received nothing and i also asked about funding. i haven't received a reply nor have i gotten any snail mail about this acceptance. truthfully though, this acceptance is from a lesser school than the surprise acceptance i first received and so i won't be attending this second school. I'd still be curious to know the details though, before i officially tell them 'no'.

By the skin of my teeth!

i got the typical $15k TA stipend, but its in an affordable college town so i should be fine. Plus, I don't plan on having a car so that'll be some money saved right there. Unfortunately I don't have any further details on whether i'll be TA'ing the whole time, or if i'll get 'promoted' to a research position or something.

In my experience in applying to schools, If the GRE is a requirement for a program, then it's almost certainly going to be a requirement for everybody regardless of nationality. Plus, If you look at the GRE website you can see that it is offered all over the world. So lots of international students must have to take it. As an international student you'll probably also be asked to take the TOEFL.