hkcool

They haven't sent out anything yet AFAIK. There's usually a handful that get in on this site, and no one has posted anything in the results section yet, so you can be relatively sure they haven't notified yet. How do you know the open house is in two weeks?

As far as I'm aware, ICME does not have official interviews, and the vast majority of applied math programs don't either. More common would be that you're contacted by a POI who may be interested in taking you on for a quick Skype interview, but even this isn't too common. You can check the results page; people will list interviews they had for specific programs (including unofficial interviews with a POI).

Historically, it seems like Stanford ICME releases decisions at the very end of January or early February. I applied too but am not expecting much :/

I didn't specifically reference those years in my statement or address that I've taken some years away from academics, but I did make note of my research experience in 2015 and that my paper was published this year. On a personal level, I think I'm definitely more mature now and having spent some time away from school, I know that this is what I want to do. I just hope that's how the committee sees it!

I graduated in 2014, and immediately after, spent the summer doing an internship at a national lab. I had applied for a research fellowship through my home university and received funding to conduct an independent research project in a foreign country in 2015. So between the end of my internship and March of 2015, I took some time to travel and go backpacking. For 6 months in 2015, I did research in Europe with a well-regarded professor in my subfield (who wrote me a rec letter for my application this year), although I don't have any publication to show for it, he was impressed with my work. My plan after that was to apply for the Fulbright scholarship, but unfortunately I didn't receive it. I hadn't applied to grad school concurrently, and wasn't sure what to do with after the rejection. For the entirety of 2016 (to present), I worked full-time in a field that is completely unrelated to what I want to study in grad school (which is a STEM field, and my job right now is non-STEM). This is listed on my resume/CV since I think it would be worse to omit it and make it seem like I was doing nothing last year. My question is how much this gap hurts me in the admissions process. I think I can point to things (mostly research experience) in 2014 and 2015 that very positively add to my application, but compared to people that are applying right out of undergrad, I'm a bit old and don't have a lot of the material fresh in my head. I had good grades in undergrad and lots of research experience + a first author publication, but I'm not sure if that has as much of an impact since so much time has passed

You should call the ETS if you want to make absolutely certain. I had this problem, too, and they were able to give me my registration numbers. FWIW, both my registration numbers were the respective last 7 digits of my appointment numbers listed on the ETS website. I didn't clarify with the person on the phone if this is always true, but it seems plausible enough to me.

The good thing is I've only submitted one app so far, but it was to one of my top schools. The publication is peer reviewed. I guess I would be annoying if I emailed admissions with the PDF of the publication too

Your research experience on paper is pretty incredible, and getting the Fulbright is no joke either. Your GRE scores are obviously not representative of your ability as a whole, especially given the circumstances you mentioned. Is it possible one of your rec letter writers is in academia and can attest to the fact that your GRE score is not representative of your academic ability? They could mention the circumstances that led to the low score too (last minute test-taking, etc.), if they're willing. I know you can use your essays to mention outstanding circumstances, but I'm not sure that's the appropriate place to bring this up...perhaps someone else has a better answer.

A couple of my apps have had a spot for supplemental info, and for the apps I've submitted so far, I've uploaded a combined copy of my CV plus a tech report from a research project that didn't result in any publications. My reasoning was that I have this project listed on my CV, and my advisor from said project is writing about my work with him, but it would be nice to show what, exactly I did in detail. I do have an actual publication on which I'm first author. This is in a field that is relevant to what I want to do research in in grad school, but I stupidly figured that if the committee wanted to read it, they could easily get a copy. I figured that since I wrote about this publication in my SOP, and my advisor of two years wrote extensively about my work in her letter (plus the fact that the publication is easy to obtain for anyone in academia), I shouldn't upload it with my app. So which one do you think is more important to submit? Tech report from a short, unpublished project (project advisor wrote a letter of rec for me) Journal publication from an extensive project (project advisor wrote a letter of rec for me) I feel like submitting both is excessive, as it would make my supplemental docs in excess of 40 pages.

PhD for all schools except Waterloo (which requires a masters before PhD, but the masters is funded).

Undergrad Institution: top 20 private university Major: Computational Math & Mechanical Engineering GPA: 3.94/4 (same for both majors and cGPA somehow) Type of Student: domestic male GRE: 165 Q/163 V/5.0 W (46th percentile on the math subject GRE, did not submit) Research Experience: Have 3 years of research experience in computational fluid dynamics with a focus on computational math; 1 paper in an undergrad journal, then 1 proper journal paper with my professor on which I'm first author. 6-month research fellowship in Europe on CFD after graduating (advised by a well-known professor in my subfield of CFD) A summer internship at a national lab Other Relevant Experience: Lots of programming experience with MATLAB, C, and C++ I was a grader for some undergrad PDE and linear algebra courses, and also a grad level numerical PDEs course Letters of Rec: My undergrad research advisor who I published a paper with and worked with for 2 years My undergrad major advisor; I never took any courses with him, but I was a grader in two of his courses; he knows me well and writes great letters (no research with him though) Research advisor from a fellowship in Europe; no publications with him, but I did grad level research and he is well-known in the subfield I want to do research in Weak Points: Did not submit the mGRE score to any schools since it was optional; I know this will probably hurt me in the long run, but I was advised both by my research advisor and undergrad advisor not to submit my score. I've never taken abstract algebra or topology or complex analysis and didn't do most of those questions on the exam. I did self study a little, but alas. Every school I'm applying to is a dedicated applied math program though, the vast majority of which don't even have real analysis on their graduate curriculum, so at the very least, not having abstract algebra or complex analysis on my undergrad transcript probably won't hurt me too badly I've been out of school since 2014 now. I did a summer internship at a national lab in the summer of 2014, then spent some time traveling. 2015 I had a 6-month research fellowship in Europe. But for all of 2016 to present, I'm working full-time in a completely unrelated field (not even STEM actually...) Schools: Stanford ICME (submitted, expecting rejection) Brown - Applied Math (expecting rejection) University of Washington - Applied Math (a reach, but a good match I think) UT Austin CMES Stony Brook University - Applied Math University of Maryland - Applied Math Rice University (CAAM) University of Waterloo - Applied Math One question I had: in my statement of purpose, I've been writing about faculty at that school I would be interested in working with. For one of my schools, I've written about an adjunct professor (whose main appointment is through a different university at the same school). I reached out to make sure he advises applied math students and he said yes, and indicated potential interest in working with me if I got in. My worry is: should I stick to mentioning departmental faculty in my SOP, or are adjuncts okay too?

Going to send this in tomorrow and was just hoping for a last minute review. Anyone?

I'm from the U.S. so I can't just show up to his office or call him. He has written me a LOR for a fellowship before (as I said), and was able to get that one in on time well before the strict deadline, but this time, I haven't heard from him nor his secretary in a while. I'll try emailing them again next week I guess. Last resort, I can email one of his students I know, who asked him about writing the letters a couple of months ago when I hadn't even heard back from him about the initial request

Yup, I've since calmed down about this and I'm sure it will be fine. Now the issue is actually getting him to submit it! My two other LORs (one of whom was my research advisor for 2 years in undergrad) already submitted their letters. My first app had a soft deadline of Dec 1 even though it's not officially due until January. But my first hard deadline is Dec 6. I know that schools give leeway for LORs to come in late, I'm just worried because my last contact with him was 2 weeks ago when he told me he'd do as best he could on my letters. I've sent a couple of emails over the last week to him and his secretary to remind them of the deadlines, but no response...

I only took the exam once and did poorly. I scored in the 46th percentile (640). My undergrad education was in computational math, and honestly, the exam was quite difficult for me. The questions I knew, I could answer easily. But a lot of the material was unknown to me. I did some self study on those subjects, but focused my time mostly on material I knew I could master. None of my applications (applied math PhD programs) require the subject test score, per se. Stanford's ICME program, which is probably the highest reach school I am applying to, says the subject test is "highly recommended, but not required." Lots of my programs go this "optional, but recommended" route. I'm just curious what to do in this case, especially for a top program like Stanford. Without getting into too many details, my GPA and general GRE are good. I have a lot of research experience, first author on a publication in my desired subfield. Good to great rec letters. I feel like the low mGRE score drags down my application. The two choices I can make are: 1) Submit the score. Risk getting weeded out immediately without the rest of my application looked at. 2) Don't submit the score. Let the rest of my application speak for me. But in this case, does the school see a red flag in the lack of a score, and then it counts against me anyway? What would you recommend I do? My undergrad study was in computational math, and I covered the basics of Calc 1-3, ODEs, PDEs, linear algebra, real analysis, but subjects like abstract algebra, discrete math, etc. weren't part of my study, and this is reflected in my transcript. I did cover numerical analysis, optimization, and numerical methods for PDEs (theory and implementations) in detail, which is more tailored to the dedicated applied math programs I am applying to. My undergrad institution was a dedicated computational math dept that did not require mGRE scores for PhD applicants, so I'm not sure they can advise me at all in this matter.

I'll do it if you like.

The professor in question is European, but very, very well-known in the subfield I'm looking to do research in in grad school. He is one of the top researchers in this field. Last summer, I received a fellowship from my university to do research abroad, and was fortunate enough to have him as my advisor (I had a contact with him from my research advisor in my home university). I had a fantastic experience with him, and I think he was pleased with my work, based on his feedback. He has written me a reference letter once before for a fellowship, and asked me to check over the letter for accuracy before he sent it in. The letter did say great things about me, but it was very short as well, and if I had read that letter on a committee, I don't think I would have a very complete picture of myself as a researcher. In retrospect, I think part of the 'problem' is that reference letters are not perhaps not emphasized at much in his country. From talking to his students during my time there, this was my impression anyway. I'm a bit nervous now, and probably should have mentioned to him from the start that reference letters are possibly the most important part of my application. He knows generally of course that the letter should speak to my capacity to do research in a graduate environment and my past research efforts, but I did send him a gentle email today letting him know that it's the most important aspect of my application. He's one of the kindest professors I have ever interacted with, and my gut feeling here is that he really just might be unaware of the importance of the letter. For some of my top schools, there are faculty that have either collaborated with him before or know him personally, and some of them I'm pretty sure are on the graduate committee. Even with a short letter from him, I feel like the fact that he wrote highly of my research combined with his name is helpful. But at other schools, it's just as likely no one on the committee is in this subfield and isn't familiar with him, which I think is when the letter might hurt me (for example, in his past fellowship letter, he didn't have any lines about his background or position). If you can't tell, my stress levels about the application process are through the roof right now! So probably everything I've just written is just me reading way, way, way too much into things. Just wonder if anyone has been in a similar position, or can recommend if there's anything in particular I can tell this professor that might help?

I've been working on this for quite a while now, and would really love to have some new eyes on it.

Hey all, just got an email as of 4:05pm. Not recommended for Canada. Good luck to you all!

I thought only certain countries interviewed applicants that were recommended by IIE. Is this changing this year?

How essential was it that my references specifically talked about my proposal and its feasibility? I'm a moron and didn't realize there was an instruction sheet to send to my references beforehand, so their letters talk mostly about the past research I've done and my capacity to conduct independent research. Two of the references were past research mentors, and as their work is in a similar field, they had a couple of sentences in their letters about how they thought my proposal would be interesting to collaborate on if I got funded, but it was 1-2 sentences at most. My third reference was my undergrad advisor who I know well, and who knows of my previous research experience, but isn't directly in the same field as me. Since I actually showed him my proposal, I think he did write a few lines about in his letter, but I'm not sure how much weight that actually carries since as I said, he's not in the same field. So how badly did I screw up here? I worked pretty darn hard on my proposal and personal statement and can't believe I didn't even bother to follow basic instructions on the rec letters *facepalm*

Hi all, guess I'm in this waiting game for the long haul with you all. Did anyone else apply to Canada? I applied for a student award under mathematics, and it seems they've never given an award to a math project before! Fingers crossed. My project is pretty unique (simulating/modeling chemical spills into groundwater reservoirs) so hopefully that's a plus. I meant to apply during my senior year of undergrad but it was really a really hectic year for me and I never got around to it. I honestly think that was a blessing in disguise because I've done quite a bit since then and think my application is fairly cohesive and competitive now. Fulbright is so competitive that I know it will be a crapshoot from here on out, but I know had I applied in my senior year, I wouldn't have had a shot in hell

Couple of last minute questions as I'm applying at large (graduated last year) for a research award: 1) This is going to sound silly but two of my rec letters are from professors I've directly done research with and one was my undergrad academic advisor. Stupid me didn't tell two of my letter writers (the profs I've done research with) that they should specifically write about the quality and feasibility of my proposal. However, my proposed project, while not completely a continuation of my past research with these professors, is very closely related. They did write about my past work though, and explicitly wrote in their letters that they would interested in collaborating with me and my Fulbright research supervisor since the research is of interest to them. Do you think this is enough? Did I just screw myself over? Those letters are already submitted and the deadline is a few days away so nothing can be done on that. The third letter writer is my undergrad advisor, who can't talk about me in a research context as well as the other two, but did look over my proposal and knew he should talk about it in his rec. 2) Also, quick question on transcript requirements. I studied abroad and the course names show up on my transcript as transfer credit but no grades, since my school just required a C+ or higher to get transfer credit. Does this mean I should submit my transcript from study abroad too? Will my application be regarded by the committees as incomplete if I don't submit them? There's A LOT of conflicting information. Directly from the Embark portal: If you studied abroad as an undergraduate, you are not required to upload the original study abroad transcript. However, if the grades/credits are not reflected on your undergraduate transcript, you may want to obtain a grade report from the study abroad provider and upload as part of your undergraduate record.Which I take to mean it may be a good idea, but not necessary and certainly doesn't eliminate you from consideration. But from the Fulbright website itself: Some transcripts also report coursework from a different institution. If the course names and grades [my transcript doesn't have grades, just transfer (which implies I passed)] appear on the transcript that you are uploading/submitting, then it is not necessary for you to also upload/submit a separate transcript for transfer credit. Failure to submit any required transcripts will result in your being declared ineligible.I'd err on the side of caution, but if it's not required to submit the study abroad grades, then I really don't want to since I didn't do too well that semester, and the courses aren't (imo) that relevant to my research project.

Hey all, I'll be applying for a research award in Canada. My field (applied math) is fairly technical and project, even more so. I'm just worried my proposal isn't going to be understandable. Just wondering if anyone would be willing to read my draft over (I'll do the same for you if you like) Also just curious what sort of people will be reading over the applications. Should I assume that they're academics from different fields? I know FSB is presidentially-appointed but just wondering about IIE

Thanks for all of your input guys. I started drafting my personal statement and realized that I do actually have quite a bit besides the tutorial anyway. One more question: it says on the application that we are not allowed to hold other graduate fellowships at the same time. Say hypothetically I do get the GRFP. I'm interested in applying for a Fulbright scholarship to fund a year of research abroad. I was thinking of taking a year off of my studies in the U.S. to do the Fulbright if I receive the scholarship. In this case, I would put the GRFP on hold (so the funds would not be used at all for the abroad research, and the idea is that I don't think the allowance would be enough to fund a full year anyway). Of course, I would talk to my advisor about this first, since I would want to coordinate my research at my home institution with the project that I work on abroad. I wouldn't be using the Fulbright towards a degree, but just a year of research abroad that wouldn't be able to be fully funded by GRFP Does anyone know if deferring NSF payment after you've already received it for a year already is okay? I couldn't find anyway about that on the website, other than that deferring before you even start is a no go. Of course, this is all hypothetical...just curious...