firecolon

I survived the process last year myself, and I am now a graduate student in mathematics at Texas A&M University. I should be able to give you some advice. You will likely have to complete a statement of purpose. That will be the best way to hide a sub-par GPA. Although your GPA is not as bad as you think, despite what you hear most people do not have a GPA close to 4.0, in fact most people are not even close to that. Although acceptance rates are generally low everywhere so you might want to apply to more schools (the schools you mentioned are especially hard to get into). Did you take a lot of challenging courses as an undergrad? If so explain that in your statement of purpose. My GPA was not as high as I would have liked, but I took a lot of challenging courses and highlighted them on my statement of purpose and that is why I got a lot of offers for Fall 2008. You will also want to mention on the statement of purpose that you had a rough start to college, but that in the last couple of years you have done a lot better. Improvement will help your application. If a statement of purpose is not required, then you will still want to somehow illustrate this. Most schools do not use litmus tests to narrow the number of applications, although a few do. There is usually no way to tell so you're better off not worrying about it. If they reject your application by use of litmus test, then they're assholes who shouldn't be running a graduate program anyway. Good luck with the application process. I won't be on the site much because I have finished this process, but I will occasionally be on here check things out.

Congratulations za232 on you're enrollment at Colorado. I was only rejected from 3 out of 15 schools (that is the final verdict), and Colorado was one of them. I am going to Texas A&M University in College Station and I am absolutely thrilled about it. I am also doing this because I love applied math. This moron santana is pissing everyone off in here but everyone on here is trying to be nice and patient for him, and someone (us) needed to step up and draw the line. I am glad this whole process is over. But I'll still hang around on TheGradCafe.com since this place has been so good to me.

Texas A&M University, Mathematics, PhD

Now that the April 15 deadline has just about passed, where are you attending graduate school? You can list the university and/or the degree program.

I got two back. They were quite different. Nebraska: We tried, but the school won't give us more funding before April 15. Sorry we will miss the deadline. We understand if you have to withdraw your application but we would have loved to have you here. Texas: You're rejected. Go f**k yourself. I am still waiting on one more school. I will know very soon where I am going.

I have contacted about a dozen schools the the past couple of weeks, some multiple times. I withdrew a few applications because I knew that I was going to turn down the offer if accepted (of course, I asked them what the offer would have been first because I can't carelessly burn my bridges). All three of the schools that I am waiting on have told me that they would make a decision by today and they know full well that I can't wait any longer. I will likely call them after lunch time if they haven't made a decision yet.

Is anyone else on here dealing with this? I got another fall-back offer patiently waiting since February and three schools who have still not made a decision whether to admit or reject. I'm worried that I might have to tell a school "Sorry, I was going to accept your offer but you're too late - I accepted another offer as the deadline passed."

I had this pain many times this year. Some schools were harder to turn down than others. It makes me feel even more awful when the school takes the news hard, or is a bad sport about it. I has a couple schools ask me to reconsider, one school try to increase their offer (not enough of an increase, by the way), another school or two were envious. One school tried to make me regret my decision by saying that they would have increased their offer (and I still would have turned them down). I am still waiting on three schools to make a decision, and APRIL 15 is TOMORROW. This whole process is a big pain in the ass, and for their sake they better make a decision by tomorrow. I am not going to give any extensions.

The campus is a lot like the University of Texas, except that there are more hills. The weather was warm and dry (unlike the steamy east coast) and the people were incredibly nice. The administration of the school is among the few weaknesses - not the department of your major but at the higher levels. I don't think this is anything to be scared about though. One more thing: The people at the University of Tennessee worship Peyton Manning as it is their birthright. They also mostly dislike Tom Brady. So be careful when discussing that with the locals.

You found this forum and spoke up. As such, I would not be surprised if another 200 persons on here agree with you. Good luck in Buffalo buddy - you'll be going to a good school. Yeah, if you want to be a professor at MIT. I'm not in this for the money, or to live in the shit-hole of Cambridge Massachusetts just to work with a Nobel Laureate or two. Any alumni at a top 100 school has a shot to work at a research-intensive institution at a top 100 school if they secure a good enough post-doc. The problem is that a lot of people new PhD's don't get post-docs and regret it later. You make a ton of wild assumptions, especially for a statistics student.

I got way more acceptances than rejections. Colorado and Purdue are the only schools (out of the eleven that responded so far) which sent me a rejection. That is about an 81% success rate with my applications. That is a wake-up call - that your comments are bullshit. Most mathematicians find jobs very easily, usually beginning as post-docs and then later as professors or researchers. Some of them make less than six-figures, but they are certainly making more money than burger-flippers and other lowly jobs (by the way, truck drivers make a lot more money than most people think). You're referring to when unemployment levels were at about 6% or 7%. Currently it is more like 3% or 4% and it is expected to get better during the next 20 years. Sometimes the politics will work in our favor. Publishing more isn't a problem if you have a PhD, especially if you have a post-doc which will provide more time to do write papers. Most math programs have acceptance rates or about 10%-20% (top-tier schools) or 30% to 40% (middle-tier schools). Other programs in history, English, philosophy, and biology have lower acceptance rates because more students are interested, but there are often even less jobs available for them. Physics programs are harder to get into because more students are interested. Try asking people who have greatly successful careers without going to top-tier schools. I agree that you don't have as many opportunities with a degree from Austin Peay State University (no offense to Peay students), but there are mid-tier programs with outstanding programs. Applied math has greater demand outside of academia, but both are encouraging fields. ----- I looked around at your postings. There are a few things I would like to say about your postings and account, but I am not going to because I don't want to risk getting banned from TheGradCafe.com

I don't know the program at Florida State well, but I know they're better than Purdue in financial math. But Cornell is the best you're going to get. My suggestion is that you ask Florida State for an extension if Cornell makes you wait any longer than the 15th.

I visited the University of Texas at Austin last September. The University of Texas is bigger, warmer, and flatter but aside from that I thought the two schools were actually very similar. It's not like you're moving to a totally different place, and there are plenty. I'm actually in the Knoxville area right now and it's been storming. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Since you are going for a PhD, you may want to think about what degree will look better. If you plan on going into academia, then I recommend the school with a better reputation. If you plan on going into industry, then it is too close to call. The math program ranked 21st in US News is the University of Maryland. If this is the school, then I strongly don't recommend it. I am finishing undergraduate school nearby and I can't wait to leave the area. The traffic is terrible and the people are not nice. The climate is not moderate - Maryland is very cold during the winter, very hot and humid during the summer, and there is too short a period in between where it's nice (and it just passed). I frequently tell me friends that Maryland is a grossly overrated University. I am guessing (again, I might be wrong) that the other school is the University of Michigan. I am not familiar with the area, but the climate is colder during the winter and much nicer during the summer. Ann Arbor is not very small and even if it was, it is not far from Detroit. Unless you plan to not go into academia and Maryland is offering at least $10,000 more, or you plan to go into academia and Maryland is offering at least $15,000 more, then I recommend Michigan. If I was wrong guessing Maryland or Michigan, then the information above should still be helpful.

I've been there a few times. I can try to answer your questions. Knoxville has among the lowest costs of living in the country. Having a bike is a good idea. The roads are largely mountainous and the traffic is worse than in Nashville or Memphis (despite a smaller population). Compared to Texas, the summers are more tolerable, but still hot. The winters are much colder and they get snow every year, but not a whole lot of it like they would in the mountains. The weather is really nice in the spring and the fall because it is much less humid than the east coast or east Texas. I am not very familiar with public transportation in Knoxville. If you choose not to bring a car, you might be just fine with a bike since Knoxville isn't very big. But if you need food or errands, you would probably need to live close to a Kroger or Walmart. The World Fair Sunsphere recently reopened for tourists, but aside from that I don't know much about the parks. Knoxville is the third-largest city in Tennessee so I expect that there would be plenty of things to do. Culturally and historically, Tennessee is very similar to Texas and if you like it in Texas, you will definitely like Tennessee. East Tennessee is a beautiful place and they get a lot of tourists (e.g. Smokey Mountains National Park, Gatlinburg, fall colors, etc). It is also (as I said earlier) really cheap, so unless they're paying you like a slave, I have no doubt that you will find a place close to campus. But the middle part of the city is a little bit crowded because of geographical constraints and construction, but I don't think that will be too much of a problem either. Let me know if you have any more questions. I will be in Knoxville again for a conference on Saturday so I might know more after that.

How does the cost of living compare?

I strongly recommend School B. (1) A higher ranked school is better, but a slightly lower ranked school is packaged with a fellowship, and that may actually look stronger on a resume. A top 20 program is still very good, it's not like you are choosing between Austin Peay State or Yale (no offense to Peay students). This is a much smaller difference, especially when you consider a fellowship at the "lesser" school. I would accept a fellowship at Dartmouth over an average offer at Stanford, even if Stanford is slightly better --- The fellowship-Dartmouth package will look stronger on a CV/resume. (2) It appears that you have a better chance to succeed at School B since it appears to be a better fit for you in research. (3) If the urban setting is a problem, you are more likely to afford to leave the city with a fellowship whenever you want, or commute from much farther away. I am not an urban person either, but if I had an extra $10,000 then I would commute two hours if I really liked another neighborhood better. (4) A smaller program is not necessarily a bad thing. In some ways in can actually be a good thing. (5) Who cares if a school is closer to home? With a great fellowship, you can afford to visit "home" much more often. It is quite possible that I may have read this differently based on your information. If the "great fellowship" only offers slightly more funding, if the program is ranked 20th out of 21 programs, and if the school is in a horrible neighborhood with a cost of living that is twice as high, then that would be different. Is the cost of living very different? Are the people much nicer in one program? By "small program," how small? It really depends. But based on the information I have so far, School B wins by a landslide.

I say take the offer. You will feel really stupid if you try again next year and get rejected everywhere.

I just got a rejection from them, WHILE I WAS READING YOUR POSTING. You must have jinxed me, and it is a bit scary because I have been accepted (not rejected) to nearly every school I applied to. I was going to turn them down anyway because I got a better offer somewhere else. You should hear something very soon.

Florida State and Cornell have outstanding programs. But I visited Purdue and didn't like it. Purdue is grossly overrated. Since Cornell is an Ivy League and one of the top schools in the world, I recommend you wait. It's only another week until April 15 (I have been waiting since January and I am still waiting on six schools to make a decision).

I recommend Vienna. Maryland is loaded with crime, and the farther you are from Washington the better. Vienna is the farthest metro stop in Virginia and a relatively nice neighborhood with "cheaper" housing (still a rip-off) and less taxes. I am currently finishing an undergrad degree at George Mason and I plan to leave the area next month.

Thank you. I emailed Steiner but I didn't know that she was on maternity leave. This means I need to contact Stephanie Rodriguez. I'm on the same boat as the other guy (za232). If accepted, there is a 50% chance I will accept their offer. As for za232, I contacted the program in Boulder and they said that they haven't finished evaluating my application yet. They're unbelievably still making first round offers. It doesn't matter anyway because if accepted I will probably turn down Colorado.

I am finishing an undergraduate degree at George Mason University and I will be leaving the area in May after having lived here since 1992. I can answer your questions and more. I am glad that you will be living with your boyfriend and that he will be paid well. The cost of living in Fairfax is high, but about the same as Hawaii. I would not recommend George Mason to students living by themselves because they would starve to death on such a small income. Unfortunately, you will not find a neighborhood with good character (like you asked for) anywhere close to the George Mason campus. The traffic is so terrible that commuting a farther distance is not desirable either. Vienna comes the closest to matching your description. Another suggestion is Reston, if you're willing to drive a little bit farther. Housing is much cheaper farther away if you decide that you want to commute through painful traffic an hour or more, so exurbs such as Bristow or Fredericksburg could be a suitable option if you can afford the commute. I suggest avoiding anywhere inside the beltway as they are riddled with crime, especially Annandale, Manassas, Springfield, Mount Vernon, Falls Church, Arlington, Alexandria, Washington DC, or anywhere in Maryland. Places such as Fairfax Station, Burke, Centreville, Chantilly, Herndon, Great Falls, Langley, Sterling, or Leesburg are more tolerable places to live, but they match your description of a stereotypical suburb (boring houses, chain restaurants, no history, no music scene, etc). I'm just going to recommend Vienna, but even Vienna isn't perfect for you. Several warnings before you move: Public transportation is horribly unreliable so I don't recommend trying to use any of them. The traffic is far worse than Hawaii, in fact it's the worst traffic in the country outside of California. MS-13 and other gangs are exploiting the diverse suburbs and "sanctuary cities" to expand their violent gangs (especially closer to inside the beltway). The food is overall lousy. The housing crunch is expected to hit hard here (house prices have just recently peaking and are beginning to fall). Customer service is foreign to people around here because the people are lazy (many of them can't even speak English, and they have to speak English for their jobs). I don't recommend cable companies since they are as bad as it gets - so get a satellite dish if you want a TV. Finally, Northern Virginia is a really pain and it gets old very fast, so make sure that you don't get yourselves obligated to live there for the rest of your lives or else you will regret it later. I suggest that you ask some other people as well because some of what I said is a bit opinionated (but opinionated or not, it's true). Some people have different priorities. George Mason is actually a very good school and is strong in research and academics. You will pay less for car insurance and people around here generally get paid large salaries. Good luck to you and your boyfriend.

I am currently finishing my undergraduate degree at George Mason University. The public policy program is very strong at George Mason, but the admissions is a bit weak. My guess is that you have a 50% chance of acceptance. I think the reason I have been so successful with the graduate school admissions process is because I made a very strong statement of interest. You shouldn't be worried about that. Even if you are rejected, you can re-use it the next time you need to write an essay for admissions. The main concern you should have is that George Mason University is run by a lot of stupid people (many of which can't speak English but have jobs which require them to do so), the cost of living is enormous, and the traffic is the worst in all of the United States (outside of California). George Mason University is strong on academics and research, and if that's all that really matters to you then you should go there.

A lot of schools generally will wait-list you and not let you know about it unless you ask. This is because they know you are less likely to accept an offer from elsewhere if you are still waiting to hear from them. By now it is late enough in the process that there is no risk to ask them, but ask a secretary instead of a faculty because faculty can reject you if they want to do so. If they ignore your email, then I don't know what to say.