Tam

I now have all of my applications basically in, at least the parts that seem hard (the actual application forms, SOPs, etc.) I've sent my GRE scores. I still need to fill in my recommenders on the last couple of schools (where to send things), and have transcripts sent. I don't want to send transcripts until grades come out for this semester, which will be about three weeks from now. For some schools, I also need to send transcript copies to the department. Some days I think I'll get into my lower-rated programs for sure, and probably into at least some of my higher-rated ones. Other days I think I'll be lucky to get in anywhere. But I guess, other than finishing this up once grades come out, all I have to do now is wait and see. If I don't get in anywhere (with funding), or I end up not being willing to go to the place(s) I get in, I'll take some graduate courses and try again next year. Whew.

I'm not sure retaking the GRE will help. It seems that you underperformed (both times) on the Q section relative to what you know, and it seems that you did study and practice, so that test just isn't kind to you. If you can mention this to the professors who are writing your letters of recommendation, maybe one of them can mention that it's not an accurate assessment of your abilities. I think your chances will be good if the other elements of your application are good, assuming you are not applying to top schools. (Top schools get so many applications that there is no reason to take someone who is very good with a mediocre GRE score when they could just take someone who is very good with a very good GRE score.)

Thanks much! And yes, good catch there. It's just too bad I don't have a specific specialty that I'm especially interested in.

I realize that you're looking for a severe critique, so this might not be helpful, but I thought it sounded pretty great. My only (tiny) quibble is that "acute" strikes me as a strange modifier for writing skills. I might just go with "sharp" if that's what I meant, but I'm not sure.

I think your verbal score won't hurt you too much for engineering. How's your TOEFL?

Agreed. I wouldn't send it in either.

I'm planning to apply to 9 schools.

Quark, thank you so much for the detailed feedback. I think a lot of your ideas are right on.

Based on feedback I got here, and on my own thoughts, I now have a second draft of my SOP. This version is specific to one school, but the other versions would likely to be similar. I would greatly appreciate hearing any thoughts about this. http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AYA4mHaz6QmTZGc5YjRncnhfODhjcm1qejQ2Zg&hl=en Thanks in advance.

Stick with it. It might not make a difference - maybe you'll get in anyway, or maybe you won't get in anyway - but you don't want to be in a position where you're wondering if that was why you didn't get in somewhere you hoped to go. Do your best! It's worth it for the peace of mind.

Peanut, it looks like your percentiles will be around 71st (verbal) and 31st (quantitative).

I'm a native English speaker, got a 720 on the Verbal section, and agree it is almost totally a vocabulary test. There were a lot of words on there that I didn't know, and I have an excellent vocabulary (hence the good score). I guess there is some reading comprehension involved too, but I thought those parts were pretty easy. Anyway, I am sure it is harder for non-native speakers to know a million bizarre English words, but it's definitely a vocabulary struggle for native speakers as well.

I don't think you need to worry about 'plagiarism' in this context. It's not plagiarism to discuss a work without giving a full citation; people do it all the time in non-academic contexts. Obviously you do need citations if you're doing academic work, but a statement of purpose is more like a letter or a discussion. I think it would look odd to have a full citation for something your audience would have heard of. (It's different if the work is really obscure and they'd need the citation to find it, but in that case, I'm not sure it belongs in an SOP anyway.)

The various schools seem to have different SOP prompts, but a lot of them are just generic and don't have specific questions. I plan to use my basic SOP for all of the applications and then customize according to the prompts and, of course, what kind of research groups and things they have at the school. Sorry if that makes it confusing / too generic for editing purposes. I really appreciate all of the comments so far, so thank you for taking the time. Also, I'm not actually an engineer - I'm a tech, so I work with engineers, doing their technical bidding (running software, producing charts/graphs/maps, that kind of thing). It's not really a hard job to get into if you're somewhat smart and working in oil & gas - a lot of people come into from being secretaries, etc. - but it does involve developing a lot of skills. It pays well but it's not challenging enough, even though working for a consulting company makes the work much more challenging and varied than it would be otherwise. So I'm not sure what of all that, if anything, would sound good in an SOP.

To answer some questions: Aside from "probably algebra" I don't know what my research interests are in math. My impression is that that is more common in math than in other fields, at least outside of top programs. I don't have much research experience to speak of - just one little project in computer science. (We did get a publication, but not sure how to work it into my SOP since the experience itself was irrelevant from a math perspective.)

I would really appreciate any feedback on this. I'm applying to math PhD programs in the roughly 55-100 range, rank-wise (you can see the list in my signature), but I'd love thoughts/advice/criticism from anyone, definitely not just math or STEM folks. I wanted something intermediate between posting my SOP draft here and just asking people to email me, so it's in Google Docs, here: Tam's SOP Feel free to quote it here, though, but just not the whole thing. Please be as critical as you like, and know that I will carefully consider all comments. Thanks so much to anyone who looks at this :-) It's about 520 words, by the way, so not terrifically long.

I don't think a C in your field of interest sounds good at all, given that a C is basically a failing grade in graduate school. If you can't get better than a C now, why would you do better at the harder classes in graduate school? I say do your best to pull the grade up to a B, and don't do pass-fail; it won't really help you (just raises questions, I think), and you may be able to pull off at least a B if you keep working at it.

I've always done better on standardized tests (and tests in general, for that matter) than I do in other ways, so I'm glad the GRE is used for admissions, just like I was glad the SAT was when I was getting into college the first time. This doesn't reflect entirely well on me, though, I admit. No real opinion on whether it "should" be used.

Congrats! This is my worst nightmare, so hopefully it won't happen. (Actually, I'm sure I have worse nightmares - incurable cancer, etc. - but you know.)

Oh, and definitely mention your research and intention to publish in your statement of purpose / personal statement. Good luck!

I'm not an expert, but you should have good chances most anywhere that you apply. Look at the schools that are strong in the areas that interest you (if you know), check out lists of the best schools, and be sure to apply broadly, because you can never be guaranteed of getting into any top school, regardless of how good you are. But your numbers and information certainly look very good.

I got a similar response from a Math professor at CSU.

Thanks for your thoughts. The main expected course I'm missing is differential equations, which I never managed to fit in. I do (or will) have two semesters of analysis, two semesters of non-Euclidean geometry, abstract algebra, linear algebra, prob/stats, discrete math, and the rest of the calculus sequence. I have a 4.0 in upper division math. I haven't taken any graduate-level classes. My school doesn't actually have any graduate-level classes, so that's partly why. If I don't get any decent offers this year, I will take a couple next year while continuing to work, and try again.

I am in no way an expert, but it sounds to me like you don't have anywhere near the background for graduate school in math. I imagine almost any school would want you to at least have had the calculus sequence (3 or 4 semesters), linear algebra, and some theoretical math courses like abstract algebra, discrete math, or advanced calculus. Your best bet might be to take some undergraduate courses in math, perhaps while continuing to work. Then you could get some good grades, develop a math background, find out if you even like math (beyond just working with numbers) enough to continue, and garner some good recommenders. But again, I'm no expert.

I know why I want a PhD in Math (I want to study math forever) and I know a little bit about what I like (pure vs. applied, probably something like algebra or algebraic geometry), but I don't feel like I have enough detail for a statement of purpose. I'm not applying to top programs. Is fit a big consideration in math? I feel like it's a lot easier for a history or psychology, etc., student to know what they want to specialize in. Am I expected to know? I'm a math major but my exposure just hasn't been that broad yet. And how do you turn "I want to study math forever" into a (credible, desirable) statement of purpose?