Feanor

As a bonus, they "just" asked for a top-half distinction for the maths PhD...

Tell me about it... I'm also on the same boat, quite complicated for overseas students.

So, anyone hoping to come to Cambridge this year?

T_T

Another offer without funding, and this was the one I was most confident about T_T The professor said he fought fiercely and I was his top candidate, but the department didn't want to put me forward for funding... Now I'm kinda worried...

That's the typical situation and they'd just make you an offer conditional to a certain performance in your Masters. Funding is always a more complicated matter, but it's significantly easier if you are an UK/EU student.

Same, they gave me a mini heart attack (Graduate Admissions AND FUNDING is just mean)...

By the way, they do send rejections emails (I got one last year on the 10th of March).

First official offer, but no departmental funding for me =/

It sounds to me you're doing alright, it is defintely a good sign. Go over all the relevant materials and do your best to prepare for the interview, and congratulations for being called!

There are many things to consider. Do you intend to do a PhD at a competitive school? Is there a significant difference in ranking between A and B? Would you be able to pay for the three months at B? Would you be able to stay away from your family for a long time (albeit that's unlikely)? Have you spoken to all the revelant people in A and B to be sure you've exhausted all the possibilities of supervisors? Have you visited both places? Those are valid concerns and you should address them, but you really should answer these questions first. It is still an MSc and you might want to be a little flexible regarding what you do at this stage, and having it at a prestigious institution with good results can help you in future PhD applications if that's the case. However, 2 years is a long time to be at a place you loathe, so I'd recommend you talk to current students in both places, visit them and explore your options. Make sure you could see yourself there for a couple of years.

It's a long story...

If you have research experience, you'll surely sound competitive, I know it's hard (I'm in the same boat), but you'll just have to wait now.

I'm afraid it is difficult to give you this kind of information, since funding availability varies among departments and each year. At the beginning of March you might be able to find out whether the department plans to recommend you for a scholarship by emailing them (they normally rank applicants in a meeting at the end of term), but you might still be contemplated by funds not managed by the department (other University-wide scholarships, college scholarships, etc). My experience with Oxbridge is that it can take a long time for you to get everything settled (it's not unheard of for people to be offered funding in August), but March should be the most promising month.

Person of interest, such as the one you want to work with in grad school.

Got an unofficial acceptance from Oxford on Wednesday last week, should learn of the outcome of funding matters around the beginning of March.

Mathematicians can (and do) work in practically any field, from finance and medical research to developing models for the social sciences and consulting. As a pure mathematician, I'm better informed about the kind of applications people find in academia, working at the department of applied maths or with the physicists, biologists, medical researchers, computer scientists, economists and the like, but my department does a great job at advertising positions and projects and I seemingly can't get enough emails about biostatistics, biological fluid dynamics, cancer research, cryptography, defense, population dynamics and other stuff. It can get pretty varied. As an example they have a program here to place masters students in summer projects after graduating, in partnerships with other departments and industry. The projects range from one at the archeology department asking for a mathematician's help in developing probabilistic models to better estimate the number of people buried in ancient tombs to one on the economics of Science using Game Theory. See, maths is one of the most flexible degrees there is (especially if you take a decent range of courses) and certainly you can find something to do that will fit your criteria of "changing the world for the better". P.S.: work for a big corporation can, in fact, help people. Just choose wisely.

Based on my experience as someone in Pure Maths with lots of friends in applied maths (although admittedly nobody in financial maths), I'd say research papers and a bachelor thesis are definitely not expected, although supervised undergraduate projects and graduate courses are highly appreciated. I agree that in most situations the knowledge you obtain in a first degree is not enough to do serious research, but that's what a Master's degree and the first few years of a PhD (in the American case and in many other places) are for. It is great that you know what you want to do in advance, so you still have time to tailor your qualifications to your goal. I'd recommend you try to find an undergraduate project in a field of your interest to work on with some staff in KAIST (that'd be a good source of a letter later on) and attempt to take entry-level graduate courses related to what you want to do or that could improve your theoretical background (as long as you're honestly sure you can cope with them!). If you intend to apply to the US and Canada, also remember to prepare well in advance for the GRE and TOEFL/IELTS and get done with them ASAP. Also try to get the best letters as possible and let the recommenders know you'll need them some months before applications open (and remind them as the time approaches).

I'd recommend you don't overburden yourself and you seem to have everything pretty much figured out, but I'd suggest packing in a quick snack, mints and possibly a toothbrush+dental cream. Perhaps more than one pen.

Congratulations! After reading this I immediately checked my self-service page, but unfortunately there's nothing yet =/ It would've made such a nice contribution to this thread...

I think most US grad schools will be familiar with the UK 1st class, 2.1, etc system and if you are not especifically required to fill in a GPA, don't include it. In case you have to just because it's in the form and it won't let your proceed otherwise, I've been told, as an international student, to put "0" (by people who are supposed to know this kind of thing in depth).

Perhaps if you could say where exactly you'd be studying I could have more data on local possibilities, but I know nothing about how loans work in the US.

I copied a part of one of my statements from the time I applied to a Masters for my current PhD applications and put most of it in past tense... but I forgot to change a bit saying that I was doing an "ongoing" project in Brazil. And in case you're wondering, of course it was the application for the PhD in the same place I'm currently doing the Masters.

Do everything you can to make yourself likable and well-prepared. Act strategically, then spin the wheel. If you're aiming for a PhD, a strong research background and how well you fit are likely to be the most important factors, but ensure you have the best training as possible (take graduate courses, watch seminars, etc) and optimise every document you are submitting (SoP, LoR, GRE in case of American institutions...). In order to write a really impressive SoP and manage to successfully contact supervisors, you will need information. Be ready to spend a good amount of time learning all you can about the university, the program, your prospective supervisor and the other people in the same field - normally current PhD students are able to give you some precious tips and tend to be approachable, do try contacting them first. If you get an interview, seize the opportunity to show how interested you really are and make it evident that you did your homework. The best advice I can give, however, is: beware this is a long, stressful process (but that ends at some point, I promise!) - you should put it in motion well in advance.

When I did it last year most questions were non-technical, but they did ask a few (somewhat trivial) ones, mostly related to one of my past undergraduate projects and the things I claimed to be interested. It was not nearly as scary as I'd imagined. Sorry guys, I would have replied sooner but I haven't logged in for ages. Good luck to all of you