someDay

McGill: I think this depends on the department, although I'm not sure. I know that in some departments people were accepted/rejected off the waitlist as late as July. UK: This is completely different. Usually you'd get a conditional offer (e.g. a achieving a certain GPA), in which case you might not find out until a few weeks before the course starts. Even if you get an unconditional offer (hardly ever happens unless you already completed your course) you'll have A LOT of time to reply. I reckon at least until early June, definitely after 15th of April. sD.

@Threadstarter: UK unis in general require two academic references. Usually you'd send in letters from your undergrad tutor and your BSc/BA project supervisor; or for PhDs your undergrad tutor/supervisor and your postgrad tutor/supervisor. Don't bother to send in a character reference, people won't care. Even if you sent in a character reference saying "Her parents should be sentenced to death for bringing her into this world" it wouldn't matter. All that matters are your academic credentials. If you're applying for scholarships then you may have to submit a character reference but I would imagine it's way two months too late to apply for any scholarships available to foreign students? @Katia_chan: Some departments at Oxford are more laid-back about deadlines than others, so even if you missed the deadline they might read your application. Good luck. sD.

I see two possible situations where you're better off keeping your mouth shut. Either you've been rejected by most if not all your schools, or you got an offer from a much better school. In the latter case, well, you got to tell her at one point? In the first case, not good. If you have positive feedback from some schools then there's no reason to not tell her? sD.

Having publications is always a bonus but by no means required. Only an extremely tiny minority have published original papers. If you chose to publish your BS/MS/summer-project "research" in a crappy journal don't expect this to significantly strengthen your application. Quality is much more important than quantity. (At least in mathematics, perhaps this is different in applied sciences or humanities.) sD.

So did I (and plenty of others). Congrats to your acceptances and Stanford and Caltech. You should e-mail the DGS about your withdrawals. @origin: Grats! Weren't you interested in Algebraic Geometry? One senior profs here at <good British Maths department> who is an algebraic geometer went to Utah for his PhD. sD.

Manchester and Nottingham are both decent unis, though Nottingham overall has a slightly better reputation. Nottingham is a lovely campus university, but Manchester the more interesting city. I haven't got a clue about engineering management. Nottingham's business school has an excellent reputation (certainly better than Manchester), no idea about the engineering side or job prospects. Check thestudentroom.co.uk. sD.

You should check for extra perks such as health insurance, how many hours they allow you to work, etc. The good thing about this offer is that it's from Berkeley. Other than that I think it's very poor - it might be manageable if you're a CA resident, get the maximum 4.6K per semester, they pay your health insurance and you find some posh bay-area mums who see you as the solution to their kids' math troubles. sD.

Reminds me of the prof I asked how much time he spent with his PhD students. His reply? "Probably less than I should". sD.

Not that I'm into algebraic geometry, but to everyone interested in it I recommend the wonderful book "An invitation to algebraic geometry" by someone whose name I have forgotten (Karen Smith?), published by springer and available at ridiculous prices at your favourite bookshop. Personally I'm interested in homological algebra and low-dimensional topology.. though this is subject to constant change. sD.

Except for departmental funding (which usually is some contribution towards tuition fees) you'll find it very difficult to find any funding. Forget about scholarships, you're too late for these. If you are accepted at a top-notch uni you might be able to find some funding in the private sector, but obviously this will require quite some initiative on your part. sD.

Whilst I would take this as an indication that they are interested in having you as their student, the "If your application is successful" clause clearly indicates that at this stage you should not take an acceptance for granted. sD.

Some people have posted acceptances from Columbia. AFAIK Columbia does not wait-list people and sends out all acceptances on the same day (or at least within a few days). sD.

It is generally accepted that 2-body problems should not be disclosed until one partner has been accepted. sD.

Two bedrooms, good state repair, no rat infestation. sD.

Agreed. Replace this by "write some original papers, publish them". Which is very hard in pure and will almost certainly get you into any school. Perhaps this is easier in Financial Math but somehow I doubt it. sD.

Personally I would steer clear of the Ghetto. There're some nice places, but prices have gone up in the last years, and some landlords charge ridiculous sums for shitty places. Plateau is awesome. Anyway.. I wouldn't worry about apartments at all. On your PhD salary alone you can afford a lovely apartment.

Hm. It's not overly important for your chosen research area, but it sort of raises the question what you did in your second year? What you've done in Analysis & Topology is pretty much the minimum standard for first year grad courses; additionally one would take a course in algebra (groups, rings, modules, commutative algebra, bits of category theory - Hungerford's book essentially) and some extras (algebraic geometry; stats; representation theory; lie groups; riemannian geometry; elliptic curves; algebraic number theory; category theory; homological algebra etc etc). Have a look at http://www.math.colu...es/complex.html - these are courses for first year phd students at columbia. Given that you've done a two year master's degree and applying to equally prestigious schools, you'd be expected to know a huge amount of the stuff, not just bits here and there. sD.

Hm. Unfortunately these courses won't particularly help your application. I would expect that undergrads at the universities you're applying to know some bits of this material. Have you taken a course in algebra? sD.

Mathematical Finance is more competitive. You have a bunch of mathematically-minded economics students who blew all their cash on MSc in Maths Fin, Fin Eng and are now scrambling for PhD places. Applied in general is a more mixed bag. If you want to go into anything that contains "quantum" or "relativity" it its name you've better had published ten papers in Nature, but if you're looking for something more related to computer-science you won't have too much troubles. 2. I understand. It certainly strengthens your application, though somewhat less than if you applied to a program in Pure Maths. Could you post the syllabus of your phd courses? If these are your bog-standard MS courses it's not going to help your application as much as if you've attended "advanced" seminars where a prof talks about their research. 3. That's a tricky one. Without knowing your letters it's impossible to say. But assuming they're really good and your grad classes are pretty rigorous then you probably got a chance. Definitely talk to some profs you want to work with. 4. It won't count against you (obviously). 5. Improve GRE; try to take some grad classes in stats at some other uni. sD.

You've perhaps been a little bit too ambitious. Your profile is excellent, but perhaps not amazing enough to make up for the mediocre subject score. Your BS at a good school is average, your MS is really good but at an average school.The main problem I see is your MS courses don't go with your research interests. Topology, Differential Geometry and Min. surfaces is more suited to a Geometer or theoretical Physicist than someone interested in Financial Mathematics. Financial Mathematics is where the $$ is and more competitive than Pure. Princeton & Stanford will reject you purely on the basis of your subject score. Chicago, Cornell and Michigan will be very difficult, though not impossible. Have you talked to profs in your research area? If one really likes your profile and they push for you, perhaps you stand a chance. The others I don't really know.You should perhaps check whether there're any schools further down the ranking list that still accept applications? You should get one or two insurance unis in the top 25 - 50 league. sD.

Public transport is excellent in Montreal. A monthly pass for subway and buses will set you back around 50$. Never been to Düsseldorf, but I'd rate the public transport system on par with Berlin or Stuttgart. You won't need a car and taxis are fairly cheap, though parking won't be much of an issue. Language will not be too much of a problem though your partner really should make an effort to learn French. English is not the language of choice for most Monrealers even though everyone speaks excellent English (you'll find the odd person who flatly refuses to speak English though). It's accepted but not encouraged; and if your partner wants to immerse in Quebec culture then French is an absolute must. sD.