Robbentheking

I assume you mean in academia, because outside of it, for no job I know of is the description 'knows a lot of words and can get the main points of a short text in limited time'. Obviously im oversimplifying the verbal section, but you get the point. The GRE in and of itself isn't supposed to qualify you for anything. It's just another portion of the grad school evaluation process designed see how you do under time pressure. As I'm sure you know, you would get into no respectable PhD programs irrespective of field with 170 on both sections, a 2.0 GPA and a total inabilty to express your research interests. And I agree with the other posters, the way you phrased your desire to get the title of doctor seems to go against the spirit of the whole process. That being said, I feel your pain. I am also someone who has found it hard to find that one thing I really like and commit myself to. It makes it very hard to develop a career/set of skills.

Hey guys, I'm really worried about my third letter of reccomendation. I'm a math student applying for stats grad programs, but I also study German and haven't taken a math class in a year, so I'm sort of short on potential letter writers who can speak to my ability to comprehend higher level material. I'm considering asking my grad-level Topology professor from last fall, but I'm really nervous about this. I got an A- in the course, which really isn't that good as grad courses tend be graded easier. Most worryingly, I had my worst ever exam result in this course. On the second midterm I did really badly. It was a take home exam and while I can't remember exactly what I got, it was easily below average, tending towards the bottom of our 20 person class. I did however do well on the first exam, score respectably on the final, which was also a take home exam, and go to office hours a decent amount, so he knows me and my work ethic. Basically, my only other option is my complex analysis professor from last fall who essentially doesn't know me, but who I got a solid A from. Any thoughts?

@RandomForest They don't let you take graduate level math courses as an undergrad at OSU?

Well, luckily I do have some time to mull it over, but I'm thinking 60-70th percentile as some sort of cutoff if it's recommended, maybe a bit lower if it's "strongly recommended." But to be honest, I really don't know. Couple of things I'm considering: 1) Because it seems like it holds more importance in the math world, I think students probably place more emphasis on it and do better on it there on average. So, I'm guessing the submitted scores are a bit lower for stat programs in general. There seems to be slightly more complete data on cutoffs at math PhD programs, so I might just find as much info on that as I can and subtract an amount that sounds reasonable. Considering how much of a pain it is to go back and do this review and the fact that it's technically option everywhere I'd apply (Stanford is realistically out of the question lol), I think a sort of lower but respectable score (like high 50s) might not even look that bad, depending on where you're applying. 2) I'm actually fortunate enough to have gone to undergrad at a place with this ambiguous recommendation. I may try to send a few emails around and see if I can't learn a bit more. Then again, I might end up applying there, so I don't really want to come off as lazy or something to someone in the department, especially considering if there's any place with a recommendation where I could probably get away without it, it's my old school, because after all, there's probably someone on the admissions committee who's friends with a math professor who can tell them exactly what it means for a student to get an A- in Topology haha

@arima First off, thanks for the reply! It's honeslty pretty funny in my opinion. Though it's probably a poor indicator for research potential in both stats and pure math, I feel like this test might be a better indicator for graduate statistics preparation than for graduate math preparation. Timed computations are just the total opposite of everything my undergrad experience indicates about math grad school. Testing was already trending towards take home exams where you had like a week to do some proofs by the end of junior year, and I only was taking undergrad courses at that point. Sure, being able to do basic stuff fast helps a lot in pure math and this isn't to say that stats is just a bunch of computations, but I just see a real discord between what I perceive higher math to be and this test. From Berkeley's website: 'We do not require the Math subject test but if the scores are available you may submit it as part of your application.' Obviously different departments are going to weigh all this stuff differently. Some seem to be more insistant. Or maybe I'm just reading into this too much. The thing is, I feel like sucess on this test is strongly correlated with time spent studying, especially if you narrow the pool to people who would otherwise be competitive at a top 5 stat program. Not saying I am one of those students, just making an observation that it probably is a bit of an artificial differentiator for otherwise qualified applicants.

Hey guys, I intend to apply for stat phd programs in the winter and am planning on taking the GRE math subject test in October. Many of the top programs desingate this test as 'strongly reccommended.' I studied math in undergrad, but I took computation-heavy calculus like four years ago, something that makes up a large portion of the test. I've started my review, but even though I would say it comes along well when I get down to it, I'm struggling to find time as I'm currently working full time, and there is quite a bit to go over. I've seen other posts on this topic (from a few years back) with a lot of mixed feedback on the question. I also know that these programs have only gotten more competitive in the past couple years. So, for people who have some inside knowledge on this, I'm posing the question again. How important would it be for me to submit scores on this test? What would be the cut off for submission (e.g. 70th percentile)? Probably way too specific, but any guesses on what percentage of accepted students at a program like Chicago or Wharton submit the test? Thanks for any responses.

im just an applicant as well, but I've been skimming through these forums for the last few weeks and reading questions and answers from people who know far more about this than me. IMO (and im biased because chicago was my second choice fro undergrad so I think very highly of it) you are totally fine and probably could shoot a bit higher with a good gre, which seems very possible if you dropped a 1600 on the SAT (even though they are very different tests). most people respect chicago as one of the best at math in the country. You have a 3.3 math GPA, which is in and of it's itself Dean's list material. Again, I'm biased because I study pure math, but after studying math your foundation is solid, much more so than if someone studied say biology in undergrad at some less rigorous institution and got a 3.9 GPA. Someone else pipe up if im off base here...

Great! haha thanks we're all very excited about this season and carlo's more direct style

I don't work in the financial industry, and like you are in the process of applying to stat masters/PhDs, so I can't answer all your questions but.. The idea that getting a stat PhD is going to keep you from working in finance is crazy. As the other poster mentioned, you really need to have a better idea of what exactly you want to do, but if you're interested in quant stuff, I think the market is there for PhDs. A lot of hedge funds or smaller trading firms seem like they are more than willing to work with you if you know your stats/math at a high level and can program. I just called this one up because I saw it recently, but you kind definitely find more stuff like this if you look around. I think if you're smart enough, they don't give a shit if you've worked in finance. https://careers.sig.com/job/SUSQA004Y86/Quantitative-Research-Internship . The other great thing about stats is you can work in so many fields, so if your interests change, it's all good!