kdilks

Geez, you people like to be really warm. I've gotten by just fine in Minneapolis without boots or layering.

Haven't actually had to use Tex in a while... Just because pi isn't rational (or even algebraic) doesn't mean it couldn't have patterns in it. Something like $\sum_{n=0}^{\infty}10^{-n!}$ is irrational (maybe even transcendental, can't remember), but still has an obvious pattern. I don't think the implication of a direct connection between pi and the stock market is meant to be taken seriously. I think it's just more of a device to show how the endeavors of math, man, and God are at their core about trying to find order underneath the chaos, and suggesting that perhaps it's indicative of an underlying universality.

$/pi$.

So far at least one international, one international with US degree, and one domestic student have been rejected by mail. It also looks like one domestic student got waitlisted by mail.

I think it would only be appropriate to call if there's some question as to whether or not they have your whole application package.

If you've already been accepted, I assume they'd mainly be interested so they can attempt to make a competitive offer, so I'd say do what you can to make yourself look better (only mention acceptances and not rejections, quote numbers for good offers, etc.). I was also asked questions like this when I got waitlisted, and in that situation I was told it's just the department being unsure, and wanting to see how other schools evaluated you. Basically you should just kind of consider it as another part of the application, where you're attempting to put yourself in the best light possible.

That has to do more with people not being to properly gauge where they stand than with the non-existence of safety schools.

Just a little heads-up before you go slinging that phrase around... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sambo_%28racial_term%29

I got the impression from reading through the FAQ that it's a university-wide requirement, and the math department has no control over it. It's really only a requirement for them being able to offer you support as a TA (most students are supported as TAs), I don't think you'd technically need it if you had a fellowship/outside support. I don't think it's really that big of a deal: an offer "being contingent on something" generally means they just need to get it eventually. A few schools I applied to just required an unofficial copy of my transcript for the application, and then my acceptance was "contingent upon" me getting them an official copy at some point over the summer. So I don't think you'd need to take the test now, you just need to take it eventually if you decide to go to Minnesota.

E-mail is probably the most likely way that you'll be contacted, and many e-mail systems have a "vacation notice" feature that automatically replies to any e-mail received with a message of your choosing (designed for situations like yours, or when people are on vacation, and won't be checking their inbox for an extended period).

The Ivy League isn't especially well known for engineering, so saying that you went to an Ivy might impress your friends/family, but it's not going to impress most people knowledgeable about engineering (specifically, the people that will be hiring you). Unless Penn is considered to be significantly better than Toronto (which I'd guess it isn't, but can't easily give evidence for since US News rankings only covers...US schools), the financial difference and Toronto being a better/safer city makes it an obvious choice in my mind.

Another thing that you might want to try and keep track of is when visitation weekends are (and when accepted people need to RSVP for them). At least one school I applied to had a small second wave of acceptances on the RSVP date (presumably because of people like me that declined the invitation). That way you can kind of know that if you haven't heard by a certain date, you shouldn't be especially holding out hope for that school anymore (schools really have no incentive to reject you/tell you anything earlier than they have to). Michigan has a visitation weekend, but I forget exactly when it is (I can find out if anybody wants to know). Stanford and Berkeley share a visitation weekend (something like Stanford Fri-Sat, Berkeley Sun-Mon) so they can split travel costs for people that are visiting both. Minnesota used to have an accepted student weekend, didn't last year because they accepted very few people, most of which were relatively local (no idea what's happening this year, I'll try and find out at some point). Rutgers/UCSD have an accepted student weekend. MIT just brings people in individually.

The watched pot never boils. After I had gotten my first acceptance, I went home to show my parents (I did undergrad very close to where I grew up). I was going to hold off for about 15 minutes until my dad got home from work so I could show both my parents at the same time, and while I was sitting there waiting with my inbox open, I got my second acceptance!

I don't think it's a bad idea, it just sounds like you'd be going about it the wrong way. Something like "Hey, I'm going to be in town, so if you have any questions in your deliberation process, I will be around to answer them" is definitely not what you want to say. It gives the impression that you think there's something wrong with your application and/or you're trying to suck up to get accepted (not to mention the fact that they're not going to ask you any questions). Just tell them that you've applied, you're going to be in town, and you'd be interested in talking to them about their research and the program. Normally I'd say it would be a little bold to directly contact senior faculty yourself, but it shouldn't be a problem if you've met them before, or have your advisor help set something up.

It depends on the school/program. Sometimes programs will have an interview phase, in which case this means you're on a short list and highly likely to be accepted. Other times is does mean that you're essentially admitted, but they can't formally say you're accepted because they don't have your funding situation fully figured out yet.

"Applied Math" just isn't a very well defined thing. The stuff that I do (algebraic combinatorics) is considered applied math in some places and pure math in others, even though it meets pretty much none of the criterion anybody has listed so far for being "applied math".

...we had an hour long presentation during our orientation specifically devoted to issues like dating undergrads (or superiors), sexual harassment, and the like. Highlights included "there's 30,000 undergrads on this campus; go find one that's not in your class", and "don't overestimate your sexual attractiveness".

Your qualifications seem pretty solid. I wouldn't worry about any school being "too good" for you to even bother applying to. I think admissions committees are fairly lenient about research experience for students from foreign countries because they don't have the advantage of NSF-funded REU programs. My friend from Korea got waitlisted at MIT and accepted to Chicago with absolutely no research experience. US News has a ranking of applied math programs that's a decent place to start [private messaged to you because I don't know if there are rules against posting the full list on this forum]. Obviously you should realize that these rankings aren't precise, but it does give you a rough idea of where schools are. You should also keep in mind that "applied math" covers a broad spectrum, so a school that's considered to be better overall might not be better for your interests. Particularly, smaller departments just might not have anybody doing your kind of work (might be an issue at places like MIT/Caltech), and certain departments won't be as good overall but very good at what you want to do (like Maryland with dynamics, for example). Another thing you want to consider is the relationship between the applied math and pure math programs. Some schools have them completely separate. Some schools have them as two separate factions of one department. Some schools do nothing or next-to-nothing to separate them. I wouldn't say any system is necessarily better than the others, but you might have a preference for or against a system, and it's good to know about that ahead of time. There might even be bodies outside of the department itself that would greatly contribute to your graduate school experience (Princeton has IAS, Berkeley has MSRI, Minnesota has the IMA, etc.). One last thing is that you should be aware that it will be slightly harder to get into a public school as a foreigner. Every semester, the department has to pay your tuition to the University. If you're an American, you can become a resident of that state after a year and have a significantly lower tuition rate. If you're foreign, you have no chance at ever qualifying for in-state tuition, so in a sense you "cost" the department more. This issue doesn't exist at private schools, because they only have one tuition rate. It doesn't completely kill your chances, but especially with the current financial issues many state schools are having, I imagine they'd take a domestic student over a similarly qualified international student.

What you want to do with your statement of purpose is really qualify why you want to study math forever. You want to appeal to things like advanced classes and research experience which show that you know what graduate school is going to entail, and you enjoy those aspects of it. You should just think of mentioning an interest in something like algebra/algebraic geometry as being an important piece of evidence to indicate you know what "real" math is about and like it, not as much of a commitment to what you're going to study. Most people don't have a very good idea of what they want to do going into math grad school, especially if you're not applying to the top programs, and they're not going to hold you to anything once you get there. They will probably want to see some kind statement about why you're applying there, and at least an implicit demonstration that you know what they do there. Obviously it's bad if you talk about liking something and the school doesn't have anybody in that area, because then you've demonstrated no potential interest in anything they offer. But you're not limited to statements like "I like algebra and you do algebra". You can even just mention that you like how a department has people in a wide variety of fields, since you're still undecided on what you want to do.

Minor complaint, but I don't like the icon for a thread you've already posted in (folder with something paper-clipped to it). The object being paper-clipped and the paper-clip combine to make something that looks like a combination lock, which is generally used to signify a locked thread. Every time I've used the new forum and seen that icon, my immediate reaction has always been "why is that thread locked?".

I don't think there's anything I would've put on a CV that wasn't already asked for in all of my applications.

http://www.stat.tamu.edu/~jnewton/nrc_rankings/area31.html Just keep going down the list and seeing which schools do and don't require it.

Your stipend isn't necessarily going to be paid out over the entire year. I think for many sources of funding, you get your stipend over the ~9 months of the academic year, and can potentially make more money over the summer. I know that's how most teaching assignments are, and that's how one of my two fellowships works. Depending on your situation, that extra money over the summer might be the difference between whether or not you earn enough money to get by. At one school I visited, I was told that summer teaching positions were very competitive since the base amount of money they offer isn't quite enough to live off of, and you weren't able to get said teaching position during your first summer. So that's something to look out for/ask about. Also keep in mind that you're not limited to what your school offers. For example, I could make more money by doing 2 months of research "for free" or taking a part-time job and spending 1 month at my old summer job than I would by doing 2 months of paid research through my university (since the paid research requires I take no other job over the summer). Also, be wary of initial costs. Even if you make good money, your first paycheck won't necessarily be able to cover movings costs, cost of outfitting your new place, student fees, books, and first months rent (and if you're like me, season tickets for hockey and football...). One school I got accepted to actually gave you a decent chunk of money as soon as you arrived to help "defray" some of those costs. Hopefully somebody with more experience can chime in, but I see that as being a more likely reason to need loans than monthly expenditures (assuming you don't have something like a family which would make your monthly expenditures significantly higher than your prototypical single unattached grad student). I think pretty much anywhere you go, you'll at least make enough money to get by sharing a crappy apartment and eating Ramen.

http://www.nsfgrfp.org/applicant_resources/frequently_asked_questions#ets%20send

Why does a safety school have to be one you wouldn't want to enroll at? It's just one that you're very confident you'll be admitted to. I think you'd be much better off applying to a wide range of schools on your first go and figuring out where you stand, as opposed to only applying to your very top choices and risk having to putting your career on hold for a year until you can apply to the "safety schools" that you could already be at. If you do get accepted to one of your top choices, you'll likely have a nice offer from a safety school you can use as bargaining leverage. My top choice waitlisted me and asked about what I had heard from other places (apparently because they're unsure about their own decisions), and I'm sure "accepted to a bunch of places with fellowship offers" looked a heck of a lot nicer than "still haven't heard back from anybody". Unless you're in a field where only people at the top few schools realistically have a future, if you care more about going to a top school than working in your field, you're probably going to grad school for the wrong reasons. Edit: Not to mention the fact that you might not even have the right idea about where you do/don't want to go until you actually visit.