kuz

Not impossible, but I wouldn't count on it. I lived in the GC in my first year and in an annex in my second year. (I'm in my third year now and supposed to be living in Lakeside, but instead stuck in Stanworth limbo, which actually isn't bad at all.) Most grad students in the annexes are later years, but there are always a significant number of first years. I have no idea how many actually apply for an annex though.

I would think about tailoring your application to suit the university. Look at the faculty at various universities and see what probability theorists they have there, and start thinking about where you could see yourself working. Of course, this is extremely difficult to determine so early on in your academic life, but it's a good way to separate yourself from the pack, especially for Top 20 universities. They are essentially wanting to hire you as a researcher, so you want to show them that you want to contribute in a useful way.

This sounds somewhat like me. I did no study whatsoever for the GRE and did reasonably well (especially well at the general exam, just pretty decent at my subject exam). My undergraduate grades were very good and I had a fair bit of research experience, so I had no trouble with LORs. I wrote my statement of purpose the same day as I was applying for programs, and applied for all my programs pretty much the last day possible. I only applied to four universities and was accepted into three and waitlisted by the fourth. That being said, I'm still quite intimidated by the amount of intellect in my program - I'm certainly far from the brightest of my class. I'm pretty nervous about passing a very tough general exam in May. But I'm not particularly worried about my research. I think there are quite a few people like me on this board, but they probably don't post all that much.

Don't get ahead of yourself.

math.stackexchange.com is good for undergraduate-style problems. For really advanced problems (something that most first year grads wouldn't know) then maybe try mathoverflow.net

I seem to remember reading somewhere that we don't get paid til the end of September, and that's it's monthly. I could be wrong, however.

I think the cost of the 95 meal/semester plan is for the whole year, which would mean it's just over $16 a meal (at least, that would make more sense).

Got a housing contract offer today. Single room in the New Graduate College Now I just need to work out which meal plan I should choose...

I applied for the graduate college. It's going to be weird living in a catered college again - I've been in a share house with some friends for the past two years, and before that I was in a self-catered college. Plus I've never had to share a room before (though fingers crossed I get a single room). Still, I figure living at college will be the best way to meet people and make new friends.

If you want them to be able to look at it should they be interested, either upload it your university website (on the off chance that you have your own page) or otherwise just upload it to the arXiv. You can then put the website link in your CV or something.

To be honest, it really sounds like you should do a Masters. Your best bet is to try to find a Masters program (even locally) that doesn't cost too much or has a scholarship involved. As it stands, you're not going to get into a funded PhD program anywhere unless you're able to show that you actually know a fair amount of maths (though your math GRE score is good). If you're able to come up with some research on your own and write a paper that's accepted to a journal, that would also be a good way to show mathematical aptitude (but of course that's a pretty difficult thing to do).

That's a pretty damn paranoid attitude to have. I don't see what benefit anyone could get from lying about their achievements on the forum. And as one of the reasonably strong applicants on there, it's kinda insulting to suggest that I'd be lying

Looks likely that I'll be there, though that may change...