RadioactiveBanana

Thank you for your advice. It's really making things a lot more clear on what I need to do. For now, I will keep doing what I'm doing grade wise. I'm on real good terms with the department chair (I've taken courses from him and have done very well) and I hope to acquire two more recommendations, one of which is my thesis mentor hopefully! You mentioned the top schools expect an "extremely strong math background." Can you clarify what this means? Sorry if I am asking too many questions!

Thank you all for the responses. I appreciate everyone's advice! R Deckard, I'm very interested in the applications of differential equations to fields such as physics and engineering. I know that's probably too vague to gauge anything, but I'm still searching for a specific field since I will be doing a thesis for my senior year. I have a pretty solid physics background already with my mathematics major, and even research that I have done in physical chemistry. My honors thesis mentor that I'm looking into is a mathematical physicist in the math department. As for how high I am aiming, well I'd like to apply to a wide range of schools in the top 20 programs. Even top 10 programs if I can dream! Dream schools for me would be the obvious top places for applied math like NYU's Courant, MIT, Caltech. I would be thrilled to go to a program like at the University of Texas at Austin! I also plan on applying to a lot of programs in the top 20 places like Carnegie Mellon, Cornell, RPI, University of Arizona, and University of Washington. I'm still searching and my choices may vary depending on how well I do on the Math GRE. Right now my focus is trying to keep my mathematics GPA as close to a 4.0 as possible. Since the top programs are reaches even for students that are way more qualified than I could hope to be, I'm trying to do more mathematics-based research to bolster my application, hence the possible extra year. But it shouldn't hurt to try for a top program, right?

Hi TakeruK, Thank you for the reply! What you say makes a lot of sense. I probably should of elaborated, but my main reasoning to the extra year was to have more time to do research specifically for mathematics. I thought graduate courses would help me get acquainted with graduate level work, but I suppose they aren't essential. I'm trying to basically prove myself to math programs. To answer your question: what do I want? I guess if at all possible it would be nice to get into a nice doctoral program after 4 years of undergrad, but I guess I'm just anxious about the application process. I thought graduate courses would put me at an advantage to top tier programs. I know probably the most important aspect for grad admissions is research, so I'm mainly targeting time for research experience in mathematics. It is good to know that my chemistry research may help though! I will for sure have one more summer before my senior year to do an REU/SULI, if I do an extra year I would use the extra summer to do another. I have looked up that national labs do post baccalaureate programs that allows students to work in labs while preparing for grad school (Los Alamos is one example). Would this be a better option than staying an extra year?

Hi everyone, I'm a new member, so hopefully this is the right place to post this topic. I've been thinking about spending an extra year to complete my degree plan at my university. I hope to get into a really good applied math phd program, and I've been focused on trying to optimize my chances. I can finish my degree in the 4 years (B.S. in Mathematics), but If I stay an extra year, I will be able to complete a minor in computer science as well as take graduate level math courses. The minor is purely out of love of the subject. I recently completed introductory computer science courses and honestly love the subject enough to take more courses. And I'm sure it helps to have programming experience for math grad (hopefully?)! The breadth of my math undergrad degree (in 4yrs) will cover: Calculus I-III and Linear Algebra ODE and PDE Algebra & Combinatorics (1 semester course) Introductory Analysis course Complex Variables Advanced Linear Algebra/Matrix Theory (1 semester course) Abstract Algebra Advanced Calculus I & II As for research experience, I originally started my undergraduate as a chemistry major, but I find mathematics to be a true passion of mine so I changed majors. Because of my previous major, I have three semesters of research and a summer research job at my university in physical chemistry (both experimental and computational) which will hopefully yield a co-author on a publication soon. It was not an REU, but it was stipend funded for me. I'm in the honors program at my institution, which requires an honors thesis. Next semester I begin a research course to hopefully find a mentor! I will also have one summer later to hopefully get into an REU/SULI for mathematics students before my senior year. I feel like my chemistry research experience will not help me in any way for math grad. If I extended my degree plan one extra year, that would leave me another summer to do another REU/SULI. During my last year (if I were to do it) I would be able to take a couple graduate courses each semester and complete a computer science minor. Some graduate courses I planned on taking would be courses like: Topology Complex Analysis Real Variables and Functional Analysis (If there are any suggestions, please feel free to add!) Financially, an extra year is doable since most of my 4 year degree is payed for by a merit scholarship. My concern is since my undergrad institution is not known for mathematics, I need to try much harder to be competitive for top graduate programs in applied math. My GPA right now is 3.9 overall (4.0 math), and I plan on trying to maintain that as best I can. I still have time to decide, so if this would be a waste of time for me, I'd definitely like to know! If there are any other tips for being competitive for math grad, I'd also really like input on that. Sorry for such a long post, and thanks in advance.