Hi everybody.
I am interested in applying to Ph.D. programs in applied mathematics. I am particularly interested in PDE and stochastic processes, but definitely have enjoyed some more pure areas as well. I think my application should be competitive, but I'm looking for help calibrating exactly what level of schools I should shoot for, because in undergraduate applications I may have aimed too high.
Undergraduate Institution: Top 15 Public University
Majors: B.S. Mathematics / B.S. Biomedical Engineering
Minor: Economics
GPA: 3.99
Type of student: White male
GRE Scores:
Q: 168 (96%)
V: 164 (94%)
W: 5.5 (96%)
Math: 890 (96%)
Research experience: Two summers and school years: one year working in theoretical chemistry with a publication in preparation and one year working in quantitative finance. Planning to work on a thesis my senior year hopefully related to stochastic processes.
Work experience: One internship as a quantitative financial analyst. Research assistant throughout school years and other summers.
Notable coursework: Two semesters of graduate mathematics so far (functional analysis and PDE), and I plan to take four more this year (probability i/ii, algebraic/differential topology). Other than that, I have typical math courses (analysis, topology, diff.eq., etc), a whole engineering curriculum full of programming and applied stuff, some fun theoretical economics courses (micro theory and game theory), and some random other tid-bits.
Recommendations: I should have two very good letters, and I am working on grooming someone for a third this next year. If I fail for the third, how much will this hurt me?
So far, here are some of the ones I've picked out as interesting:
Boston University
Chicago
Columbia
Harvard SEAS
Michigan
MIT
Northwestern
NYU (would be a dream!)
Stanford
Yale
I feel like this list is VERY top-heavy. I plan to eventually approach some professors for advice, but I thought that I should get a more polished list before doing so. Can people help me with any suggestions of nice fits and/or examples of hidden jewels that I am missing?
Thanks a lot!