Advice for a student who had a (very) slow start

[CauchyFan]

When I started college in 2002 I went to school with the intent of becoming a computer programmer. I soon lost interest in this and for the next 4 years I bounced around doing a horrible job at being a student. Then in 2007 I ran out of money, dropped out for a year, figured out that I really really liked math, and came back to school in 2008. Of course, prior to that I had been virtually hostile towards math my entire life so I had a bit of catching up to do. Needless to say, my transcript is littered with Fs and multiple tries at Calculus I and II, and after 2007 there's a bit of a slope (not a jump sadly) up over the next two semesters in math (made Cs in Differential Equations and Probability, rocked an A in linear algebra though).

However, since then I've become a damn good student. I went from doing poorly in Calculus to mediocre in DiffEq/Probability to making As in Foundations of Math and Complex Analysis (which is my one true love, see the name). And now I have As in my last 4 math classes (Partial Differential Equations, Real Analysis, Fourier Analysis, and Advanced Linear Algebra) and my grades have been steadily on the rise in general. In fact, since my school only looks at the last 60 hours for honors, chances are I will graduate with the highest honors (one more year of the minor/general ed crap to go, and I'm sure I'll rock straight As in those). There's also a couple of Bs littered in there (Math Modeling and Algebraic Structures w/ Applications).

Now, outside of "school", I've actually gotten heavily into mathematics. On my own I've taught myself topology, as much complex analysis as I can get my hands on, abstract algebra, and I even went back and worked through Courant's Calculus books so that I could REALLY know Calculus.

So my issue is this:

I want to go to Washington University for a PhD so I can study complex analysis. My last 2 years of college will have a 3.9 GPA, my last 3 years will be around a 3.5, but my overall will be around a 2.8 (almost 9 years... >_<). I have experience doing TA duties (worked at a tutor in the Math Learning Center this past summer and will probably continue to do so until I graduate) and there's no doubt in my mind I can get glowing letters of recommendation and write a very nice SOP (no excuses for the bad grades though, all I will say about that is that I was a young man with no direction, no motivation, and no good sense, and that that has changed since those days). I take the regular GRE in a month (which I have no worries about).

Now, I'm not exactly well off with finances, so taking the Mathematics GRE (which isn't required for my school's grad program. And I am a bit nervous about it, however, having worked through Courant and Birkhoff/MacLane, I'm fairly comfortable with my Calculus/Algebra/Analysis) and application fees are kind of a big chunk of change for me. Also, I worry about taking the math gre in the midst of a fairly rough astrophysics heavy semester (I'm taking 17 hours this semester, took 19 last semester and it was hell, still managed a 3.7 though!) Now, I could easily get a TA position at my school and rock out a masters no problem (just no complex analysis... the grad level courses rarely get taught here... ).

So the question is:

With my mangled transcript, should I bother aiming for WashU or should I just take the more secure road, get a masters here, and then aim for a PhD there afterwards? It adds another 2 years to an already elongated college career, but at the same time if my transcript pretty much bars me from getting accepted regardless of what I do on the GREs, I'd rather not waste the time/money and I guess be a little bit more at piece as I get into some heavy astrophysics.

[hubris]

The usual blind-leading- the-blind caveat applies here.

Anyway, the late bloomer thing is not uncommon.

Your issue is that you have fallen in love with a school and topic after merely one class. So, you are likely to make sub-optimal decisions.

Another thing is that your self-study, while cool, means nothing unless you can translate it into something "objective". In this case the Math Subject exam would work.

Outside of that, don't worry about your past (in fact stop thinking about it and don't bring it up) and strengthen your application via recs and course work.

Going for the easy in MA might be for the best. Endowments are not so good right now (I was told by more than one place I applied to that they could not give me $ for the first year since funding was down).

Lastly, tenure is a terrible long shot and since you seem to be inclined to teach yourself...going it alone might be another option to think about.

Edited August 7, 2010 by hubris

[CauchyFan]

The usual blind-leading- the-blind caveat applies here.

Anyway, the late bloomer thing is not uncommon.

Your issue is that you have fallen in love with a school and topic after merely one class. So, you are likely to make sub-optimal decisions.

Another thing is that your self-study, while cool, means nothing unless you can translate it into something "objective". In this case the Math Subject exam would work.

Outside of that, don't worry about your past (in fact stop thinking about it and don't bring it up) and strengthen your application via recs and course work.

Going for the easy in MA might be for the best. Endowments are not so good right now (I was told by more than one place I applied to that they could not give me $ for the first year since funding was down).

Lastly, tenure is a terrible long shot and since you seem to be inclined to teach yourself...going it alone might be another option to think about.

Thank you very much for the advice!

Though I would like to note that my experience with complex analysis isn't limited to one class. I've worked through several books on the subject (including Ahlfors and Markushevich's magnum opus) as well as read several good monographs on the topic. My passion for the subject certainly lit up during that one class, but that was two years ago, and since I've found it rather hard to break away from its study.

Edited August 7, 2010 by CauchyFan

[hubris]

Thank you very much for the advice!

Though I would like to note that my experience with complex analysis isn't limited to one class. I've worked through several books on the subject (including Ahlfors and Markushevich's magnum opus) as well as read several good monographs on the topic. My passion for the subject certainly lit up during that one class, but that was two years ago, and since I've found it rather hard to break away from its study.

I hear you on the self-study, but you need to get other people to vouch for you for that to mean something.

Surely you can hook a prof into a self-study, or try to put together a paper for a college journal.

I have my own Achilles heel in a different topic, but you have to put it out there to get the needed "street cred".

Good luck ,you still have sometime.

[CauchyFan]

I hear you on the self-study, but you need to get other people to vouch for you for that to mean something.

Surely you can hook a prof into a self-study, or try to put together a paper for a college journal.

I have my own Achilles heel in a different topic, but you have to put it out there to get the needed "street cred".

Good luck ,you still have sometime.

Ah! I see what you are saying, and I certainly agree!

I read it as you were wondering why I thought I wanted to do complex analysis after nothing more than a class. Which would certainly be a cause for alarm, but as I said, for the past two years I've been studying it, so at this point I am positive that it is the field I want to go into.

Thanks again!