Which US universities should i apply for?

[GreenMan]

Hello, my first post here.

 

I'm an international student, finishing now my bachelor with a GPA 8.5/10, which is a 3.44 in the 4.0 scale.

 

I'm interested in pure mathematics.

 

I haven't attended any summer schools nor done any research, so my CV is practically empty.

 

I am going to give the GRE, GRE Math Subject and TOEFL at September/November, and i hope that i will do well (expect the general gre, for which i will see only the quantitative section).

 

Some grades (10.0 scale) at classes of interest:

Calculus I/II/III 6/9/10

Linear Algebra I/II 7/10

Algebra/ Real Analysis/ Complex Analysis 6/10/6

Differential Equations/ Probability I 9/9

Fourier Analysis/ Topology/ Measure Theory 10/9/10

Number Theory/ Ring and Modules/Galois Theory/ Group Theory 7/8/10/10

Differential Geometry/ Differential Manifolds 8/9

 

I am thinking of applying at:

 

Cornell

Wisconsin-Madison

Urbana Champaign

Rutgers

San Diego

Northwestern

Georgia Tech

Austin

 

i) Is this list reasonable or should i go "lower" (propose any other universities, if so)

ii) I will have 2 reccomendation letters. I am thinking of getting the 3rd from a teacher that knows me quite well, but i havent written well in his classes 6/8/8. Should i get a reccomendation letter from him?

iii) Any other information would be helpful.

 

Thank You. Excuse my English.

Edited May 11, 2013 by GreenMan

[Agradatudent]

You should go lower. Way lower.

[GreenMan]

Should I look lower because of the GPA, the grades, or the non experience, or all of those combined? Is a high GRE Subject score gonna help me have chances in any of those universities?

 

Can you suggest any universities i can have chances getting in?

 

My only information are from the internet, but i can't really find what choices are realistic, so any advice is helpful.

Edited May 12, 2013 by GreenMan

[Matt W]

I disagree with toypajme. I don't know the indian system well, but I do know that the grading isn't entirely comparable to the american system (its much easier to get high gpas in the american system). You have a lot of heavy duty courses underneath your belt and I think that a lot of the places you are applying to are reasonable. That said, you may also want to include some lower ranked schools as well since most of the schools you listed are quite difficult to get into.

[Agradatudent]

No research = go lower, especially without any math GRE to back up your ability yet.

Edited May 13, 2013 by toypajme

[Shostakovich]

I think you should probably add some safety schools at the very least, but it's really hard to say how much chance you have at each school from the above information. A lot of your admissions will depend on your Math Subject GRE score, quality of letter of recommendations, and how reputable your undergrad institution is. You can probably get a decent idea of your chances as well as which schools to apply to if you browse the applicant profiles on mathematicsgre.com, there should be many international profiles there.

Also, if you score very low on the toefl that will weigh down your application.