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Posted

Hello everyone,

 

So I figured I would join this website, even though I’ve already sent in my applications, because the whole grad school application process scares the living !@#$ out of me, and having somewhere to discuss it with others may make the wait a bit easier. Hopefully.

 

That said, to what extent can having a highly obscure set of interests hurt an an applicant who would otherwise be highly competitive? Say I want to do probability applications to area X, which is only being researched by a small handful of people in the entire field, does this make it significantly harder for me to be accepted everywhere?

 

What are your thoughts?

Posted

Having obscure research interests certainly won't help you; some places care more about "fit" than others, but most will be a bit nervous about admitting someone who seems very motivated to work in a narrow area which isn't covered by department faculty.

 

Of course, if your application is really exceptional, your expressed interests may not matter too much as departments figure they can make it work by either finding a suitable related project or simply letting natural "research interest drift" take its course.

Posted

What type of background would you classify as such?

 

In terms of grades, I'm near the very top of my class, in a large public school with a medium-sized and relatively strong (but by no means top) department, attended a relevant REU but no publications, and have some other stuff to add to my application as well. Would this be considered a strong background? Or does it require the attendance of an elite, Harvard-type institution, with top ranking, and multiple publications?

 

The unfortunate reality for me is that the people that are doing what I'd like to are at schools like Columbia or Stanford that are a long shot for any applicant. I'm just hoping the less-well-known schools don't reject me outright due to research interests that do not fit them.

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