What are my chances?

[smnels11]

I am going into my senior year at a small and respected liberal arts school in upstate New York and am planning looking to pursue my PhD in mathematics next fall. I am a mathematics major with a chemistry and Arabic studies double minor. By the end of the semester, my math GPA will likely be around a 3.7 and my overall GPA will probably be about a 3.6.

 

As for course work, I have taken calc I and II, multivariable calculus, logic/proofs course, linear algebra, differential equations, group theory, ring theory, complex analysis, real analysis, geometry, topology, and graph theory. In the spring I will likely take a course on number theory and also complete my university's equivalent of an honors thesis on Galois theory. I have also taken an introductory course on computer programming.

 

I have three solid letters of recommendation in line and am aiming for above the 70th percentile on my GRE. I am looking at a number of UC schools- San Diego, Santa Barbra, Irvine, Davis, Santa Cruz- as well as University of Washington, University of Oregon, and University of Colorado at Boulder.

 

What are my chances?

 

[Stat Assistant Professor]

I think that is a good list of schools to target. If you have strong letters of recommendation and can score decently on the subject GRE ("decent" typically means above 50th percentile, but you'd need 80+ percentile at the top programs like Berkeley and MIT -- but since you aren't aiming that high, I think 60+ would look good), I think your chances of getting into at least one of them are good.

 

Adcoms will not place much weight on your honors thesis, or really, REUs for that matter (I have found from speaking with professors and seeing faculty comments on Stack Exchange that they tend not to care as much about these as letters of recommendation and grades in upper division math courses). So make sure you can get strong LORs.

Edited September 19, 2014 by Applied Math to Stat