<p>Everyone on this site was very helpful when S was applying to college as a math major. Now S is a junior in college and will be applying to PhD programs next year. I know he will be getting help with the process from his advisors at school and I've encouraged him to talk to grad students. He's not sure of his research interest at this time because he still interested in many topics. He's doing two research projects this semester and will be doing a senior thesis next year which will help him to more clearly define his interests.</p>
<p>My questions have to do with the application and selection process. Should he begin to visit programs before he applies and talk to faculty? How competitive are these programs and what do they look for in an applicant? At what stage in the process do the formal interviews occur? Are they at the candidate's expense? We've both hear that good students from good schools tend to not do well on the GRE's. What should he be doing to prepare?</p>
<p>I know there were a lot of math parents around these boards when S was applying to college and I'm wondering if any of you have kids who are also beginning this process.</p>
<p>I'm at the same point your son is, but a couple of my friends are in the process right now. As is my understanding, you don't really go visit beforehand. If you get accepted, they'll pay for you to go out (some schools have an official accepted students weekend, otherwise you schedule a visit). If you want to, you could contact someone at the department and ask some questions, show some interest. I don't think any of my friends did this, but it certainly can't hurt (and was suggested to me by someone from a different field). Also, I don't think there are usually formal interviews. I'm pretty sure the only reason you might have to do one is if you were accepted, but they were undecided about funding.</p>
<p>One of the things I've been doing so far is going to various schools' webpages and seeing what the faculty's primary interests are. Right now I think I'm leaning towards combinatorics, and it's helpful to know that some schools just don't have people who do combinatorics. It's kind of tricky because many places that are good at combinatorics aren't as well regarded in other fields I might fall back on (or are unattainable, like Harvard/MIT). Over the summer/in the fall I'll get around to asking professors which places they think would be good. You'd really need to talk to current faculty to see which schools have good advisors and are doing good research work.</p>
<p>As far as competitiveness, apparently this year was one of the strongest applicant-wise in the past few years. This means some schools might be taking more people than usual, leaving less spots for next year.</p>
<p>Another thing that would be good is to make sure your son has at least three people he can get solid recommendations from. Sometimes professors happen to be out of the country for extended periods of time, and that makes it much more difficult to make sure they follow up. That happened to two people my friend planned on getting recs from, and I'd have to deal with that for one person I think I might get a rec from (on sabbatical in England until January).</p>
<p>My S went through this process as a senior this year in applied (computational) math rather than pure math. One bit of advice I'd pass on, suggest your son take the general GREs and get them out of the way this year. (He should have no problem with the math.) Then he could study for the math subject GRE over the summer, as well as research departments.</p>
<p>It's a very time consuming process, especially while carrying a full course load and, in my S's case, TAing. The statement of purpose is extremely important, and needs to be crafted somewhat for each program. If your S gets his recommendation writers lined up early in the Fall semester, they may give him some feedback on his statement.</p>
<p>The departments seem to expect an indication in the statement of purpose that the applicant has researched the department and has interests that coincide with those of specific faculty. But not all expect a student to meet with faculty before applying. S's been accepted to two programs so far, and both are paying his way to come visit. He hadn't visited either department before.</p>