<p>Hello, I am a freshman at Michigan and I was wondering how selective the grad program in math at berkeley is.. like how many candidates do they take every year and how many typically apply. I would like any input about the grad program itself also thank you</p>
<p>UC-Berkeley math is among the very best in the world.</p>
<p>Berkeley is one of the best programs in the world, but someone should probably point out their problem of admitting many students and then failing out a large number of them through the qualifying exams. I think the idea is admit a lot of people and fund them for a year, then cut the fat and only let the best stick around. At a graduate school talk I was told by a few professors that they've been failing out so many students, the NSF threatened to cut some of their funding if they didn't change their standards.</p>
<p>That said, there are so many wonderful graduate programs out there, and since you're only a freshman it's probably a bit too early to get your heart set on one school. I know you didn't necessarily imply that from your post, but I just thought it needed to be pointed out. In two years or so when you have some research experience, know more about what you want to do, and are getting closer to graduation, I'm sure you could get great advice about which programs would be good fits based on your stats and research interests.</p>
<p>I didn't know that Berkeley Math did this. Some other top graduate programs that also weed out a lot of students are Stanford EE, MIT MechE, and Chicago Economics.</p>
<p>Hi, usaisaok222, sorry that I posted this on your thread. I am a newcomer and haven't figured out how to start a new thread yet. I am a freshman at a liberal arts college. I want to get into a good math grad school. I got an internship to do research with my math professor this summer. But what my professor will study is fluid dynamics which I am not sure will be my interest or not. I am really excited about doing research with him but I am not sure if I should do something that I am not sure I am interested in.</p>
<p>I believe the only way to make sure that it is not your interest is to do it. I'm a math major and I did a REU with an ECE department, and liked it so I started leaning toward applied math. But, to make sure that was what I wanted I did a thesis on a topic in abstract algebra on the "pure" side of math. I realized I wasn't really feeling the "pure" math, and prefered the applied. You never know until you try. Plus, you are only a freshman, you have more summers to do research, so just feel your way around. I just got into an Applied Math PhD program, and they prefer that I come in with an open mind concerning my research interests, which I think is good since I'm really not sure.</p>