<p>Reading Sakky's recent post on MIT, I am once more overwhelmed by the dream of going to the East Coast.
I'm currently a freshman, majoring in Astrophysics & Maths. If I work up to my expectation, I'll finish college with probably 6-7 graduate maths courses.
I'm thinking of applying to Berkeley, Harvard, MIT, Standford, Cambridge for Maths, and Berkeley, Princeton, Caltech, Oxford for Astronomy. I might add some less competitive schools later on if neccessary.
Given these inputs, what else should I do to boost my chance in the admission process?
Experienced science majors, would you mind giving some advices on research, taking the GRE, GPA...?
I would be very grateful.</p>
<p>You want to make sure that you can nab some strong rec's. It doesn't necessarily have to be with famous profs (although that would be nice). Even GSI rec's can work. The key is that those rec's have to be strong. A super-strong set of rec's can make up for almost any deficiency. </p>
<p>The other thing you can do is attempt to get yourself involved in a research project, including, if possible, co-authoring a research paper. </p>
<p>One good thing about Berkeley is that the resources are there. One bad thing about Berkeley is that you are going to have to be pushy to aggressively access those resources. But I would say that it's still a lot better than going to a no-name state school that has no resources at all.</p>
<p>How many rec's would I need? like around 4-5?
Sakky, when should I start in research? Second year, first semester?
Would you mind giving me your personal experience in approaching the research opportunities?
Thanks a lot, sakky...</p>
<p>You only need about 3 rec's. But i would accumulate more so that you can pick and choose your best ones. And in particular, if you have a lot, then you can customize your applications. For example, if you apply to Harvard, it may be helpful to get a rec from a prof who actually went to Harvard (either as a student or as a prof), if you apply to MIT, you get somebody connected to MIT, etc.</p>
<p>You want to start research as soon as you can. It generally involves a lot of pushiness. Join all of the relevant clubs and try to find a friendly prof or GSI who can steer you in the right direction. </p>
<p>I unfortunately don't know anything useful about the research in the Astro or Math departments. However, looks like harvard<em>and</em>berkeley is attached to the Astro graduate department. You can ask him.</p>
<p>Should the recommendations anwer certain questions given by some typical recommendation forms? Or is it just be about the impression the professor has about the student?
I didn't know that students are supposed to read the rec's at all. So basically, you ask for the recommendations, make copies and send out?</p>
<p>Generally, profs/GSI's who really want to support you are going to tell you what they are going to write. They may not show you the actual letter, but they are probably going to inform you, at a basic level, what they intend to write about. So if you really have a good working relationship with them, then you ought to have a ballpark idea of what will be in their rec. </p>
<p>In general, the rec should answer whatever questions are on the forms. But there is wide freedom for how they choose to answer them. Many profs will answer those questions only perfunctorily, and then go on to write a long essay about what they think about you.</p>