<p>I'm going into senior year next year and definitely applying to PhD programs in math. Does anyone know how important/weighted the various factors for admissions (GPA, Undergrad University prestige, letters of recomendation, research, GRE subject, General GRE, anything else I'm missing?) are?</p>
<p>I go to a pretty prestigious college (Columbia) which is ranked 9th in the country in U.S. News' ratings of math grad programs, butttttt my GPA isn't exactly "mostly A's and A-'s" (think I have about 3.3 overall and 3.6 in math) as a lot of the top-50 grad programs say that "strong candidates for admission" are. Also I heard from a professor really high up in Columbia's math department that the most important factor in admissions decisions is rec letters and I was wondering how valid what he said is. I should have one realllly strong letter of recomendation from a pretty well-known in mathematics professor who's taught me for a bunch of courses, but my other two letters will probably be relatively weak, I should be able to get one from a relatively young professor who led an REU I worked on last summer but didn't take courses with and didn't really "blossom under" or anything, and I should be able to get a letter from another realllllllly prestigious well-known powerful professor, but I haven't taken any advanced courses with him (just a calc class), so I'm not sure how much weight that holds. Should the one really good letter compensate for the other two at all or.......do most people have three really strong rec letters?</p>
<p>Lastly, do math grad schools care about the non-quantitative sections of the GRE or.....should I basically just try not to totally bomb them and focus mainly on the math subject GRE (even though I'm taking it after the general one).</p>
<p>Thanks a ton for any help.</p>
<p>bump. please. help. anyone?</p>
<p>Let me weigh in from my experiences:</p>
<p>LOR’s may not always be the most important, depending on the school, but will always be in the top 2 or 3. GPA is important, as success in basic academics is still a necessity, but they are more concerned with your ability as a researcher. The two best ways for them to be sure are to see your research in publication or conference, or to hear it from a colleague in a LOR.</p>
<p>The GRE’s are usually considered as a sort of qualifier - depending on your field there is usually one section that is most important as an estimate of basic skills, while the other sections just need to be “acceptable”. I would aim for a 500V / 4.5AW, and not stress beyond that. Still, GRE’s can often help to offset a weaker GPA - I think your GPA is still pretty good considering your school, but if you are concerned you can improve your standing here.</p>
<p>I would recommend that you spend summer and fall improving a couple of LOR’s - take a harder class from that prestigious prof and rock it, or do some followup work with that REU mentor, or else find some better options. Also, is there anything you can do research wise to stand out - present at a conference, or publish something?</p>
<p>This is how I would rank the factors:</p>
<p>1) FIT
2) SOP (related to FIT)
3) LOR (related to FIT)
4) Research (related to FIT)
5) Prestige/or relevance of college (somewhat related to FIT)
6) GPA
7) all sorts of GRE</p>
<p>Hmmm…retrospectively…it’s all about FIT.</p>
<p>Comicfish thanks for the really great suggestions, those make a ton of sense. I’d wanted to take a higher up class with the prestigious professor, although everything he’s teaching I’ve already taken. That’s my other problem with next fall, essentially all the upper-level courses that focus on the area of math I’m interested in focusing on are taught by really young professors, so although I’m still taking them, I’m not really looking for LOR from any of those professors. The professor I worked with last summer I’ll definitely email to see if there’s anything I can work on. My research paper I did last summer from the REU is posted on the professor’s website, but I guess that doesn’t count as published???</p>
<p>limnieng, what exactly do you mean FIT, as in how well my goals in math slash the area of math I want to study in matches the courses offered at that particular grad school or…is there an abbreviation FIT that I don’t know about? Any idea what people normally talk about in their SOP’s, I’m guessing it’s quite different from a college application essay, meant to show what you’re interested in rather than show something about yourself and your personality/writing skills?</p>
<p>Thanks so much for any and all replies!</p>
<p>“Fit,” at least in my field (psych), refers to your research match (similarity of research interests) with a particular faculty member, as you apply to work specifically with particular people–I’m not sure if this is different in math.</p>
<p>When you look at publications, if it is not “peer-reviewed” it is of little value - I also have an REU publication, but cannot lend it much credence as no one outside the program weighed in on its merit. </p>
<p>If you cannot take a class with that prestigious professor, you may still want to engage him in the process. Make a point of asking his opinions on schools and professors, see if there are any ways in which his work crosses into your field - even if it does not improve his opinion of you it should at least expand your horizons, if he has earned his prestige.</p>
<p>Limnieng (I suspect) is not using an acronym. Graduate admissions has two steps. The first is a down-select, whereby the initial pool of applicants is winnowed down to a field of highly-qualified candidates, usually by cursory examination of their applications and the most readily understandable parts thereof. This is where you get the mileage out of GRE, GPA, undergrad university, and the number of bullet points on your resume.</p>
<p>The next stage is an up-select, where individual professors choose from that field individuals who best FIT their own needs and interests. The issue is not classwork, as many classes are offered by professors not accepting students. Rather, each professor with a need is comparing the applicants against that specific research spot - a project or series thereof. Will you handle the specific academic requirements, will you mesh well with their style and lab, do you have the interest in that area to see a thesis through, and in doing all of this will you justify the expense and the risk to reputation.</p>
<p>This is why someone can be rejected at the worst school on their list but accepted at the best - it just depends on where you fit.</p>
<p>This should play most in your selection of schools and advisors - changing your interests to gain a particular school will come back on you, so you must keep your eye on something you can sustain. Use the awareness of this match to shape your SOP, and as much you can the LOR’s as well. Other than, there is little you can do about fit.</p>