<p>Hello, i am Sarah, i am undergraduate at the University of Maryland with a double major in math and economics. i decided that since i enjoy mathematics more, i am applying for PhD programs in applied math. My question is:</p>
<p>What makes a strong personal statement for math programs? What do the admissions board want to hear? </p>
<p>Does anyone who has done this have any sound advice?</p>
<p>Thank you,</p>
<p>Sarah</p>
<p>One piece of advice I got from a prof on the admissions community at my school is to include a little bit of math in there. Not prove a theorem or anything, but mention some specific result that particularly appeals to you, and why.</p>
<p>Mention what type of problems in math you're interested in, and what faculty (at the place you're applying) you're interested in working with on these problems.</p>
<p>bump, thank you for your advice, but is there anymore??</p>
<p>I'm a math and economics double major as well :) . I had the same realization that I could make a lot of money in the finance world with the double major, and I would enjoy it a little and hate it a little, but I just couldn't turn my back on the beauty of math. I'll be able to give more advice when I see where I get in... As for now it seems you might be a junior, so my advice is if you really know you want to pursue math, then drop the econ major. I've kept both, but from where I'm sitting I wish I had a stronger background in math, not having courses in topology and complex analysis just hurts my application and will make my first year at grad schol harder. Of course instead of those courses I took an independent study and am taking an advanced seminar, but if you recognize economics as a sunk cost quicker than I did you'll be better prepared. This is all based on the assumption that you want to pursue real applied math and not things like financial modeling which of course you need econ for. Good luck, Orangelights</p>
<p>From what I can tell, dropping the econ and doing only math will improve your chances in BOTH programs. Econ grad programs are chiefly concerned with your math background - from what I understand, they could care less about your econ background (it helps to have at least an intermediate understanding of the subject, of course). If you are only concerned with graduate admissions, I think the best option is to drop the econ and only take math.</p>
<p>But, if you want to actually do something for yourself and learn econ along the way, I would suggest sticking with both. It's what I would do, but then again, I'm not into playing the admissions game...</p>
<p>For econ, you will need at least 2 semesters of real analysis. Other courses that I've heard are helpful include stats, stochastic processes/probability modeling (markov chains, etc.), diff EQ, adv. partial diff EQ, time series analysis, advanced linear algebra, and a few others. I don't think they care about complex analysis, but I could be wrong.</p>
<p>And I forgot to mention Game Theory, which is obviously used in econ...</p>
<p>"But, if you want to actually do something for yourself and learn econ along the way, I would suggest sticking with both. It's what I would do, but then again, I'm not into playing the admissions game..."</p>
<p>Little comment..one can always try to listen to classes' lectures, do some work on them, without being <em>ENROLLED</em> and have a majority of time open to math. I think playing the grad school admissions game isn't a bad idea if you're already on your 3rd year...think about it, you spend MANY years of your life in grad school, and I think developing a better application [if it really just takes a little extra push in math] is a good idea. </p>
<p>You can always learn about things without majoring in the given subject...</p>
<p>The personal statement is just that: personal. Some students are applying to a particular program because they have extensive undergraduate research and are very excited at the prospect of working with one particular faculty member. Some students aren't exactly sure what they exactly want to do, and they're applying to a program because there are a few different professors working in areas that interest them, and they're excited at considering a few different choices. Other students have different reasons for wanting to go to a particular school.</p>
<p>Your personal statement is your opportunity to convey why the school is a good fit for you, in addition to why you're a good fit for the school. I've been told that several students only focus on the latter, which comes off sounding bland and doesn't show that the student has done their own research into where they'd fit in the best. I don't know particularly what schools are looking for (as I'm sure it varies from department to department), but I've been told unilaterally that they want to know why you're interested in them.</p>