<p>Yeah I definitely need the GPA boost. Being rejected from all the REUs I applied to was a real awakening, and it has gotten me worried about grad school. </p>
<p>Also, I do still have to take other classes. It wouldn’t just be that 1 math class next semester. I still need to take either 1 or 2 language classes and 1 more physics class, which includes a lab. I know my time management skills have improved considerable between last year and this year, and that I am 1000x more mature, but I’m still worried about the load. </p>
<p>Modern Algebra is notoriously hard at my school and is considered to be the hardest math class. Honors Calc I is one of the classes meant to weed people out. Those along with a physics class with a lab might be too much. The language class I’m not so worried about. </p>
<p>However, I was considering taking the physics class I need this summer along with differential equations since it happens to be offered. That would lighten my load next year, so I would just take modern algebra, honors calc I, and a language. Which would leave me with 1 free slot to do an independent study or possibly take a class at another school. The only problem I have with this plan is that summer classes cost money.</p>
<p>Don’t worry too much about your REU outcome this year. I imagine it must be pretty demoralizing, but I would not take it as an indicator of your graduate school chances. </p>
<p>The single most important element of an REU application - just like for a graduate school application - are your letters of recommendation. You need professors who will attest to your work ethic, talent, creativity, mathematical maturity, potential for graduate study in mathematics, etc. I certainly had a very hard time with letters of recommendations as a sophomore. I had barely talked to any of my professors and realistically they could not say much beyond, “Did all of her work and earned an A in the course.”</p>
<p>Junior year is a good time to build relationships with some of your professors. An independent study arrangement would go a long way in that regard! Next year you will be in a much better position to apply to REUs, most of which are explicitly targeted at juniors anyway.</p>
<p>On the other hand, retaking Calc 1 would do nothing to increase your REU or graduate school chances. If you need to go through the material again to understand it, by all means retake the course - calculus is too important not to understand it. Just don’t expect it to pay off in terms of admission results.</p>
<p>It wasn’t that I didn’t understand the material. I just wasn’t good at doing problems on the tests. The professor always made the test problems way harder than any of the problems assigned for homework or problems in the book. We also had a set amount of time to do the problems on the tests, and no one ever finished the tests in that class. I have been doing really well in multivariate calc, and even got a 100 on the first exam.</p>
<p>I think I have come up with a good plan of attack in terms of the summer and next year. The summer will be waves and optics, and differential equations. Then the fall will be, modern algebra, prob and stats (really really didn’t want to take this i hated stats in high school and have not heard good things about it here, but a different prof. is teaching it next year so maybe it will be good), french, and then an independent study. </p>
<p>Another reason I am stressing about this so much is that I had originally planned to graduate next year, and do the 3/2 program at Columbia, because I am also interested in computer/electrical engineering. But after doing some more research about the requirements for a math major at my school I realized that if I don’t take summer classes there is no way I would be able to graduate next year. In an ideal world my school would offer enough math classes to be able to graduate in 3 years, because a math major only needs 12-13 classes (depending on if you do honors calc or not). Maybe being rejected from all REUs was a good thing.</p>
<p>I just need to figure out how to pay for the summer classes. I know transferring credits should not be a problem because the classes would be at a consortium school, and credits are guaranteed to transfer.</p>
<p>Anyway thanks for all the help guys. I feel so much better about this now. I just need to work my ass off now and get as many As as I can.</p>
<p>Dude, broken_symlink, we are so on the same page…my calc 1 professor made stuff way too hard for everyone too. And I got a 100 on the last exam I took in calc. And I sucked at AP Stat in high school, so I’m really not looking forward to taking calc-based Prob&Stat. The past teacher I’ve heard horror stories about, but now we have a new teacher next fall too. And I only have one semester of language left.
This summer is Phys 1&2 for me, since I’m only a freshman right now.</p>
<p>I dont know about you, but I worry so much about grad school admissions. I shouldn’t be…I have a 4.0 so far…but I’m so afraid I won’t get in a good grad school or something and then I’ll get a job teaching at some unknown school on the border of Wyoming and South Dakota that doesn’t have a curriculum beyond calculus…
(Nothing against either of the states…just not my ideal living spot.)</p>
<p>I feel the same way as you do, topgun. Though i doubt i will ever have to resort to teaching because i would never allow myself to teach: it just seems like such a boring job, imo.
It’s really annoying to hear rumors that to go to a good grad math program i.e, Univ of Cambridge, Harvard, Princeton, MIT, etc., you need to start specializing in one area of math. I understand that in terms of producing decent research, but most of us haven’t been exposed to these abstract concepts before and so it’s kind of daunting to think we have to make a choice about something which we’re completely ignorant. I mean, i self-studied a little number theory and probability in high school, but nothing beyond that.
On a somewhat related note, i’m worried about my curriculum. So far i’ve taken multivariable calc and linear algebra, finishing up my second semester freshmen year. Next year i’m taking Honors intro to analysis 1&2 and most likely a course in probability. The thing is, i’m in the arts and sciences college at Cornell and they have quite a few breadth/distribution requirements which i feel hinder my math progress. I’m afraid that i will not go to a top grad math program because i’m too damn busy with requirements.
Any thoughts?
I do plan on self-studying over this summer for the Putnam; not sure how much that will help considering most people who place in the top 100 are USAMO kids who’ve kept up that momentum since college started. Oh and i do want to do some research junior year.</p>
<p>ChaoticOrder - story of my life on the dumb graduation requirements dude. TCU has so many lame liberal arts requirements. The core requirements take up at least 63 credit hours (and can be observed by this wonderful chart <a href=“http://www.core.tcu.edu/documents/RevisedCore-Diagram4-25-031.pdf[/url]”>Office of the Provost | Core Curriculum; ). Of course, all the classes are easy A’s because, let’s face it, all of TCU’s non-technical/non-science classes are ridiculously easy.
I have a feeling Cornell might not have as easy classes
I don’t know what else you can really do about the requirements though. If you have to fulfill the requirements, there’s nothing you can really do about them, except 1) taking classes over the summer to fulfill the requirements or 2) taking more credit hours of classes each semester [doable at TCU, taking a ton of hours at Cornell might be a pain]</p>
<p>As for having to specialize, I’m already kinda freaking out about that. I suppose I can pick a general area to want to specialize in when I apply for grad school (number theory, algebra?) but I won’t really know if I want to do something like Analytic/Algebraic Number Theory, etc. until I take a class in that. Which won’t be until spring of senior year or graduate school…</p>
<p>You should also apply for REUs and stuff.</p>
<p>P.S. What do you plan to do with a Ph.D in math that isn’t related to teaching? Just curious.</p>
<p>Topgun, I’m not exactly sure at the moment but i’ve been looking into quants. They analyze the risks of investing in certain stocks for hedge funds and so use a lot of probability, stochastic calculus, and mathematical modeling. From what i hear it’s a fast-paced job that pays extremely well. The only problem is getting a job there on wall st; the competition is fierce. Either that or find some kind of research lab.</p>
<p>That sounds pretty cool! Have you looked into actuarial science as well? I think it’s pretty similar, and very well paying, but has jobs all over the country, not just on wall street, and the competition is high but probably not as fierce as what you’re looking into.</p>
I think the idea is that students who are competitive for the very tip top programs are typically quite advanced and have gotten to a stage where they can specialize as an undergraduate. </p>
<p>I have met a number of math majors who took a full course load of graduate-level classes (at Ivies and similarly selective colleges) in their junior and senior years. Some of them were very successful in graduate admissions and others were not - and it is driving me nuts that I cannot figure out what made the difference!!! Just from working with them I would have judged them to be about equally hard-working and talented, but graduate schools seemed to have a different opinion. Since their grades and GRE scores were in the same range, I wonder if the difference lied in their letters of recommendation. I am afraid I will never find out.</p>
<p>Oh yeah dude. And it scares the crap out of me. I’m not at a top-tier institution, but I’m still in the honors program at a good university getting straight As and planning on taking a solid graduate courseload my junior and senior year (and budapest semester) and yet when you go ask about admissions, the general concensus is “well, if you have high gre math scores, perfect or near-perfect grades in a challenging graduate coursework, good letters of recommendation, do some reus, etc, then you’ll maybe get into a top 20 university, but we’re not really sure, because admissions can sometimes seem a bit random.”</p>
<p>Of course, there is a lot of heirarchy in the grad application system. If you get rejected from duke, uiuc, washington, etc, then chances are you won’t get an acceptance letter from caltech, columbia or mit.</p>
<p>Another thing I’m wondering is how much weight do letters of recommendation really hold? I’ve heard upwards of 40%?</p>
<p>I wouldn’t be surprised if admissions to the elite programs was based 90% on recommendations. There’s just no other way to distinguish between 500 applicants with advanced coursework and near-perfect GPAs and GRE scores. Letters of recommendation can address how much motivation and potential for research a student has, which is not reflected in grades or test scores. I assume that grades and test scores have more weight the further down the food chain you go.</p>
<p>What about someone who’s school doesn’t have a grad. program in math? My school doesn’t have one, so I have no chance at taking grad courses. I am trying to do some research this summer, but I don’t if it will work out. Is there still hope for me?</p>
<p>also, if your school doesn’t have a graduate program, check with your professors on possibly taking courses at a nearby larger university, if one exists. for example, wellesley college has a cross-registration program with MIT.</p>
<p>Thanks for the responses! I actually ended up deciding to take Linear Algebra this summer (as b@r!um knows!) so it opened up my schedule a lot! Now I’ll be applying to REUs as a sophomore with a background in</p>
<p>Calc 1,2,3
Discrete 1 & 2
Linear Algebra
Differential Equations
Abstract Algebra 1 & 2
Complex Analysis & Advanced Complex Analysis
Elementary Number Theory
Partial Differential Equations</p>
<p>This new opening also allowed me to fit more coursework in, so I plan to have taken graduate courses in these before graduating:</p>
<p>Abstract Algebra 1 & 2
Real Analysis 1 & 2
Complex Analysis & Advanced Complex Analysis
Elementary Number Theory
Algebraic Number Theory
Analytic Number Theory
Topology
Algebraic Topology
Differential Geometry
Applied Linear Algebra
Commutative Algebra
Homological Algebra
Dynamical Systems and Bifurcations
Riemann Surfaces</p>
<p>Would this be considered a very good background for a math graduate school applicant?</p>
<p>Would this be considered a very good background for a math graduate school applicant?</p>
<p>Well It certainly wouldn’t hurt you I suppose. However, I would wager that you are too caught up on ‘taking the right courses’ rather than trying to get the most out of your education. Course names are important to a degree, but far more important are the professors who teach those courses, how rigorous of a manner the coursework is presented in, and how much you can invest yourself into your coursework. If you talk to your advisors they should be able to tell you which courses are being taught by excellent faculty. You should seek out teachers who take proof based approaches to teachings. Email the teachers of the courses and ask how they intend to teach it, look up the text books for the courses. Take the hardest and most rigorous courses you can. If you have a class with a world class teacher then get to know them, they could be your ticket into graduate school. One of my professors right now is world renown in his field and getting to know him has proved valuable so far. Its not about what classes you take, but who you take them from.</p>
<p>I actually have a degree in physics from a liberal arts institution but am currently attending the university of Minnesota for mathematics. I am filling in some background math I didn’t have to take in physics (mostly algebra). I am deciding between graduate school in economics and graduate school in math, but up to this point my advisors have been very frank as to what someone looking into top graduate programs should take. and more importantly the rigorous professors i should take them from. If possible take graduate level courses before graduate school. Right now I am in a combinatorial optimization course which is graduate level and next semester I am taking a graduate class in graph theory as well as algebraic geometry. I hope to take measure theory and a graduate semester of real analysis or algebra before I apply to graduate school, but all of this is contingent upon who is teaching what and the recommendation of my advisors.</p>
<p>If you’re still in your first couple years of school I wouldn’t rush anything, take things one step at time. If you know you want to end up in a math related field things should fall into place so long as you develop good relationships with your faculty and keep learning hard.</p>
