Putnam Exam for Mathematics Graduate Study

Graduate School
1

<p>After looking around suggestions for admission into math Ph.D programs, I noticed there was some heavy emphasis on taking the Putnam exam as a means of distinguishing yourself. Is this actually important? It seems that it would be something that could help one's prospects should one do well, but it's hardly expected or necessary.</p>

<p>For some perspective, I'm a rising senior at a decent institution, have ~3.95 GPA, A's in graduate courses, and two summers of research experience*. I'm not looking to apply to "Top 5" schools; the "most prestigious" is possibly the University of Wisconsin-Madison.</p>

<ul>
<li>On a related note, one of these summers was spent doing experimental physics, back when I still wanted to go in to the area. I did quite well there, winning a "Best Project" award. Will this be considered as a positive indication of the ability to work hard on a project, or as an irrelevant, unrelated summer job?</li>
</ul>

2

<p>Re:Putnam
"It seems that it would be something that could help one's prospects should one do well, but it's hardly expected or necessary."
That is correct. Even at "Top 5" schools (I never did better than 25 on the Putnam and got into 3 of the top 6...I know people at my school who never took it at all and did even better wrt to grad school admissions).
Re: Experimental Physics
"Will this be considered as a positive indication of the ability to work hard on a project, or as an irrelevant, unrelated summer job?"
The former.</p>