I’m currently a freshman @ Purdue University and I double major in Applied Mathematics and Computer Science. I earned a 3.80 GPA my 1st semester, and I’m considering going to UMD the most to study Applied Mathematics. As such, I’ve begun studying things like the GRE (I got a 315 on my first practice test). Do you guys know the kind of qualifications (i.e. GPA or GRE) needed to get admitted to UMD for grad school? I asked some people and I hear it’s really hard.
Forget the GRE for at least two more years.
Concentrate on your GPA and classes, internships, and research opportunities that are relevant to your long term goals. Get to know the faculty in your own department. They can keep you updated on admision experiences of graduates of your program.
Do you know about how difficult it is in general to get into UMD for grad school?
What about UMD are you interested in?
PS: Fellow Purdue grad here 
@Bioenchilada Their program in Chaos Theory, since they’re the leading university in that branch of mathematics.
In general, when you are reporting your GRE scores it’s better to report the scores separately than added together. A 315 is kind of meaningless…that could be a 150 Q/165 V, which would be bad, or it could be a 156 Q/157 V, which would not be great, or it could be a 165 Q/150 V, which might be adequate for a math program.
In general, the best place to check the competitiveness of a particular graduate program is that graduate program’s website. In this case, UMD includes a little information - in a recent year (they don’t say which), 190 people applied and 30 were admitted, which is an admissions rate of about 16%; they also recommend that your GRE subject test score be at least a 700. However, as I’ve said in other threads, PhD program admissions rates are a bit misleading - the competition is much higher because the applicants are the top of the top, and there are so many holistic factors that have nothing to do with your application (like who’s taking students, who’s going on sabbatical, funding, more extreme yield management, year to year fluctuations in applications due to external economic or political factors, etc.)
Two other things:
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Try not to get fixated on one PhD program too early in your undergrad career. Your research interests and needs may change over time as you are exposed to more areas of math. It’s okay to start a list and start thinking about it, but you don’t want to stunt your own scholarly development.
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Stop taking GRE practice tests…it’s too early in your academic career for you to get a good gauge on your performance. It’s like trying to use SAT practice tests in your freshman year of high school to determine where you might be competitive for college. Wait at least until the second semester of your junior year of college to start worrying about the GRE.
@juillet Thank you for your input. I finished taking mine and I got a 165 on the quantitative but a 145 (yeahhhh) on the verbal. I wanted to more-or-less familiarize myself with the GRE and begin studying things like the vocab because that’s clearly what I’m going to need help with the most.
You would do better to focus on getting involved in research. The “top” programs in the field you are interested in will have many applicants with great GPA and GRE scores. The research experience and strong letters of reference will make a big difference.