Timeline for What to look for in applicants to graduate programs (in mathematics)?
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| Jan 8 at 19:45 | history | made wiki | Post Made Community Wiki by Stefan Kohl♦ | ||
| Feb 22, 2010 at 16:47 | comment | added | Igor Belegradek | @RH, continued: It is also common knowledge that some undergraduate universities are more rigorous than others, and in many cases the the committee members know the letters writes personally. Sometimes a phone call to letter writer is made to get more information. If you have had a bad semester with poor grades due to health/personal issues it may be worth explaining what happened. | |
| Feb 22, 2010 at 16:47 | comment | added | Igor Belegradek | @RH: having anything below B on advanced courses, especially those in analysis and algebra spells trouble. Of course, the higher the grades the better, but the admission committee looks into how the grades were earned and what they mean. For example in some advanced graduate classes everybody who comes gets an A, so that does not always count as much. But if your letter writer describes how you got the grade, and says what was covered, that that the homework was pretty hard, this speaks volumes. The more specific the letter are, the better. | |
| Feb 22, 2010 at 14:21 | comment | added | Mark Meckes | Being a grader or course assistant for an advanced (i.e., more advanced than calculus and differential equations) course is probably a good way to build your mathematical maturity, and as such might help you actually be successful in graduate school (though not as much as simply working hard in the classes in which you're a student). But as far as admission to grad school goes, I agree with Pete. | |
| Feb 22, 2010 at 4:39 | comment | added | Pete L. Clark | @RH: By being a grader and/or course assistant, you might get to know a faculty member better and thus get a more insightful recommendation letter. Other than that, it would make little or no impact on me, at least. | |
| Feb 22, 2010 at 2:50 | history | answered | none | CC BY-SA 2.5 |