While I was a little hesitant about posting this, I'll just post it anyways.
Schools I'm thinking about applying to (for graduate study):
Carnegie Mellon University
Michigan State University
Pennslyvania State University - University Park
University of Maryland - College Park
University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
University of Pittsburgh
University of Texas - Austin
I think that's about it.
School's I have considered applying at but am still making a decision about:
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Princeton University
Texas State University
University of Georgia
I'm not sure whether I want to be in a very competitive environment, which is why I have this questionable list, and I do realize that some of the schools on my main list are competitive, but I'd still like to apply and see.
But yeah, that's what I'm thinking about today.
3 comments:
Here are some questions to consider:
What type of job do you want when you finish grad school? You want to think about this in terms of the types of jobs that students graduating from these schools get.
You also want to think about who you want to work with. You can check the mathematics genealogy project to see who they've advised in the past. Do your potential advisor's students have what you consider to be "good jobs"?
You'll also want to consider how many other professors are in that general area. Does that specialty have its own seminar? Who gives the talks in the seminar?
Have you talked to your professors about your list? Since they probably have at least some sense of your strengths/weaknesses, they can offer really good advice.
I've given up "dreams" of becoming a top researcher in XYZ field of math, I just want to be a professor.
I think I can reach people and make them understand mathematics. Although I know this is a far fetched dream, not everyone has the dedication it takes to learn real math and I can't force people to practice mathematics, I think I can make some sort of defined effort and reach people.
I have talked to my professors a bit about looking for a graduate school and a few of them have stressed that I should search for a program where the faculty and students in the department get along, as I will be spending a considerable amount of time with these people and do not want to deal with office politics.
Most departments say they have "good placement" after graduation, and I'm a little shy about e-mailing graduate students about their department, even though I know this is one of the only ways for me to find out the type of information about the department that no one else will tell me.
I don't really have an area per se, besides an interest in geometry/algebra (possibly algebraic geometry, but I'm not sure) or maybe even topology, I don't have specific interests and I really want a broad department.
Pros and cons of this approach? Anyone?
I wouldn't recommend a program like Princeton or MIT to a student who was not 100% focused on research. (Keep in mind that this is just the opinion of one imaginary person on the internet!)
"Good placement" is fairly meaningless -- most people who actually graduate will find SOMETHING (even if it's a lousy temporary job). You also want to know how many students finish the degree. My entering class in grad school had 20 students. Only 10 of us completed the program (1 person in 4 years, 5 people in 5 years, 2 people in 6 years, and 2 people took 7 years). I don't know how well that compares to other programs; I think it's fairly typical.
Another issue is to see how much teaching the grad students do. Too little teaching, and you might have trouble finding a job at a teaching-focused school. Too much teaching, and it might take longer to graduate.
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