I GOT INTO A MATH PhD PROGRAM: My Math Grad School Application Process Overview | Nathan Dalaklis
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 24 ส.ค. 2024
- I got into a math PhD program! Since my experience with my math grad application process wasn't as cut and dry as having something lined up after undergrad, I thought it would be a good time to share my math grad school application process overview.
Even though I was accepted to my top school, things didn't workout the first time I applied to mathematics PhD programs and I had to figure out what I could do with my math major in the interim. I definitely struggled with my confidence in my mathematical ability and questioned whether or not I should get a PhD in math. That internal uncertainty pushed me to get a full time job and after a little over a year and a half of working that job, I am now here. On the path to begin pursuing a math PhD this coming fall.
I wanted to make this video both to let you know the good news, and to also go through and show that things don't always work out the way you want. Also, sometimes taking a break is worthwhile. I don't talk about this too much in the video, but in my case taking a break meant focusing on math less, and working like a mad man at my job to figure out my finances and get me into a position mentally and financially where I could apply for grad school again with the certainty that, yes, a math PhD was the right route for me. Hopefully this video communicates that, even though it can be hard to apply after being out of undergrad for a while, it is possible, and being rejected the first time around doesn't mean that you can't try again and get in to a program you're excited about.
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Congrats, Congrats, Congrats!!! So excited for you! I'll be cheering you on from the sidelines :)
Thanks Julia!!! 🤓😁
Dont worry. I once read if you know more math then Calcus 1 then you are in the 1% mathematically. Good luck.
🤓😂 Thanks, and thanks for the throwback!
If you know basic algebra then you know more than 99% of everyone I’ve ever met
Nathan, first of all, congratulations! You have no reason to give a f*ck about my life story, but anyway I'd like to say that when I was about 13 I set a goal for myself: to win a medal at the Portuguese Math Olympiad. I failed and failed again. I only made it to the finals when I was 16, and by that time my mathematical self-esteem was already really, really low. I started a TH-cam channel about math then, thinking that I would never have a place in "serious math" because I just wasn't smart enough; but I loved math so much that I decided to do math in a different way. I thought "Well, even though I suck at this, I can at least share some fun math things I've learned over the years and hopefully get some people interested in it". On my last year of high school, I was beyond hopeless, but amazingly I won a silver medal on that competition. Sounds kinda similar to your story, doesn't it? So yeah, sometimes life is a bitch, other times it is very kind and exciting as hell. We don't always get what we deserve, but, in this case, you deserved it and you got it. So go celebrate! If you are anything like me, imposter syndrome will annoyingly stick around... But I'm cheering for you. Now go be amazing! :)
😅 You’re right our stories do sound similar! Thanks, I appreciate the support and I hope things are going well with your mathematical endeavors too!! 😁
Congrats! I just found your channel and I'm pursuing a Math PhD too! I had a very similar application process about a year ago, I had been working previously in industry as well. Best of luck with your program!
That’s awesome! Thanks, and best of luck with your mathematical endeavors as well!!
THANK YOU for sharing your experience! There's more than one route to a PhD so thank you for giving me hope as an undergrad :)
Of course!! And, best of luck with your academic endeavors in the future!! 🙂
A bit of a late comment, but congrats! I, too will be starting my first year of math Ph.D. program in the Fall, and I, too was very scared of the whole process. Nice to see a TH-camr who's on the same year as I am :)
That's awesome congratulations! I know it's been a while since I posted this video, but now the first week of the program is done and I am feeling a bit better, although still a bit nervous about stuff. Hope everything is going well with your mathematical endeavors too!
(This parenthetical is mostly for future Nathan/CHALK looking back at things, this is also the first comment I have seen in which I have been referenced as a "TH-camr" woah. 😅)
Hi Nathan, I knew your feelings. I failed application twice and by the end of year, I will do third one. I always believe I'm good and I like math though the resutls were cruel... Congrats to you.
Congrats! I am currently an undergrad at Uni for Accounting/Mathematics (minor in Statistics), and I am hoping to get into a math PhD (specifically Statistics) program. This is very inspiring :)
Hey Nathan, thank you so much for sharing your math PhD application journey with us! As someone who has recently applied to applied math programs myself, I can definitely relate to the stress and uncertainty that comes with this process. Your videos have been a source of inspiration and motivation for me, and I appreciate the insights and tips that you have shared. Keep up the great work, and best of luck with your program!
I love to see what mathematics books you keep in your home library. Also books on programming.
Good luck! You are very brave.
Thanks! It took a lot to get here so I’m excited!!
Hey just wanted to say I thought your videos were pretty interested. I just started watching them and I hope you continue posting.
Thanks Mohtashin! Grad school keeps me busy but I still plan on posting videos as I go. I'm actually editing one right now haha 😅
good job!! just discovered your channel and love it!
Glad you do Alexandra!
Congratulations!
Thanks Sierra!
Congrats man.
Thanks!!
Congrats Nathan!!!
Thanks Michelle!!
Congratulations! I just found out about your channel and I absolutely love it!! I am going through my senior year of college thinking about going to grad school for math or computer science someday but ended up taking an offer from a tech company. What is your speciality going to be?
Thanks! I'd have to say that my interests revolve around Symbolic Dynamics, Conformal Mapping Theory and Dynamical Systems Theory (with emphasis on Topological Dynamics and Ergodic Theory since dynamical systems is a wide field of math.) but those are totally subject to change and there is a lot of math out there that I do not know.
Also, congrats on your job placement, that's super exciting!!! Going from college to the professional world is a change of pace for sure, but it is something that can ultimately help you grow in the long run and helps develop more maturity than college alone can do. I would say that if you are still considering going to grad school make sure that you keep in touch with professors in math and computer science that you'd think would be good letter writers. It will really help if you do decide to apply to either type of grad program down the line.
CHALK Wow they sound really intriguing! I’m actually working on a paper on nonlinear dynamical systems for my math senior seminar. I’m looking forward to your future videos of your journey:)
@@CHALKND Symbolic Dynamics is an interesting field. I did a research in a part of Descriptive Set Theory called Borel/Continuous Combinatorics, which asks you if you can construct certain structures (e.g. subgraphs) which also play nicely with the topology inherent in the said structure (i.e. Borel or clopen subsets). And ergodicity came up there because to disprove the existence of Borel (and hence, Lebesgue measurable) 2-colorings, you have to use ergodicity arguments to argue that the set has measure either 1 or 0.
Wow! Congrats!
Awesome!
Thanks!!
Congrats man! It is an amazing experience! Make sure to find an advisor whose research you are interested in BUT which whom you can also communicate well with. Being able to work well with your adivsor is key and will avoid you a lot of headaches!
Thanks G Flow! I'm definitely looking forward to it and as I start navigating all the things I will definitely keep that in mind! 😀
I started off in community college and really enjoyed Calc, Linear Alg, and Diff Eq. However when I transferred to a university in California I went from a CC gpa of 3.7 to a finishing with a 2.6 gpa for the university courses (2.8 was the avg math gpa). Feels like my hopes of going to a math grad school for even just a masters seems impossible :(.
hi-- i'm in a very similar position to you, having transferred from a CC to a big, competitive "elite" public school. i just tanked my last semester and now my gpa is unfortunately barely over a 2 haha rip... :(
how did things end up working out for you???
@@d.5600 Working in the private sector now but still enjoying learning math in my spare time :).
Hey! Good job! ;)
Thanks Nicholas! 🙂
Hey Nathan, first of all, huge congrats to you for your acceptance. I am a math major graduating this fall and I've been struggling trying to decide whether to apply for a math phd for next fall (2021), whether this would be the right path for me, what if I fail miserably in the program even if I do get accepted, etc. Would you care to share any tips or advices that you've learned from the application process? I would really appreciate that.
Thanks Jaekang! Hopefully your last strides towards graduation are going well if you still have required things left to work on for your degree! To answer your question, I think the best thing you can do is to not put all of your eggs in one basket. I made that mistake when I I decided to apply to graduate school during my senior year, and it took me longer to mentally/emotionally recover from the application process because I did not have a back up plan at the time.
I also think that having a back up plan will give a bit of piece of mind when it comes to the possibility of failure. Imposter Syndrome is a very real thing and (at least for me) many times those feelings of inadequacy or of unskillfulness in your area can be derived from not really knowing “your value” and securing a job offer, even if you don’t end up taking it, it can help there too.
For application specific advise, I would say just start now if you have not already. If you can figure out what field you would like to focus in then you can start conversations with your professors about what you want to do and they can be great resources for where to start looking at schools and for letters of recommendation. If I would need to apply again, at your point, I would start journaling about why you want to be a mathematician. This will help you have a better idea about what to focus on when talking to professors about your plans and that can help them write strong letters of recommendation if they do end up writing on your behalf (ask early and make sure you ask if they think if they can write a strong letter for you, if not they will tell you 99% of the time) . It also informs the type of school culture you are looking for and it helps shape your personal and research statements that are almost always a part of the application.
Congrats! Did you study at UW Madison as an undergraduate?
what is the required GPA to get into a Math PHD program? Is a 3.2 too low to get into a masters program for mathematics? What is the minimum GPA to get into a master's program??? What was your GPA when you applied to the PHD program?
It really depends on the program, some don’t have a strictly stated requirement. For the programs I was applying to that had a requirement (over both attempts) the average required GPA was around a 3.5. I believe a similar thing is true for Master’s programs but most of the PhD programs I was applying to did not accept applications directly to their Master’s program so I don’t have a ton of insight there. I was an A/B+ student for the most part during my undergraduate career, but most of the time institutions will look at your GPA specifically restricted to your math courses or expect a certain GPA with an expected performance level in your math courses. GPA is only one factor though and there are several stories out there of underperforming undergrads going on to do some incredible research (although it is not something to bank on).
Congrats....I love ur videos...the 22 books after Calc was stunning :) U will do great things in Math :) So..which School are u going to for ur Phd?
Thanks dynamicnag! I hope I do haha. 😄
I haven't talked about my institution on TH-cam yet since I have been in school here for less than a semester and don't feel like I know enough about the program or how things work here yet to talk about it intelligently. But I'll be talking about it at some point!!
@@CHALKND Cool :) Good Luck in ur Phd. Enjoy it :) I know u will :) heheh
Forkus!!!!🤪 classic
Did you have to re-ask professors to submit rec letters?
Congratulations! Did you earn a masters before pursuing your PhD? Is that a common thing for math? Cheers
Thanks MegaJeves! I did not, however, it is pretty common in math for people to jump straight into a PhD program right out of undergrad especially when you have a lot of experience with higher level topics. Some folks that don't have the opportunity or time to study more advanced topics in undergrad often do a masters prior to applying to a PhD program.
That being said, for the first 1-2 years of the program I will essentially do the same things that the masters students are doing (with a few exceptions like I am required to take qualifying exams, but the masters students are not) but that shouldn't greatly impact the amount of time my PhD will take.
So . . . where?
...?
@@CHALKND Which school? :) Congrats :)
at what university were you accepted for grad school ?
How’s the debt?
forkous sounded like you had a Greek accent for a moment there. Channeling your ancestors.
You blink a lot