[OT][Math] Grad School -- Recommendations?

[orbitalfreak]

Short Version: Anyone have recommendations for graduate schools offering degrees in mathematics?

Long Version:

I will be graduating in May 2004 with a bachelor's in Mathematics, and from there I'll be going into graduate school. I'm looking at going out-of-state (Louisiana) unless something renders that option impossible. My long-term outlook is to go through grad school, working straigh through for my PhD. After that, I plan to teach mathematics at a university, and work with students in undergraduate research programs.

The problem, though, is that I don't know where I want to go; the only option I've looked into so far is University of Tennessee at Knoxville, and that's because a friend is going there and asked me to go with her. Other than UTK, I haven't looked into researching other schools; however, I figure that some of y'all might have had good/bad experiences with various grad schools. So, does anyone have any recommendations as to which scools to look into?

Thanks.

 

[Pielorinho]

I have a friend who got his Ph.D. at UNC-Chapel Hill, and another who's getting his at UT-Knoxville. Both of them seemed happy with their programs. And Chapel Hill is a reasonably cool place to live.

The UNC-CH fellow got his degree in some branch of chaos mathematics involving bouquets of imaginary numbers or something like that. He explained it to me once, but all I got out of it was that his graphs looked awfully like a cow's udder.

I'm not sure what the UT-Knoxville fellow is getting his degree in. I'll see if I can get him to post here.

Daniel

 

[MeepoTheMighty]

My friend really seems to be enjoying Duke's program. Of course, he also knew since his sophomore year that he wanted to study such-and-such-obscure-topic with professor so-and-so at Duke, so I guess he'd better enjoy it.

 

[Umbran]

Advice Tidbit #1 - talk to your school's mathematics faculty. Each member of the department has been through one or more grad schools, and they will each have relevant information.

Advice Tidbit #2 - the more prestigious the school, the more pressure you will be under in it's program. If you don't want to be a slave to your work, don't go to a top school. You may end up as a slave to your work anyway, but you increase your chances of having a life of your own if you aren't at MIT, for example.

 

[Michael Tree]

I don't know much about mathematics, but some principles of applying to grad school are universal.

If you're interested in a particular branch/application of math, then look at some journal articles about it, and see who they were written by and where.

Otherwise, look at cities you'd like to live in, and check out the graduate math department webpages of universities in those cities, to see what they have to offer.

 

[bolen]

I am a physicist so take this for what it is worth (not a whole lot)

1. In physics the APS puts out a list of grad schools in a huge book which lists what the profs do research wise and how much money they bring in. (I am fairly sure the AMS has a similar book)

2. Your goal as a grad student should be research. classes are important but you should be done with those in two years or so. Pick one or two fields in math and see what people are doing. If you don't like the research being done there you wont be happy

3. Ask how long it takes to complete your PhD. Look at the average time for students at that school.

4. Look and see who is publishing alot in the department. That is a good sign of a healthy department.

5. Visit a couple of schools. Sit down and talk with the profs as well as grad students. (you get PR from profs and the grad students will be honest with you)

Hope this helps

 

[Storminator]

You should go to the University of California at Davis. Then, after you get your PhD, I can recruit you to come work with me at MIT as a rocket scientist.



Being an alum has nothing to do with my recommendation. Nothing!

PS

 

[Squire James]

Well, I've had bad experiences with University of Alabama in Huntsville, but I'm pretty sure it was partially my fault. I don't particularly like the person I was back then, so I could understand why nobody else over there did either! On the other hand, I feel I was thrown into the deep end of the pool from the beginning, and the people there didn't put forth any effort to save me when it was obvious things were starting to go wrong.

I guess it didn't help that they mis-assigned by dorm room, and I spent most of my first day trying to figure out if I had a place to sleep that night. Since I didn't have funds for a hotel room, sleeping in my car with all my stuff seemed a distinct possibility. Things didn't get much better from there, either!

Wherever you go, you are well-advised to make connections with professors and fellow students with similar ambitions. While some such students may be your competition, well, teams play better than individuals in any job market. You will need to secure a teaching assistantship, which I imagine isn't too difficult if you're good enough for graduate school at all. Getting job experience during college is a very good thing.

 

[SimonMoon5]

Well, I got my Ph.D. in math from the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), and I have no complaints.

 

[MarauderX]

I was going to say University of Lehigh in Pennsylvania, as one of my grade school friends went there for math and now she is working in NYC doing ground breaking stock market analysis for some big company and earns more than I do. But she didn't go for a doctorate, and she started out at Wessly first.

One of my very good friends got a PhD in English and during the entire time he was asking himself why ANYONE would get a doctorate in ANYTHING when he thought the real action was out in the 'real' world, not the academic world. But that could just be him...yeah, I think it's just him.