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Message: <blockquote data-quote="tarchon" data-source="post: 901155" data-attributes="member: 5990">If anything, the more prestigious schools tend to have lighter requirements, but they usually make up for it with stiffer competition.Picking a field and finding a prof or at least a department that's strong in it is the way to go though.  Like don't do topology in a department of number theorists.Math graduate study is a little different from science and engineering.  It is still research-oriented, but classes and seminars tend to play a bigger role, and like science but unlike engineering teaching is fairly prominent too.  Job experience is also virtually irrelevant for a typical math PhD, though if you don't manage to find an academic position (which is certainly possible), it can be useful.  Networking is hugely important - it's how virtually all PhD-level jobs worth getting are gotten.  Get to know anybody and everybody you can in the field.  This also goes back to your choice of professor, since if you get a respected and well liked prof known by everyone, your chances of getting a position after you finish are much better than if you work with some obscure guy who works out of a closet in the basement.  An unliked prof who is however brilliant and highly respected can work in math though, more than in many other fields, but you won't run into many of those.And indeed, above all, don't pick a professor who will hate you.  It's not necessary to be perfect buddies - mine was a Creationist... and, well, I'm very not - but having at least compatible attitudes toward work and research are extremely important.  If your prof doesn't respect you in at least some way, your 10-year PhD studenthood will be very gruesome, if you finish it at all.</blockquote>

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