|
Meg Arthur's Grad School Search Advice
(Meg was a former student of mine and had a very successful grad school application experience... I asked her to share her tips here... So this is Meg's advice)
Gradschools.com I used gradschools.com to help me get an idea of what’s out there and expand my (rather limited) math horizons.
The have great searches by specific type of math discipline and geographic region. The blurbs could be a little more descriptive, but overall, a good start. Also, generally has links directly to a school’s math department website, which saves you having to search schools’ web pages to get to the one
you want.
Phds.org This has a great ranking tool that allows you to input the items that are important to you and then ranks schools according to how they fit your
preferences.
Google Pretty self-explanatory, but good if you’re really into cryptography (or something else specific) and want to find related programs or internship opportunities.
Math department web sites:
Most math departments make a big hoo-hah over their research groups, which helps you get an idea of the types of research that are going on there (i.e. if you’re really into graph theory, you’d be better off at Western Michigan than Western Kentucky).
Also, if you’re like me, and not really sure what you’d like to research, you can look for a school with diverse research possibilities so you’ll have more to choose from when the time
comes.
The math department site can also be helpful because it will list the requirements for your Master’s or Ph.D. program. Consider things like how many times you can attempt prelim tests and how long it takes the average student to earn their degree.
Finally, most faculty members will post their research (or at least the abstracts), so you can get an even better idea of the types of research being done at a school. This seems, in most cases, much more accurate than the general list the math department provides
(which can be pretty broad).
And finally, ask your professors for ideas. They might have an opinion about a school (keep in mind, it is just their opinion), or know someone at another school that just happens to be dying for a research assistant in the precise area of mathematical biology you
want to study. Math people know other math people… it can’t hurt to ask.
|
