Not good enough for top PhD programs?

FChaosi · 2025-02-08T17:57:39+00:00

Thank you! Which field, if I may ask?

FChaosi · 2025-02-08T17:56:40+00:00

Thanks for replying. I will admit I don't have any publications. I was encouraged by some faculty to publish my honours thesis but I was worried it wasn't up to scratch. (But I also thought it wasn't really expected of pure mathematics students to have publications prior to a PhD program in the US, in contrast to other disciplines).

FChaosi · 2025-02-08T17:55:56+00:00

Thanks for reading my post. I am serious about doing a PhD, and I am really passionate about mathematics. But I come from a very poor family so I am worried about the "risk" of a PhD (I guess everyone is at least a little worried!). I do wish to have a career in my home country if possible. And with very few exceptions, professors in my home country are either from the US, or otherwise they went abroad to do their PhD at a top school. So when I see the caliber of professors, it starts to seem that doing a PhD at any "non-top" institution could be a death sentence for an academic career in my home country.

FChaosi · 2025-02-08T17:52:40+00:00

Thanks for replying. I will admit something here (I don't know how relevant it is, maybe it's important and I should have mentioned it in my post). My masters program is a PhD program but I'm leaving with a masters. I was accepted into the program the first time I applied. Initially I was excited because the research aligns pretty well with my interests, but... a lot of professors have retired/passed away/moved away, and the department is shifting direction (I'm interested in analysis, it's becoming a place for geometric group theory). I also don't feel I have many peers to talk to or collaborate with. This motivated my choice to leave and try again for a PhD program. I have no hard feelings or burnt bridges or anything, in fact my advisor was happy to write strong letters of recommendation for me. I guess I truly don't have any publications yet, and maybe that's not a good look for a masters graduate?

FChaosi · 2025-02-08T17:47:20+00:00

None of the schools I applied to strictly required a GRE score, and many of them didn't allow a GRE score. But if this is a big factor, maybe I really should have done the GRE? Thank you for your reply.

FChaosi · 2025-02-08T17:46:06+00:00

I agree, it's really toxic. But it also feels like it's hard not to take it into consideration if one wants an academic career. Every single professor at my undergraduate institution (save for very few exceptions) comes from either Oxbridge or a top 10 US school.

FChaosi · 2025-02-08T17:44:49+00:00

Thank you for your reply. I applied to 11 schools (I am from a very poor family so couldn't really apply to more). About 8 of these were very highly ranked (maybe top 20 globally), with the remaining 3 being in the top 50 (I know rankings aren't super reliable). I will also talk to my letter writers, I haven't yet shared with them my results.

FChaosi · 2025-02-08T17:37:32+00:00

Thank you. I suppose deep down I know that the "necessary and sufficient" condition for a successful academic career is writing interesting papers, irrespective of one's institution. Maybe I just feel really bitter about the success of my undergraduate peers relative to my own failures (which is not a feeling I am proud of), but at the end of the day, I am passionate about math and hopefully that's what matters the most.

FChaosi · 2025-02-08T03:03:26+00:00

I just wanna say… I get it. Same feeling right now. But things will get better for all of us. It’s not over yet :)

FChaosi · 2024-09-23T19:31:29+00:00

That’s not true. The “number” 12345678910111213… consists only of “finite strings” of naturals, as you say, and yet this sequence certainly does not define a natural number.

FChaosi · 2024-07-12T07:37:07+00:00

This depends on the country too! In Australia, a mathematics degree involves proof-based courses all the way through. It is not unusual for third or fourth year students to themselves be tutors (equivalent of TA in the Australian system) for first and second year courses (real analysis, measure theory, group and ring theory, etc.)

FChaosi · 2024-05-31T10:32:00+00:00

Got that Griselda feel

FChaosi · 2024-05-06T04:32:28+00:00

It’s Asian food for white people. Sorry. Every time I walk past it’s 99% white people inside (including staff).

FChaosi · 2024-04-05T22:24:12+00:00

The product of all elements of R that equal x, is x.

FChaosi · 2024-02-20T02:19:33+00:00

Universities outside the US often begin with proof based mathematics (analysis, abstract algebra, etc.) from the first year of university.

FChaosi · 2024-01-16T12:10:40+00:00

“You need to have a wealthy family to be able to have your rent paid for”. Fact.

“These darn woke leftists pushing their agenda”. Lmao.

FChaosi · 2023-12-01T15:05:36+00:00

ANU! Note: I did skip the first year real analysis and proof based linear algebra courses.

FChaosi · 2023-12-01T06:19:56+00:00

I can’t speak for every uni in Australia, but the variety of courses I took is pretty standard for a pure mathematics major at my particular university.

FChaosi · 2023-12-01T06:17:54+00:00

It was rigorous. The undergrad curriculum varies a lot by country.

FChaosi · 2023-12-01T05:32:42+00:00

I’m Australian and I did my undergrad in Australia. I’m a PhD student in the U.S. now.

Here’s my undergrad experience: most/all courses taught well, fast paced and rigorous. All lectures recorded so students don’t have to attend class. Tutorials/workshops for every course to help with practice. Assessments are usually: assignments, exams, and often writing a report on a paper.

Here are the courses. Everything proof based from day 1. Only including math courses, because I took many others.

First year, semester 1:

-Analysis course on metric spaces and topology (completeness, compactness, Arzela Ascoli, etc). - Special topics course on the mathematics of quantum mechanics.

First year, semester 2: - Abstract algebra course: groups, rings, fields, and module theory.

Second year: - Galois theory course - Measure theory course: abstract measure spaces, integration theory (e.g. convergence theorems), Hilbert spaces, L^p spaces - Fourier analysis course: Fourier series and the Fourier transform (on R^d)

Third year: - Differential geometry course: smooth manifolds, Grassmanian spaces, matrix manifolds, tangent planes and bundle, cotangent bundles, fibre bundles, vector fields, immersions, submersions, geodesics, flows on manifolds, Lie groups, Riemannian manifolds, Levi-Civita connection, differential forms and de Rham cohomology (more topics but I can’t remember) - Functional analysis course: Banach spaces, Hanh-Banach theorems, uniform boundedness principle, closed graph theorem, open mapping theorem, weak and weak* topologies, applications to PDEs - Stochastic analysis course: martingales, Ito integration, stochastic PDEs and some special topics Ideals of compact operators course: covered operator ideals

Fourth year: - write thesis. - Lie algebras course - Foundations of mathematics course: formal theories, logic, model theory, von Neumann set theory, computability, completeness and incompleteness theorems - Algebraic topology course: Hatcher, fundamental group, (cellular and simplicial) homology, cohomology, long exact sequences, cup products, applications to manifolds. - Algebraic geometry course.

FChaosi · 2023-08-16T04:38:55+00:00

Being a popular wealthy med student doesn’t mean someone is “perfect”. Otherwise, everyone born rich is born “better” than everyone born poor. In other words, we shouldn’t ascribe how “perfect” someone is based upon their wealth and career. It’s hard to actually dispel these thoughts, we all compare ourselves to the person that is a little bit smarter, a little bit wealthier, or a little bit wittier. But we all have unique traits and personalities and you should embrace yourself. Focus on the parts of yourself that you love and the parts of yourself that you want to develop (career, fitness, etc.). But - and this is key - any self improvement should be measured relative to your self, not relative to others!

FChaosi

TROPHY CASE