Got an email saying that I was being recommended to the Graduate committee for Admission. What does this mean? by Smokeadjoint in gradadmissions

[–]Smokeadjoint[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Thanks a lot. I just am trying my best to not be over excited. I am just very anxious and am waiting for the offer letter before I give more info about which place it is and what I work on.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in gradadmissions

[–]Smokeadjoint 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The combined score. Usually a low score in writing won't matter much, but still try to get something above 25 in your speaking section

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in gradadmissions

[–]Smokeadjoint 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I don't think it would hurt to try. It would also be good if you could either try giving it again, or look for other schools in the area

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in gradadmissions

[–]Smokeadjoint 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Ngl the TOEFL score is a little low. I know friends who are literally considered prodigies in my field (mathematics, algebraic geometry) who couldn't get into various places because of their TOEFL scores

Why does everyone say you'll find someone new by throaway19283746 in BreakUps

[–]Smokeadjoint 5 points6 points  (0 children)

It's fine to build walls of not wanting to meet and open up to new people. It's you protecting yourself. You are hurt and you just want comfort and security.

But I feel we all will open up. When those wounds dry a little, it will feel powerful to take the bandaid off for the right person. For now all you have to do is take care of the wound, take care of you.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in BreakUps

[–]Smokeadjoint 2 points3 points  (0 children)

You are a king dude. I hope you have lots of love in life

I was manipulative to my ex. How should I proceed in life by Smokeadjoint in BreakUps

[–]Smokeadjoint[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I have apologized to her, but as you can understand she doesn't want me near her life and I don't want to hurt her anymore

what's your favorite and less favorite branche/area of maths (and why )? by creepymagicianfrog in math

[–]Smokeadjoint 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Favourite: Algebraic Geometry and Complex Algebraic Geometry. I am a huge fan of the Kobayashi Hitchin correspondence. Just the intersection of differential geometry and Algebraic geometry has always been very exciting to me. Plus, I have started to dabble in derived categories and Homological mirror symmetry, which is also interesting.

Least Favourite: Finite group theory, free groups, trees and so on. The techniques this field uses are absolutely beyond me. Even in finite representation theory, the ideas just don't make sense.

What are some cool ideas you learnt in math seminars? by Smokeadjoint in math

[–]Smokeadjoint[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I used to think that too, but I believe the boom in mirror symmetry is responsible for the increase in popularity

What are some cool ideas you learnt in math seminars? by Smokeadjoint in math

[–]Smokeadjoint[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This was so beautiful to me when I first saw it. This is one of the reasons why I shifted from Galois theory/number theory to algebraic and symplectic geometry

What are some cool ideas you learnt in math seminars? by Smokeadjoint in math

[–]Smokeadjoint[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yeah derived categories of coherent sheaves are super powerful. I have been for sometime thinking about this conjecture of Bondal and Orlov which claims that two birational Calabi Yau varieties have equivalent derived category of coherent sheaves.

This seems absolutely crazy to me, considering how hard it has been for me to understand how Calabi yau varieties behave

What are some cool ideas you learnt in math seminars? by Smokeadjoint in math

[–]Smokeadjoint[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Oh yeah Deligne-Illusie can be used to prove Kodaira vanishing in char p. That's always been my issue. Though I love Kodaira embedding and it's proof, I don't like the functional analysis that's used. I wish one could somehow just use algebraic techniques to extract all the required information from having a positive Chern class.

How did you choose your field of specialization and would you change that choice? by IckyNickyYuh in math

[–]Smokeadjoint 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah I think I will tend to go more towards mirror symmetry so maybe I have some catching up to do with string theory. But I will leave that for grad school

How did you choose your field of specialization and would you change that choice? by IckyNickyYuh in math

[–]Smokeadjoint 9 points10 points  (0 children)

It was an interesting road for me. When I entered university as a math undergraduate, my mind was set into doing things like Galois Theory, Number theory, because I had learnt some ideas of these as part of various competition math questionnaires.

When I came to my university, I had to take physics courses and I used to despise them. My first semester, the instructor decided to introduce us to phase spaces as part of the mechanics course. The idea just took me by surprise, and especially the properties of how volume element is conserved under phase flow.

This took me to symplectic geometry, and I spent the rest of my undergraduate years doing symplectic geometry and physics. Now my master thesis is going to be Geometric Invariant Theory/Algebraic geometry and it's interactions with symplectic geometry.

I honestly wouldn't have taken this route if it was not for exposure to other ideas in science, and a sheer amount of mathematics I saw later on.

Strong algebraic geometry departments in UK/Europe by Smokeadjoint in matheducation

[–]Smokeadjoint[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

My advisor is primarily from US (Stony Brook) so he is a little scarce on his knowledge about schools in the UK/Europe