Grad School

Good day, /sci/. Judging by the people who frequent here, I think this is as good a place as any to ask.

How difficult is it to get into grad school? I want to study mathematics, preferably at Purdue. To that end, I'm double majoring (math and stats) and have decent grades (3.8). I'm also involved in extra-curricular activities.

What, if anything, am I missing? I'm currently a 3rd year student, so I have time to implement recommendations if you have any.

>>14

In terms of highest average salary for bachelor's engineers in the US, it's Chemical. I'd recommend Materials, Environmental, Biomedical, and Chemical over Electrical/Computer/Mechanical/Civil Engineeering for a prospective student.

Chem E here, successfully finished my grad apps and I think I'll be going to Carnegie Mellon. Did an NSF REU a summer ago. (>>24 Topic was chosen beforehand. Was overseen by a grad student from who I received training, but did much of the work alone) Research experience is the most important factor along with a high GPA (above 3.8 for a top 20 school is assumed). GRE means jack shit as a 750+ math score is assumed (700+ in Verbal, 5+ in Writing).

>>34

Unless you both have a lot of research experience under your belt and are genuinely interested in it, I'd advise you not apply. Getting into grad school without a GPA of ~3.3 is kind of tough, especially in this economy; besides, grad school for pure math sucks unless you have talent for research. Combine your math background with economics or science, maybe do bioinformatics or something of the sort.

>>22

1. Read what they do on their faculty page profile
2. Read up a little on it.
3. Walk into their office.
4. Say you're interested in doing shit for the sake of doing shit.
5. Do shit.
6. Get a recommendation.

This is honestly all you need to do. 90% of profs, especially Assistant Profs, are just dying for help.