Break between undergrad and grad (math)

[joecoz88]

Hello

I am currently a pure math major at a top level university, and I am basically committed to attending grad school. I am in my junior year right now.

I am planning on taking several graduate courses as electives during my senior year. My question is whether I should apply to grad schools in the fall of my senior year, or if I should apply after I graduate. If I apply while still in school, my application will not include all of my graduate level coursework that is yet to be completed, and hence my application will probably not be as impressive as if I applied after graduation, with some graduate courses under my belt.

Is this a common thing for math majors to do? Has anybody done this/know someone that has done this? It seems like it makes sense, since the courses that graduate schools care most about are often taken during the students final year.

Any advice would be appreciated!

[dx]

Usually they ask you to mention the courses that you will be taking, even if they wont be completed when you send out your application.

[alligatorman]

Most students apply to grad school in their senior year. The school's will know what courses you are taking in your final year.

If you think you can get into your choice schools with your current application, I would recommend applying right away. I'm not sure how schools view a year off.


I am a senior who is planning on taking a year off, only because my transcript had a few poor grades in some key courses that I needed to fix with some graduate courses. I also was not prepared to take the math GRE.

[PhysicalAnomaly]

As an aside: How far ahead should PhD, masters or honours year applications be sent out? A year? Half a year? Two?

I'm far from that point but just curious. :)