- #1
ehllo_thar
- 5
- 0
I really want to go to grad school for math... preferably a master's simply because I don't want to commit to a 5+ year phd program (still considering various career options). However my background in math is weak because I'm attending a small state school with no reputation for math, and where not much is demanded of me. I've done better than my peers because I am simply enamored with the subject, especially the more pure, abstract mathematics. But the fact that I'm not in a rigorous program and that I've had a second major keeping me from devoting my full attention to the maths has definitely held me back.
So now, I'm about to graduate. FWIW, my GPA is mid-high 3's. Haven't taken the GRE yet. I feel confident I'll do well on the general test, not that it matters, but the subject test - if I even take it - will not be good simply because I lack the background. When I graduate all I'll have taken beyond calculus is an intro abstract algebra, two linear algebras, real analysis, and an optimization course. And in the school I'm at those courses went at a slow pace so I never got the full treatment that I should have. Oh yea, I have no research experience at all.
The school I'm at has a master's program however I feel that if I stay there I won't get the challenge I need to really grow as a student. But then of course, more rigorous programs will simply say that I don't have the background to get in.
What to do?
So now, I'm about to graduate. FWIW, my GPA is mid-high 3's. Haven't taken the GRE yet. I feel confident I'll do well on the general test, not that it matters, but the subject test - if I even take it - will not be good simply because I lack the background. When I graduate all I'll have taken beyond calculus is an intro abstract algebra, two linear algebras, real analysis, and an optimization course. And in the school I'm at those courses went at a slow pace so I never got the full treatment that I should have. Oh yea, I have no research experience at all.
The school I'm at has a master's program however I feel that if I stay there I won't get the challenge I need to really grow as a student. But then of course, more rigorous programs will simply say that I don't have the background to get in.
What to do?