In need of some advice about my future

In summary, the conversation is about the speaker's experience as an undergraduate student at Harvard, where they were poorly prepared and ended up with a 3.3 GPA and a 3.1 concentration GPA. They mention that personal issues and immaturity played a role in their academic performance. They also mention taking math classes, including advanced ones, but struggling due to a lack of background knowledge. The speaker admits to making a mistake and now wants to pursue a PhD in mathematics, but is unsure of how to overcome their low GPA. They ask for advice on potential options for gaining research experience and taking more high level math courses.
  • #1
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I went to Harvard as an undergrad, but I was exceedingly poorly prepared in more or less every respect. I ended up finishing with a 3.3 GPA and a 3.1 concentration GPA (My pure math classes are higher (3.45), the lower grade is because I counted four physics classes towards my major that I bombed due to having no background, just took them to try and keep up with the kids in the "advanced" classes.) There were a few personal things (a bad break-up) but the largest factor was general immaturity. So the classes I took, with grades

Freshman: Linear Algebra/Real Analysis (A-/A)
Topology/Abstract Algebra/Complex Analysis (A-/C/B+) (yeah, I know, pretty bad)
Combinatorics and Graph Theory/Graduate Complex Analysis (A/A)
Differential Topology (B)

The physics classes were so bad I'd rather just not mention them. I was discouraged and stopped taking math classes after this and focused on music classes.

Well, I've been out of school for a while now, and I've started re-reading textbooks from my old classes with the eye of an adult. It's becoming clear that I've made a terrible mistake. I just didn't understand how to learn mathematics as an undergrad, and I was too immature to handle the course work. Now I'm really wanting to move forward with math, but I feel my academic record is a massive hurdle and I'm not sure what concrete steps I can take to convince adcoms that I'm a reasonable gamble for a Ph. D.

If I want to move forward with mathematics, what are my best options? Are there any ways for people who have graduated to get research experience? Should I be trying to move somewhere (I live in rural TN) with a reputable university so I can take more high level math courses?

Thanks PF.
 
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  • #2
I'm having a hard time understanding how a 3.3 gpa from harvard can be considered bad o_0
 
  • #3
That's the impression I get... there was substantial grade inflation, and my GPA was far lower than anyone else I knew in college. The grad school standard seemed to be around a 3.8, and most of those students took a lot of graduate math classes which I could not handle.
 

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