Math Research in Undergrad Fun? Worth it?

[metapuff]

I'm thinking about doing some research in math next semester... pure math, focused on Algebraic Geometry. I'm currently doing research in theoretical cosmology, and it's been going really well, but the math research sounds really interesting to me.

What would grad schools think of this? On one hand, I'll show that I have diverse research interests, but on the other hand, it might be more productive to spend the next semester continuing to do research in cosmology. What do you guys think? Is doing math research beneficial for prospective physics PhDs?

 

[clope023]

I'm thinking about doing some research in math next semester... pure math, focused on Algebraic Geometry. I'm currently doing research in theoretical cosmology, and it's been going really well, but the math research sounds really interesting to me.

What would grad schools think of this? On one hand, I'll show that I have diverse research interests, but on the other hand, it might be more productive to spend the next semester continuing to do research in cosmology. What do you guys think? Is doing math research beneficial for prospective physics PhDs?

I have physics major friends who did research in Linear Algebra and Graph Theory but are now doing Physics PhD's. They didn't have as much fun as the math majors, I'll tell you that, lol. Any hard, technical research will help I think. Might not necessarily give you a leg up unless it had more application to Physics though. YMMV.

 

[Vanadium 50]

At some point in your life, you will have to do what you think is best, and not what others think about it. Will this help your candidacy to physics graduate school? Probably not. Might this be valuable anyway? Probably.