Rankings as a metric for the competitiveness of admissions

[eok20]

Hi, I was wondering how strong the correlation is (adjusting for size of program) between a mathematics departments ranking (e.g. from US News) and how hard it is to get admitted to the PhD program. I am asking because as of now my safety school is ranked in the high 40s and is fairly big (around 60 graduate students). Besides this one, I am applying to one top 10 and three top 25. It has been hard for me to find additional schools that I have a chance of getting into that are active in the area I'm interested in (mathematical physics/differential geometry). I have a 4.0 from a decent state university, a fair amount of research experience, and I'm guessing my subject GRE will be between 70-90 percentile. Can I bank on at least getting into my safety school? Would it be appropriate to e-mail the graduate director asking what the stats of a typical admitted student looks like?

Thanks so much!

 

[tmc]

You have a 4.0, some decent research experience and a pretty good GRE. Of course you have some pretty good chances of getting in. You'll probably get in at least some of your top 4 picks as well, depending on how many students they're taking this year and the likes.

 

[Monocles]

Yeah, your record sounds spotless. It looks like the only thing that could weigh you down is the subject GRE, but even 80-90th percentile is very good. I think you should apply to as many top programs as you can afford.