Research Interests: What Do Schools Expect?

[rad0786]

Hi everyone,

I am currenly finishing my undergrad in math, and am currently submitting applications for my masters.

One school is asking me to "describe my reasarch interests, briefly"


Now, I have no idea what i want to research - i know which particular field i want to go into (numerical analysis, symbolic computation, mathematical biology etc..) but in terms of reasech - I am lost.

What exactly do they expect? Do they want something very specific?

My only expeirence in math is coursework..

 

[eastside00_99]

You don't have to propose a thesis topic to work on if that is what you are worried about. I think it is fine to mention you are most interested in numerical analysis, symbolic computation, mathematical biology and talk about which courses you took that inspired that interest.

 

[leon1127]

Just tell them if you have some interesting problem that you have in your mind. Go to a library and skim over the titles that might interest you. Look at what interests you and research about them. You don't need to know everything in the field to do research, but you want to know the big picture of the area.