How did you structure your statement of purpose for a Math or CS PhD?

[Anonymous No.7059585]

Apply for PhD programs. Need help with structuring a statement of purpose.

I took up an entire paragraph explaining results of a proof that I published. Is this OK? What should be included in a standard SOP?

[Anonymous No.7059672]

Focus more on who you are because of the process of the results and why it's valuable to a graduate school (why you'll be able to replicate it), and not a technical explanation of the results themselves.

[Anonymous No.7059689]

Explain your background in a way that contextualizes it in terms of your research interests and experience, leading into mention of your future research plans and why the program in question is relevant to those. Leave grittier details to other parts of the application, writing samples or whatever.

[Anonymous No.7059714]

>>7059672
>>7059689

There is a separate section to link to my publication, plus it is on my c.v. I'm switching from pure math to CS. I want to contextualize my pure math research and use it as an example of how I learned to do research, write research papers, and edit referee revisions. How do I contextualize this in my SOP?

That one paragraph is pretty technical, but it is technical in the sense of "We set out to prove theorem X. Definition of X is Y. We proved lemmas a,b,c and thus proved X. X has applications in Z." Kind of thing,

[Anonymous No.7059719]

>tfw will never be applying for a math phD because forced into pre-med ;_:

pre-med was probably the better choice and I think I lack the skills to be a good mathematician but math is so fascinating

[Anonymous No.7059757]

>>7059714
Exactly how to phrase it will depend on what you're working with. Discussing how you've learned to do research is good, since you're doing a PhD to do that. Summarized explanation of methods and results like that is appropriate, probably. Hopefully you have some faculty you're on good terms with who'd be willing to read over it for you, their advice will be better than what 4chan can give. Presumably you do, since surely you're going to need reccomendation letters.

[Anonymous No.7059765]

>>7059757
>Presumably you do, since surely you're going to need reccomendation letters.

Indeed. I already had 2 out of 3 send their letters for me. I suppose I'll write up my SOP and give it to each of them for review and then revise it accordingly.

My research was somewhat pure (but could be applied, doubt it ever would), so it isn't directly related to the CS-research I'm going into. I just wanted to show that if I can do pure math & understand the results/outline what we proved then it would show them I'm capable of doing research at the graduate level (even if it is in a different field). It is hard to understand and I doubt the readers (professors looking at my app) will understand the pure math results/will gloss over that paragraph. But I hope they realize the sophistication of it.

[Anonymous No.7059770]

I applied to both physics and math programs. I got into U Chicago for math, and somehow Stanford for physics, so i'm choosing the later. In any case, I can help you with math applications a bit:

- Talk about why you WANT to go to graduate schools. Don't be vague. Talk about research or class experiences.
- Talk about something that really, REALLY interests you. But don't make it too technical.
- Give examples of projects and profs at the uni you'd like to work with.
- If you have experience learning on your own (independent study), mention it, and how it prepared you for graduate-style learning.
- Give examples of ways you went out of your way to learn or do research, etc.

As for structure, do something like

- Intro (why this school/subject? who are you?). Since you're switching field (as did I, from math to physics), mention the motivation.
- 2 paragraphs about main classroom and research experiences
- 1 or 2 paragraphs about what you're interested in pursuing, why, and what skills you have. Show your passion for the subject. Here's where you can throw in names of profs.
- Conclude.

If there are non-technical aspects of the grad school that make it a good fit, feel free to mention briefly.

[Anonymous No.7059780]

How about what not to include?

http://psychology.unl.edu/psichi/Graduate_School_Application_Kisses_of_Death.pdf

[Anonymous No.7059786]

>>7059770
OP here, thanks for the advice.

This is what I did:

Contact the professor of interest (in advance). He replied saying he'd be delighted to work with me if I were accepted/chose to attend and then cc'd on the email the director of admissions, saying he could answer any sort of questions I had (I chekced their website and the director of admissions email is not listed publicly).

Thus far I structured my SOP like so:

-Intro hook that mentions the problem within CS that served a transition point from my interest in math to CS
-Mentioned how my research experience, industry experience, etc. has made me want to pursue graduate studies
-Mentioned what fields of CS I'm interested in
-Mentioned the name of the professor I contacted

-Mentioned my research project/publication
-Mentioned the results of my project/publication
-Mentioned what I learned from my project (e.g. how to write, do research, revise referee suggestions

-Mention my job
-Mention how my team on my job works on a problem related to the professor I contacted
-Define the problem
-Mention why industry alone cannot help me solve this problem
-Mention why the school is a good fit for me
-Connect the professor's research to the industry problem + my interest

-Address my low grades for 2 semesters (legit reason, family death)
-Mention I am confident in succeeding at the graduate level / research
-Mention how motivated I am

How does my structure/layout sound?
How does it sound for a professor to reply the way he did?

[Anonymous No.7059789]

>>7059786
meant to add I contacted him after reading his paper and tying it into my work

[Anonymous No.7059801]

I read through 2 different papers by the professor I'm interested in working with and emailed him my intent to apply/be his student and tied his work into something I do in industry. He wrote me back in less than 24-hours and thanked me for the email and said he'd be delighted to work with me if I were accepted/decided to attend. He then mentioned he cc'd so and so on the email who was the director of admissions to the program who would answer any of the questions I may have.

Does that sound promising?

[Anonymous No.7059802]

>>7059801
OP here

Thanks >>7059770 for the outline. I am modeling mine closely to this.

[Anonymous No.7059805]

>>7059780
>http://psychology.unl.edu/psichi/Graduate_School_Application_Kisses_of_Death.pdf
>recommendation letters from relatives and boyfriends
the fuck?

[Anonymous No.7059812]

I'm going to be beginning my masters here soon.

How can I prevent greedy board members from stealing my ideas? Patent them and then present them?

[Anonymous No.7059830]

>>7059812
>prevent greedy board members from stealing my ideas
as if

[Anonymous No.7060428]

bump

[Anonymous No.7060448]

Is it possible to get into grad school for math at a top 40 school with a 3.0 but A's in all math classes as a math major, amazing gre and impressive resume?

[Anonymous No.7060455]

>>7060448
yes. recommendation letters + fit of program will make or break you

[Anonymous No.7060460]

>>7060455
Thanks. Any advice on acquiring quality letters of rec? I won't graduate until may 2016 so I have some time to try to forge relationships

[Anonymous No.7060475]

>>7060460
Show up to office hours frequently. Do well in their classes. Keep in touch with them after your classes. But most importantly do research under them and produce good results.

[Anonymous No.7061481]

>>7059719

Get your BS in mathematics, then do a MD/PhD in bioinformatics.

[Anonymous No.7061493]

>>7060448
Depends what you mean by impressive resume. Nowadays it means actual publications. Yes, even if you're an undergrad.

[Anonymous No.7061505]

>>7059805
Not everyone gets it.

[Anonymous No.7062274]

>>7061505
That is an excellent article to read.

[Anonymous No.7062282]

>>7060475
What kind of reasoning could I give to show up to a professors office frequently?

[Anonymous No.7062297]

>>7062282
Research interest. You don't have to go thru formal processes to apply to do research (e.g. REUs, etc), but you can get in through the backdoor by expressing research interest with a particular professor. Then the grants, funding, etc. can come along from there. It is usually a good idea to find 2-3 other people interested as well. I've found great success this way and it led to a publication.

[Anonymous No.7062345]

>>7062282
This is my biggest issue. I can't apply to do research because I'm a math undergrad who doesn't know shit about the high level stuff he's doing, but coming up to ask about class frequently just sounds annoying.

[Anonymous No.7062352]

>>7062345
Then find an applied area to focus the math in. Computer Science, Engineering, Physics all need math guys. Your chances of getting published increases when you are on a project that 1) matters 2) has undergrad/grad students and 3) is funded by NSF.

[Anonymous No.7062417]

>>7059585
Wow! You really mean a WHOLE paragraph??

[Anonymous No.7063240]

>>7062417
WOW a retard like you shitpost on sci? Fuck!!! Didn't know they let retards like you here. Incredible!

[Anonymous No.7063935]

>>7062352
> Physics
> need math guys
top lel

[Anonymous No.7065459]

>>7059770
not OP but screenshotted this for when im applying next year
thanks based anon

[Anonymous No.7065477]

>>7062417
>Wow! You really mean a WHOLE paragraph??
lol NOT EVEN DOUBLE SPACED either!

[Anonymous No.7065800]

>>7065477
Op here. It is actually about 3 paragraphs morphed into one large paragraph due to the results we proved

[Anonymous No.7066292]

hmm are you referring to the motivational letter?

well in that case... write what are the reasons why you want to become a PhD student, be honest, don't lie because all of them will be uncovered while being there, which will in turn generate a lot of unpleasant situations both for you and your supervisor, group you're part of etc

I have been a PhD student for almost a year now and it's a pain in the ass, but for some reason I like it. The feeling when you prove a new idea is incomparable against anything else in the entire universe.

BTW my area of focus is algorithms and data structures.

[Anonymous No.7066309]

>>7066292
I'm interested in Theory of Computation, Data structures, Distributive systems & Big Data / Real-time Streaming. Is there anything in Distributive Systems / Big Data Platforms that is theoretical and not purely code monkeying? If so, what areas?

[Anonymous No.7068319]

>>7060448
Masters, you can probably get into top 10 with that
PhD, i don't know? Depends on other stuff, (your research interests, what tier school in the top 40, etc)