Undergrad Institution: UW-Madison
Major(s): Physics, Math (Both taken for Honors)
Minor(s): Computer Science
GPA in Major: 4.0
Overall GPA: 4.0
Length of Degree: 4 years
Position in Class: Top
Type of Student: Domestic white male
GRE: Haven't taken yet, don't know if its necessary
Research Experience: Been working with the same professor for about a year now, will continue at least another year (through my senior year) in observational cosmology. Working on my first paper now, but should be a first author on it. Informal research project for a class last semester using neural networks for live time sign language letter classification, posted the paper to arxiv.
Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Dean's list all semesters, scholarships from both mathematics and physics departments
Pertinent Activities or Jobs: TA for physics for engineers course, my students consistently did above average and I got very positive reviews in the feedback they sent out.
Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: Going to take multiple physics and mathematics graduate courses, and some of the mathematics courses I've already taken would be graduate courses elsewhere. Mathematically I'll have taken graduate level real analysis, complex analysis, and undergraduate courses in topology, differential geometry, and abstract algebra. In physics I'll have taken graduate level E&M as well as general relativity assuming all goes to plan. On top of having a 4.0, I get high scores on exams about as often as not in classes that are usually around 50 students. I also took the Putnam for fun and got a 22. Not some crazy score, but I took it without prep so I'm pretty proud of it.
Applying to Where: MIT, Harvard, CU Boulder, Princeton, Yale (these I consider to be reaches), UW Madison, Northeastern (I think these are reasonable) and Tufts (safety). I'm going to add some more Universities later on in the reasonable/safety categories, but this is where I'm at now.
References should be good. Since I'm only working with one professor, I don't have multiple professors who can really speak about my research which is a bummer.
Some Questions:
1. How likely is it that I get into any of the schools above? Do the levels I've put them in seem to be reasonable?
2. What are some other things I should consider doing to strengthen my profile?
3. Should I consider taking the GRE subject test? I think I would do well, but I know that my profs can speak to my abilities and I'll already be taking graduate courses.
Thanks!
