How to apply to, get accepted to, and choose a graduate school in mathematics

If you are currently majoring in mathematics or a related field as an undergraduate in the United States or if you already graduated with a degree in mathematics or a related field, you may be interested in continuing your education in mathematics. Most of the best graduate programs in mathematics are located in the United States, so you have a lot to look forward to.

	Start thinking about graduate school no later than the start of your final year of college. Most graduate programs in mathematics only accept new students for the Fall semester, so August of the year before you plan to go to graduate school is a good time to start.
	Register for the GRE general test and for the GRE subject test in mathematics. Most graduate schools (regardless of the department) will require the GRE general test, and many, if not most, mathematics graduate programs will require the subject test. Gather plenty of study material and sample tests. It is not unusual for mathematics students to get perfect scores on the mathematics part of the general test.
	Find three mathematics teachers (or others, if relevant) who are willing to write letters of recommendation. Consider choosing teachers of classes where you excelled and where there was a high amount of student-teacher interaction. If you did any math related research, considering requesting a letter from the research advisor. In general, you will not see the letters of recommendation. The professor may either hand you many copies of the letter in sealed envelopes, or he/she may mail them directly to the graduate schools you apply to.
	Write a statement of purpose. Most graduate schools require them. These will generally be read by the professors in the math school, so you are not writing to a general audience, but rather directly to those you will be working with. Outline your goals and research interests. Get a professor, preferably one who knows you or who works on the admission committee at your university, to read over your statement of purpose and give you comments about what's lacking.
	Compile a list of graduate programs you would like to apply to. A good starting place (but a bad place as a sole source) is the NRC rankings of mathematics graduate programs. A copy of the list can be found at
	jnewton/nrc_rankings/area31.html>http://www.stat.tamu.edu/
	jnewton/nrc_rankings/area31.html Remember that there is more to a program than its overall ranking. Although a program may rank low overall, it's possible that it has a very strong research group in an area you're interested in. Likewise, there are many highly ranked programs that are concentrated in small areas that you may not be interest in. 10-15 universities is probably a safe number of schools. Be realistic. Apply to dream schools, realistic schools and backup schools.
	Start applying! Most universities have application deadlines that range from mid December to mid January. It doesn't hurt to get started early, however. Almost all universities accept online applications, and a good handful only accept online applications. You will also need transcripts from all undergraduate universities you attend as well as transcripts of GRE scores and letters of recommendation. Some universities will request that those who are writing the letters of recommend submit them online, whereas others will as them to mail the letters. Make sure that you meet all the requirements of each application. It might be wise to use a spreadsheet to keep track of who requires what.
	Wait for acceptance and rejection letters to come in. You may get accepted to some places you didn't expect and rejected from some backup schools. If a school offers you acceptance without full financial support (paid tuition as well as a stipend for teaching), it is likely that the offer is a polite rejection.
	Make your decision. Your decision will depend on a large number of factors, including the reputation of the program, the focus of the research they have, the complexity of meeting graduation requirements, the location, the cost of living, the financial package and more.
	Notify the program that you want that you accept their offer of admission and plan to attend in the Fall. Notify the other programs that accepted you that you are grateful for their offer, but you decided to attend a different program. The other programs may be interested in knowing what program you opted for.
	Pack your bags and head off to grad school!