Comments on: Career advice http://terrytao.wordpress.com Updates on my research and expository papers, discussion of open problems, and other maths-related topics. By Terence Tao Wed, 22 May 2013 23:37:05 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: the perfect pointe book http://terrytao.wordpress.com/career-advice/#comment-230509 Tue, 21 May 2013 02:31:53 +0000 http://terrytao.wordpress.com/career-advice/#comment-230509 First off I would like to say wonderful blog!
I had a quick question in which I’d like to ask if you don’t mind.
I was curious to know how you center yourself and clear
your thoughts prior to writing. I’ve had trouble clearing my thoughts in getting my thoughts out. I do take pleasure in writing however it just seems like the first 10 to 15 minutes are lost just trying to figure out how to begin. Any ideas or tips? Cheers!

]]> By: Role of a Statistician | James Li http://terrytao.wordpress.com/career-advice/#comment-227928 Mon, 06 May 2013 20:35:54 +0000 http://terrytao.wordpress.com/career-advice/#comment-227928 [...] advice is probably very biased towards a statistician geared towards industry. See Terrence Tao and J. Steele and Greg Mankiw for more advice for aspiring [...]

]]> By: Lili http://terrytao.wordpress.com/career-advice/#comment-221910 Sun, 31 Mar 2013 10:55:02 +0000 http://terrytao.wordpress.com/career-advice/#comment-221910 Dear Professor Tao,
I am studying Mathematics(a master’s program). I intend to continue my studies in math in U.S . The university in which I am studying now is different from my undergraduate university.Things are really harder here.
I need some recommendation letters for my applying process and this is what has ruined my life!
I talked to one of my professors to be my adviser and to write one of the recommendation letters for me at the end of the work.He asked me to work on some material in a determined period of time.I started working but it was harder than what I imagined.At the same time I ran into some problems in my individual life.Now, that determined time has finished , I haven`t finished that material and I had bad grades last semester.My professor says I should work harder. I have a lot of work I haven`t done.
I loved mathematics very much but now I don`t enjoy it.I can not concentrate on what I study. Studying just for letters of recommendation or trying to write a paper just to get admission of a good university is very boring.I can`t enjoy mathematics anymore .And I can`t even progress in my work.
How can I change this situation? How can I make progress? And could I find strong letters of recommendation in 9 months?
I think some of my undergraduate professors could write good (not strong) letters for me.

]]> By: Rami http://terrytao.wordpress.com/career-advice/#comment-220823 Sun, 24 Mar 2013 20:15:38 +0000 http://terrytao.wordpress.com/career-advice/#comment-220823 Dear Professor Tao, I have to choose between two graduate schools that accepted me for their PHD program in pure math. Each one of them contains a researcher who is very strong in the field that I want. What should I do next? Is a considerable difference in the rankings between the two enough as a criterion? (20 US news and 35 NRC, one appears in the top 100 QS subject ranking in math, the other doesn’t.). Or should I take other criteria into consideration? I should note that one of them has a large department, while the other has a small department, and both contain outstanding faculty members.

]]> By: Umar http://terrytao.wordpress.com/career-advice/#comment-214620 Sat, 26 Jan 2013 01:42:53 +0000 http://terrytao.wordpress.com/career-advice/#comment-214620 You can ask on meta.math.stackexchange.com or academia.stackexchange.com or some math forum if you want

]]> By: Umar http://terrytao.wordpress.com/career-advice/#comment-214619 Sat, 26 Jan 2013 01:41:24 +0000 http://terrytao.wordpress.com/career-advice/#comment-214619 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corona_theorem
“It remains an open question whether there are versions of the corona theorem for every planar domain or for higher-dimensional domains.”
you could ask on math.stackexchange.com or mathoverflow.net if you want more updated specific reliable answers.

]]> By: Terry Tao on Mathematical Career | enjoymathematics http://terrytao.wordpress.com/career-advice/#comment-212827 Thu, 10 Jan 2013 19:12:49 +0000 http://terrytao.wordpress.com/career-advice/#comment-212827 [...] Terry Tao on Mathematical Career [...]

]]> By: Starting and finishing tasks | http://terrytao.wordpress.com/career-advice/#comment-211531 Mon, 31 Dec 2012 02:08:12 +0000 http://terrytao.wordpress.com/career-advice/#comment-211531 [...] I also enjoy talking with others about how they work. A nice draft of similar ideas is available on Terry Tao’s blog. I will probably re-state some of the exact same [...]

]]> By: andrescaicedo http://terrytao.wordpress.com/career-advice/#comment-201348 Sat, 08 Dec 2012 07:11:10 +0000 http://terrytao.wordpress.com/career-advice/#comment-201348 Gary Lorden from Caltech, another consultant for the show, used to say that “based on Richard Feynman” meant that they copied his hairstyle.

]]> By: Max http://terrytao.wordpress.com/career-advice/#comment-200597 Thu, 06 Dec 2012 23:35:11 +0000 http://terrytao.wordpress.com/career-advice/#comment-200597 Hello,

I don’t come from a wealthy family and was “obligated” by my parents to study computer science. I am currently doing my master’s degree and only go to finals because I don’t really enjoy CS andI don’t find it “challenging” so I have a lot of free time, I am teaching myself theoretical physics which inspired me to also study the mathematics behind it in depth. Would you happen to know references to learn from ? I can’t find many online courses for mathematics…

Also do you think it’s possible for someone who didn’t study a particular area to be accepted by scientific community ?

Thanks,
Max

]]>