<p>Hi</p>
<p>I’m a portuguese student and I’m currently in the process of applying to a math PhD for Fall 2006.
I’ve done the GRE General and the TOEFL and I’m doing my GRE Subject on November 12th. I had (700V 800Q) in GRE and I’m currently awaiting the results of the writing section. In TOEFL I had 23? without the result of the writing section wich I’m also waiting for.</p>
<p>I’m only starting to prepare for my subject but hopefully I’ll do a good test.</p>
<p>But I know a nice GRE grade is not enough (although I suspect it is of great importance from someone from a small country like me), so I’m starting to think about the rest of my application.</p>
<p>I can get several recomendation letters. One from an american professor who gave me a Summer course, several from my former professors… But my question is: what kind of recomendation letters are preferible?</p>
<p>Recomendation letters from my long time professors who know me well but that are not very famous, or recomendation letters from someone more famous, from another university, who never gave me any class, but that knows me, and that trusts myself enough to invite me twice for being a teaching assistant to foreign professors at a Summer School?
She could probably write a letter saying some nice things about my responsability, and etc. but the fact remains that she never really teached me any subject…
Does this kind of letter hads something to my application or is it useless?</p>
<p>Also, for the record: I plan to do Algebraic Geometry, preferibly Applied Algebraic Geometry. </p>
<p>I plan to apply to
Berkeley, Michigan (Ann Harbor), Stanford and MIT from the top 10
(lthough I really woul prefer one of the first two)
I also plan to apply to some smaller universities, but haven’t decided yet wich.</p>