Adrián González Casanova,
BMS Phase II student,
Qualifying Exam BMS, 
BSc Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México

Why do I think that the BMS is a great Graduate School?
The BMS offers a great program in mathematics. The academic level of lectures and talks is very high. It also offers the possibility of interacting with some of the best mathematicians in the world and helps you to get international experience by covering your travel expenses when you attend conferences and summer schools. I, for example, went to the SPA (an important conference in probability) last year and the BMS paid for my plane ticket. This year, I'm going to Canada and the BMS is going to provide financial help again.

The BMS also has a mentoring program. A mentor is a professor who can advise you in both an academic and non-academic sense. Some mentors assign research subjects to their Phase I students. I found this very helpful because it allowed me to grow scientifically and is less stressful than a PhD. Some mentors become advisors when the student changes from Phase I to Phase II. My experience with my mentor is very good. He is always very kind and supportive. We've developed a fruitful research relationship and a nice friendship.

The BMS is a great graduate school for many reasons, but the thing I like the most about it is the human quality of their members. As in any graduate school the environment is competitive sometimes. But here, everyone is willing to help anyone (students, professors, staff...), so we work as a team. During the year and half that I have been in Berlin, I have found a lot of brilliant mathematicians that are also very nice people. I've found friends and coworkers that I plan to keep long after I am done with my PhD.

published in April 2012

Update 2018: Adrián defended his PhD in October 2015 and one of the publications included in the thesis was awarded the Ito price 2017. He has been an assistant professor (tenure-track) at UNAM since November 2017 and was BMS substitute professor in 2018.