aridneptune

Institution: University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill Program: Biostatistics PhD Decision: Admitted Funding: not specified Notification date: Jan.13th Notified through: Email

So far I've gotten admitted to NC State (a week ago, I thought that was very early) and waitlisted to UW Biostat. That's all I've heard back from. Guess there's a bit more waiting to do...

Yes - it probably says something about me that I thought that sample was horrible. Overly flowery writing, basically zero informational content, mostly BS. Even the footnotes were BS. Admittedly I'm applying to stats programs, but still...I don't think I can bring myself to write something as bad as that example.

Sorry to revive an old thread - anyone interested in swapping Berkeley Personal History (not Statement of Purpose) Statements for this season?

The scrap paper is pretty extensive (at least at the ProMetric test centers in NYC, but I think it's issued by the ETS). It's a booklet-like thing consisting of maybe 8-10 pages. I use a lot of scrap paper, and I had no need for more. On the second point: if you need more paper, just raise your hand. The test room is monitored by video camera and also by proctors. If you really can't get their attention, just get up and go talk to them. That's allowed.

Listen, the secret to doing well on the GRE is simple: practice. You want to go into the test and be a robot. You don't want to get clever or cute in solving problems or writing essays. You want to know how to answer the question because you've seen 50 questions like that in your practice tests. Choosing not to do practice tests is a terrible idea.

Manhattan: Q 166 / V 169 Kaplan: (1) Q 168 / V 162 (2) Q 162 / V 166 (3) Q 164 / V 167 (4) Q 167 / V 167 (5) Q 170 / V 167 PowerPrep: (1) Q 167 / V 165 (2) Q 166 / V 164 (3) Q 168 / V 165 (4) Q 168 / V 165 Actual GRE: Q 168 / V 169 Summary / thoughts: The Kaplan practice tests were significantly harder (heuristically) than the actual GRE. The Manhattan practice exam reflected the real test pretty accurately, as did the PowerPrep II tests. I found verbal on the actual GRE a bit easier than the practice in all my practice exams, while quant was about the same.

GRE AW section is by far the easiest. All you have to do is write an anodyne essay - an introduction summarizing your main points, 2 or 3 body paragraphs explicating each point, and a conclusion restating your main points. This is 9th-grade material. Of course, it's made somewhat more difficult by the absolutely inane essay prompts (I think my SAT essay prompt back in the day was, 'Why are friends important?'), but there's nothing you can do about that. An essay that follows the structure I set out above, with no major insights, should score 5.0 - 5.5.

Yes, you can choose scores from sections of different tests. A few pieces of advice: (1) Stop stressing - it is not productive. (2) If you're taking the test this Saturday, you need to start doing practice exams now. Do the free Kaplan and Manhattan practice exams. Do the 4 ETS PowerPrep (this is free) practice tests. Search online for other free practice tests.

$200 is a very small investment in your future. Your worst enemy is self-doubt.

I spent <$40 total: about $15 for the Kaplan book and $18 for the Manhattan 5-Pound Book. The value-added of something like Magoosh or the full Manhattan guides was low for me. I'm not saying they're not worth it, but if anyone is looking to save money my method worked well (in my case, anyway).

The math GRE is very frustrating and scores are highly skewed toward the top end (so missing even a few questions lowers your percentile quite a bit). The benefits (marginal) are not worth the costs (significant).

It's interesting how perspectives differ on this stuff. I have to say, I read your profile and I'm really impressed. It looks great and, frankly, if I were on an admissions committee I'd admit you no questions asked. Meanwhile, I look at my own profile (on this forum) and I'm much less impressed. For what it's worth (read: very little), I think your profile is great.

I just took the GRE yesterday: 169V 168Q I'm very pleased with my scores and I thought I'd share a bit about my study strategy in case it helps anyone. (1) Resources: Manhattan Prep 5-Pound Book of GRE Practice Problems. Strategy guides are not useful for me. I just want a whole lot of problems. This book was very useful and quite similar to the actual GRE. It also lets you access the GRE Challenge Problems online, which are good practice for difficult math questions. Nova GRE Math Bible: You can get this for free online. I think it's ~ 800 pages, but well worth it. ETS PowerPrep: Must-do. Kaplan GRE Premier 2014: Comes with 6 practice tests and a couple hundred practice problems online. I like their interface. majortests.com: Their practice sets predate the Revised GRE, but they're still useful. Free practice GREs from Manhattan Prep and Princeton Review online. Particularly the Manhattan practice test. (2) Start studying early. I probably started about 3 months before I took the GRE. At the beginning I mostly online practice sets, then started doing practice tests around a month and a half beforehand. Starting early really lets things sink in. (3) Two weeks out, try to do 3 practice tests per week. This really isn't that difficult: do one on Saturday, one on Sunday and one during the week. (4) Don't stress. Seriously. It's not productive. Hope this helps. Feel free to post or PM with questions if you like.

Hello again everybody. I'm entering third gear (always the sweet spot) now in my application process and am wordsmithing my statement or purpose like nobody's business. Would anyone applying to stats / biostats like to mutually edit SOPs? If so, feel free to respond or PM me. The more readers, the better.

This isn't the right forum for this sort of question. Try Stackexchange.http://stats.stackexchange.com/

When do you all think it's appropriate to take the PowerPrep ETS practice GRE tests? I recognize that this is somewhat of a fraught topic. I'm taking the GRE on Sept 28th. Thus far, I've taken about 10 practice tests (ETS paper tests and Kaplan), done around a thousand practice problems (Nova GRE Bible, Manhattan 5-pound Book, Kaplan practice problems, online resources like MajorTests and so forth). I understand that the ETS PowerPrep tests are the best practice resource. How late should I take them? I have two weekends and 2 1/2 weeks left until my exam. Thoughts welcome.

Thanks - two quick further questions: (1) Are section headings a bad idea? They break the flow of the SoP but make it easier for adcoms (who I'm sure have to read stacks of these things) to get through. I always find reading header-ed pieces easier. (2) Cyberwulf, you say 'don't get fancy.' Does this mean that one should begin with "I am writing to express interest in the doctoral program in biostatistics at University X"? Writing something like that is just painful for me - but if that's what's required, they shall have it.

Thanks very much for the (candid) advice. It's a bit more difficult to write than it seems at first glance.

With due respect to the irony of this post being directly above the sticky, I'm having a nontrivial amount of writer's block on my biostatistics / statistics SoP. It's just very difficult to put down in 2 pages what your life's goals are for external consumption. I also come from somewhat of a nontraditional background (majored in math with a high GPA, focused on economics research, decided I didn't want to pursue economics, worked in finance for several years). Hence my research experience is, if not orthogonal, at least not entirely within statistics / biostat. Does anyone have any advice how to go about this? More to the point, could anyone point to some decent samples (just to see how it's done)? I've searched extensively and repeatedly but could only find some rather second-class sample SoPs. I hope that this post isn't out of the spirit of these boards. Thanks very much.

Well, I'm glad to have sparked such an interesting discussion. I'd like to give a few personal notes and then my response to what wine in coffee cups noted above. So first, personal stuff. I am indeed a US citizen. And I'd like to suggest that my LORs should be quite strong (albeit I have limited experience with the grad school application process). I still talk to and work with several professors from my school - I see them in person 4-5 times / year, have a regular email conversation going, and give 'how-to-make-it-in-the-world-of-work' talks in their classes during recruiting season. Incidentally, on that last point, I work for a major bank (in case that makes any difference). Now, as to SOP: man writing that thing is difficult! I'd forgotten how painful writing college essays was. I mean, how does one put one's life goals on paper in an attractive way for external consumption? Well, anyway, I'm doing the best I can - and I'll post the results when I get it written (probably not for a couple of weeks as I have several midsummer weddings / trips coming up). I want to clarify that I am not simply bored with my job. I took math and statistics in preparation for an econ PhD but came to love the fields on their own merits. I want to study statistics because I both enjoy and want to learn more about the field. I took my job out of undergrad because I was (1) overweighting money in my personal utility function and; (2) overly nervous of getting gainful employment after the recession (this was 2009). Working on Wall Street has been useful in that I now understand the value of education and academic life in a way I really didn't before. Well, that and I can work 15-hour days and saved some money. Is it possible to apply to both a school's PhD and MS programs in the same year? cyberwulf, I very much appreciate the advice and plan to apply to several PhD programs and several MS programs as safeties. It goes without saying that I'll put everything I can into each application. I'm not sure where you guys are getting $100k for a 2-year MS degree, but even if it is that much I can do it without debt. Finally, a note on wine in coffee cups' comment. I'm sure you've seen many more students than I have, but my experience is rather different from yours. At UNC, very few students had math GPAs above 3.5 (and I do not say this to toot my own horn or anything, just a note). Calculus / linear algebra / diff EQ classes were maybe 40-50% CS or Chemistry majors who weren't interested in the topic and did the minimum possible work. Any upper-level math class (topology or analysis, for instance) had about 15% A, 30% B, 45% C, 10% D-F (in my experience). Of course much depended on the course and professor. Nonetheless, I'd say at most 15-20% of math majors had an A / A- average. And the graduating class was only ~50 students or so in 2010. Just my two cents.

Thanks very much for the advice. My programming experience is indeed limited (basically STATA and SAS for empirical research). I meant Berkley / Washington MS programs above (excuse the confusion there). I also appreciate the SOP advice (and the pun) - do you think that the 'SOP-is-of-limited-importance-in-statistics' advice in the sticky on these forums is relevant? Perhaps the best course of action would be to get an MS, prove my bona fides, and then move onto a PhD? I'm of mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, it's a greater financial burden and two years of opportunity cost. On the other, it's a shorter degree (I have the option to go terminal), is perhaps more marketable in the private sector and will give me time to get up to snuff. What do you guys & gals think?

Hello all - I'm new to this forum. I'm looking to apply to Statistics MS or PhD programs for fall 2014 (prefer PhD but will apply for & do MS as a stepping-stone if necessary). I'd like some candid feedback on my chances. To preface, my main weaknesses are (1) I've been out of school for 3 years; (2) limited statistics coursework (at least directly). Anyway, here we go: Undergrad: Majored in mathematics and economics (double major). 3.99 GPA at UNC. Math GPA 4.00. Undergrad coursework: Probability theory, real analysis, topology, calculus series, linear algebra, differential equations, econometrics, economic statistics (e.g. applied statistics). GRE: Taking it at the end of September. I'd think ~162-167 quantitative, 160-165 verbal. Research Experience: Worked on several projects in economics and political science. Research intern for State Department. Recommendations: I expect strong recommendations from a math professor and several economics professors. I'm not sure how well-known they are. Professional Experience: I've worked on Wall Street (trader) for three years after graduation (graduated in 2010). Goal: MS or PhD (preferable) at Cornell, UNC, Berkley, Michigan, University of Washington. I'm trying to keep the schools in a reasonable range (e.g. I don't think I can crack the very top schools). Short Statement: I originally majored in math as a means to pursue a PhD in Economics, but followed the siren song of money and went into the financial industry after graduation. Long story short: it was a mistake. I've discovered (the long and painful way) that money is not as central to my personal utility function as I thought. Lately I have become disillusioned with Economics and want to pursue an academic career in statistics. I hugely enjoyed my undergrad courses in econometrics and probability, and am also very much enjoying the Johns Hopkins mathematical statistics online course series. I'm attracted to data analysis and feel that statistics is both interesting and useful in a world in which data are increasingly ubiquitous. Now, how good might my chances be for an MS (or PhD) at these institutions? Will my 3-year hiatus from academia hurt me? If I'm being honest with myself my top choice is UNC: Chapel Hill is a phenomenal town and I'd love to return there for a spell. I'm also considering applying to the newly-minted crop of MS Analytics programs (namely NCSU). Any thoughts on those? I really appreciate any input anyone might have. Thanks in advance.