Stat Assistant Professor

coffeehouse, Well, if you really prefer these other places to Minnesota, you may as well reach out to all these other schools to see if you're on the waitlist at any of 'em. But Minnesota is still a great, great school. Since acceptances AND funding info were both released for Minnesota and I did not receive any e-mail, I infer that I have either been waitlisted or rejected. That's okay though... I am just hoping to get into at least one program at this point, and I've already been through grad school in math once before, so I do not need a GAC's decision to reassure me of my math/stat skills. Congrats to all who got in!

coffeehouse, Have you got any other offers yet? Minnesota is still an excellent program (top 15, I think?), just slightly below the others you mentioned. I'm sure that if you were to decline their offer, some other people would be very grateful.

coffeehouse, I believe all those schools you mentioned are ranked higher than Minnesota overall, as well as in specific subfields (e.g. for statistical machine learning, CMU is clearly the winner). In other sub-disciplines of statistics, MN might be superior though, not totally sure in what if so.

Yeah, I saw. No e-mail from them for me so far.. Hope it's not a bad sign, but I'll get over it if I am rejected or waitlisted. Congrats to those who got in!

Did anyone ever contact Minnesota to inquire when they would be sending out decisions?

You may want to look up as many data scientist jobs on LinkedIn, Indeed, etc., as possible to see what the educational and work experience requirements are. You could also join online communities and speak with recruiters, hiring managers, working data scientists, etc. to see what they think about a MS in Data Science/Analytics and what is most important for getting jobs in this field. I have seen a lot of data science jobs with "PhD preferred" and that want people with statistics, (applied) math, and/or computer science degrees. So I am not entirely certain how valuable an MS in Data Science/Analytics is... you may want to do some more research and speak with people working in that field.

Write about: why you want to obtain an MS in Statistics, what academic preparation have you done (projects, coursework, etc.) to prepare for graduate studies, what areas and/or applications of statistics interest you (if any), and what type of career would you like to have with the MS in Statistics (e.g. are you hoping to pursue a PhD later, what industry do you want to work in, etc.). That is basically what I wrote about when I applied to MS programs (switch out "statistics" with "applied math" though... my Master's is in applied math). Judging from the feedback most of us have been given, the statement of purpose isn't going to be a dealbreaker in admissions -- grades and letters of recommendation are. But I think if you wrote 4-5 paragraphs on the topics above in your SOP, you'll likely be fine.

Congrats to the Minnesota admit! Question: did you call the department to find out your status, or did you receive the phone call from them? Thanks.

Congrats mittensmitten895! Could you please expand a bit on your "non-traditional" background? Just curious, because my own background is rather non-traditional as well (undergrad in social science, then 3 years industry work, then got MS degree in applied math, then 2 years industry work, now applied to PhD programs in statistics, heh).

Just received rejection from UMich. E-mail noted <10% acceptance rate this year. Tough competition! Congrats to those who were admitted.

Congrats cyprusprior and gradschoolroulette!

You might not be able to get into any top tier MS programs, but I think you could probably get into *some* MS program. Is it possible for you to take some graduate-level or more upper division courses in one of those fields and ace them? You could even take some as a non-degree student after you graduate. You could get some good LORs that way and that would make you more competitive for MS admissions. That is what I did. In my case though, my undergrad degree was not even in math, so I took some upper division and grad level courses in mathematics as a non-degree student and then applied to MS programs in Applied Math. I was successful in getting in because of my performance in these classes.

I briefly considered PhD programs in math before deciding to head in the stats direction. AFAIK, only a few schools have explicit cutoffs when it comes to the math subject GRE (e.g. Berkeley and MIT won't look at any applications with subject GRE scores below 800). There may be a few other top-tier schools that have an "unstated" subject test GRE cutoff. But the farther down the list you go, the more tolerant departments are of lower subject GRE scores (some will seriously consider any application as long as the score is above like the 50th percentile). But from what I gather, a high subject GRE score definitely can *not* compensate for things like lack of grad-level [or even upper division] coursework (that's why a lot of SLAC grads are at a somewhat disadvantage compared to MIT grads, for instance... their background tends to be a little thinner, regardless of whether a thesis was written) , poor grades in algebra and analysis, or generic letters of recommendation. To the OP: unfortunately, your only options are to either enroll in upper-division classes (maybe complete a second degree in math if you have the time/money), do a post-bac in mathematics program (I know Brandeis has one, there are probably a few too), OR enroll in a Master's degree program in math (as I mentioned, Virginia Tech has one with relatively low admissions requirements -- you'd take undergrad algebra and analysis the first year, then grad level algebra and analysis the second year). To the poster above me: You may want to do an MA/MS in math too and obtain excellent grades in graduate-level topology, algebra, and analysis, OR apply to less competitive schools the next round if you don't receive any offers this time.

Also, as an aside, I love your displayname. Nice play on words; I LOVE Pavement.

I think as long as your grades in upper division math and statistics courses are strong, your later performance can mitigate the B+'s in freshman-level Calculus. CAVEAT: I applied for statistics, rather than biostatistics. However, it seems as though the top biostat programs want people who have taken a lot of math and stats. So these may be a bit of a reach. However, the ones right below the top top tier may be accessible to you, and you could just be able to apply directly to PhD programs (given your background and your stats minor), while skipping the Biostatistics Master's entirely. I would be hesitant to go to an unfunded Biostats MS program when you already have an MS, and your background may well be enough to get into a PhD program (maybe someone who is in biostats can give you a better sense though). Best of luck.

adagietto, That may be the case for biostats, but I didn't apply to biostats. I am waiting to hear from their STOR (Statistics & Operations Research) department for the Statistics PhD admissions. btw, congrats to Yale admits!

Grats, effhorses! Really hope that UCLA, UNC-Chapel Hill and Minnesota release results soon... though it seems the first two don't send out admits until closer to the end of the month.

Aw shucks, re: Michigan. Knowing what I know now about admissions for stats though, it was a reach.

I haven't been accepted anywhere yet either. Just one interview so far.

Having been through graduate school in math already (applied for PhD programs in stats but I have an MS in applied math), I also have the following insight on math grad school admissions (fwiw, I have spoken with faculty members who sat on the graduate admissions committees, including my adviser who was the one that chose to recommend me for admission): - the more graduate level classes in math you've taken, the better you'll look. In general, it's helpful to have taken as many upper level math classes as possible (beyond requirements for the major). - grades in upper division math classes matter much more (a lot of research in mathematics, especially pure math, bears little resemblance to Calculus I, so straight A's in algebra and analysis sequences definitely can mitigate a B- in earned in freshman Calculus) - all letters of recommendation should come from mathematicians for pure math. For applied math, a strong letter from a physicist or an engineering prof may be acceptable too... but at least two from mathematicians would be ideal even for the applied track. Letters of recommendation are taken *very* seriously, so it's best to get LORs that are not going to be very generic but that can speak to specific examples of the applicant's research potential - publications and research/REU can look good, but are by no means the ultimate deciding factor like they are in some other fields (I've been told REUs do not resemble graduate research in mathematics that much). Only a few superstar applicants will have produced quality publications and/or publishable research as undergraduates -- as someone over at stackexchange once said, it's unfortunately not that hard to write some vacuous article and publish it in a nonreputable journal, in which case, it wouldn't help the application that much. - high subject GRE score is definitely helpful and very low subject score will typically hurt the application. Applied math programs may be more forgiving of lower scores than pure.

Congrats CauchyProcess! I'm not optimistic about my chances at Michigan, but if I get in there, I'll definitely withdraw some of my other applications to make room for others. Hope others who have already gotten into their top choices (Stanford, Harvard, Berkeley, CMU, Washington, etc.) do the same.

xstopfloating, Depends. Is he interested in pure math, applied math, or statistics? Each has different "basic" requirements, with applied math being the most flexible (that is, MS/PhD students in applied math can occasionally have backgrounds in other fields like engineering or physics, for instance). A lot of applied math is very theoretical as well though, so the most competitive candidates will have real analysis, which is essential for most "applied" math topics like PDEs and dynamical systems which are still very proof-heavy. If your husband has a lot of upper division math classes in proof-based classes (at the minimum abstract algebra and real analysis, but for pure math, topology and geometry are also good classes to have on the transcript), then I think he will be fine for most math programs... of course, the more math (especially graduate level classes), the better. For statistics programs, he should have taken probability and statistical inference too, in addition to real analysis, Multivariable Calculus, and linear algebra..

Li-S, How many upper division math classes have you taken? Are you interested in pure or applied math? Unfortunately, even a high math subject GRE will not be enough to compensate for not having (at the MINIMUM) real analysis and abstract algebra. Most competitive math PhD candidates will also have taken a few graduate-level courses already, so you will not be a competitive candidate. All your letters of recommendation need to come from mathematicians, not profs in other fields. You should either get an MA or MS in math or take upper division math courses to show that you can do the work and then apply. If you are female, one particularly good program is the post-bac program in mathematics at Smith College where you can take algebra and analysis. Virginia Tech also has a funded MS program in math where you can take undergrad algebra and analysis in your first year and then grad-level in the second year. If you are interested in applied math, well... you might have a slightly better chance, but even then, I don't think you will be competitive, and you may be best served with getting an MS in Applied Math first. There are some MS programs in applied math where you can get funding. Best of luck.

Wow! I guess there might still be hope? I was certain that I was rejected too, haha. Looking at last year's results, UMich did send two rounds of acceptances. Guess I shouldn't give up hope yet until I see a rejection letter.

clurp, I was inferring from past results. I have no idea when they will send them out... but now that Washington, UMich, CMU, Harvard, Berkeley, etc. have sent out their acceptances, I am hoping that people who prefer these places to UNC can withdraw their apps to UNC.