CauchyProcess

How different do you think this process is at the top-tier schools for which there is no such thing as an "obvious admit"? At this point, do you think it's still fairly logical, or does it become borderline random? How does a school pick between someone who is ranked 1st in their department at a big public school with a upper-mid-range ranking compared to someone who is top 10% at a top-tier Ivy League? Does it not become sheer madness?

I spoke to my current department, and they seemed to offer a similar take. When would you recommend I begin looking for such opportunities? It seems a bit early to look for them now since summer is still months away.

Hello everybody, I've applied to a variety of Ph.D programs in Statistics, and am now looking for something to do in the summer before grad school. Ideally, this would be some sort of internship or temporary work position involving analyzing and modeling data. I have not and will not be taking actuarial exams, so I'm ineligible for anything that requires them. Does anyone know how to go about searching for such positions? I've found absolutely no internships for statistics graduates whatsoever that do not require actuarial exams. Do such jobs exist? What online keywords would I use to search for them? Additionally, what have others who are already in PhD programs done in the summer before grad school? It seems that the general consensus on the internet is to "travel", "party", "go on vacation", or "do nothing", none of which are financially viable options for me. I need some sort of paid work if I want to have more than a few hundred dollars in my bank account by the time I start graduate school.

Congratulations! Goes to show how important the one part of our applications that we can't see (i.e. recommendations) are. My background is very very similar to your own, and I didn't even apply to Harvard because it's Harvard and I figured there was zero chance of me getting in.

edit: going to post later, since GradCafe won't let you edit very old posts

What type of background would you classify as such? In terms of grades, I'm near the very top of my class, in a large public school with a medium-sized and relatively strong (but by no means top) department, attended a relevant REU but no publications, and have some other stuff to add to my application as well. Would this be considered a strong background? Or does it require the attendance of an elite, Harvard-type institution, with top ranking, and multiple publications? The unfortunate reality for me is that the people that are doing what I'd like to are at schools like Columbia or Stanford that are a long shot for any applicant. I'm just hoping the less-well-known schools don't reject me outright due to research interests that do not fit them.

Hello everyone, So I figured I would join this website, even though I’ve already sent in my applications, because the whole grad school application process scares the living !@#$ out of me, and having somewhere to discuss it with others may make the wait a bit easier. Hopefully. That said, to what extent can having a highly obscure set of interests hurt an an applicant who would otherwise be highly competitive? Say I want to do probability applications to area X, which is only being researched by a small handful of people in the entire field, does this make it significantly harder for me to be accepted everywhere? What are your thoughts?