Takoyaki7

Don't worry, Bios at UNC is pretty theoretical. If you don't believe me, try reading the department chair's "introductory" text on empirical processes (available on his website). http://www.bios.unc.edu/~kosorok/ I'm also pretty sure they'd let you take measure theory and/or probability over in the stats department at UNC (def. more theoretical than NCSU).

are you people kidding me? OP is interested in stochastic processes. DAVID POLLARD. end of story. go.

you should have at least 3 semesters of calculus, 1 semester of linear algebra and preferably 1 semester of real analysis. without these, you'll fail the first-year courses in any program worth anything. a phd in stats/biostats is a lot more theoretical than an introductory or "applied" course would suggest. before applying for phd programs, I HIGHLY recommend figuring out why a ma/ms isn't enough.

As someone who was admitted to a few 10-20 range programs and nothing higher, I totally disagree. I think the OP is correct in looking at MS programs. I have no idea what MS admissions is like, but I suggest you apply to a bunch of state schools. These programs are most likely up-ing the number of MS students they're accepting to off-set budget cuts.

Thank you for the responses. I'm feeling a lot better about UNC again and am getting ready to accept their offer as soon as I complete my visit next week. If anyone is waiting for funding from Penn State or AMS at Johns Hopkins, I'll be turning down TA offers from these departments in the next couple of days. Sorry if anyone is waiting on a spot at Davis, but I plan on holding the offer until the 15th (just in case my visit to UNC on the 14th goes terribly wrong). Pierre, will I be seeing you at Chapel Hill in the fall, or have you decided on elsewhere?

Again, if you haven't visited the departments you really should. I finally got a chance to visit Penn State earlier this week and the department is awesome. Everyone was incredibly friendly and easy to talk to (obviously they weren't going to put a disgruntled faculty member or grad student in front of me, but still). My chats with the former department chair, Prof. Rosenberger and the head of their consulting center, Prof. Shumway were easily the highlights of my day. All the grad students that I had a chance to meet with were also really cool people. None of them really had any complaints about the program or the area. The department sounds like they do a lot of work in both theory and applications. They also work with other departments but from what I could gather, there was a strong focus and lean towards agriculture and ecology. This makes sense given the location of the school (rural Pennsylvania). Which brings me to my main issue with the school: it's in RURAL PENNSYLVANIA. Everyone tried to tell me that it's ONLY a 3 or 4 hour drive from places like Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, DC, Baltimore and NYC. This has to be the first time I've ever heard anyone refer to a 3 or 4 hour drive as "ONLY" a 3 or 4 hour drive. 3 or 4 hours will take you half way up from LA to SF. But if you like hunting, fishing, or hiking, apparently "it doesn't get much better than this." Also, it's a big party and football school. I was told that this really doesn't matter for grad students that want to get away from the noise but I'm pretty sure the presence of 40,000 undergrads is pretty hard to miss. Department: amazing Location: not my cup of tea In the end, I'm personally still stuck between Davis, Penn State and UNC so I can't really tell you anything about UCLA vs. Penn State (Davis is also rural but ONLY 1 or 2 hours from SF and San Jose). Note the appropriate use of "ONLY." I say go to Penn State if you don't mind the location. You definitely won't be disappointed with the department (at least I wasn't).

The waiting process is pretty much over for me so I guess I'll share my experience: (all Stats PhD programs) Accepted: UC Irvine, UC Davis, UNC-Chapel Hill, Penn State Rejected: Chicago, Cornell, UPenn, UCLA No reply: Purdue For a while I was pretty set on UNC but I'm realizing I might want to do something more statistical computing oriented, and now I don't really know where I want to go. I really liked all the other schools I visited and plan on visiting UNC next week. SAMSI, NISS and all the other research going on around the area combined with the OR opportunities within the department and SILS at UNC are just so tempting... plus the option to take grad courses at NCSU and Duke (maybe in machine learning or data mining?)... Are these not really legitimate reasons to be seriously considering the department? Does anyone know how often, if at all students at UNC have the opportunity to actually get involved in research or work being down at places like SAMSI, NISS, RENCI, etc. or interdepartmental work with CS or SILS? Would I really be a lot better off just going to a larger Stats department like Penn State or Davis with more computing options? (That's what the Profs at the other schools told me, but I'm pretty sure they're more than just a little biased.) Also, I'm turning down Irvine tomorrow and hoping to do the same with either Davis or Penn State by the end of the week. Any advice would be really helpful.

Have you had a chance to visit both departments? That always helps. Also, I know it's probably pretty bad form, but I straight up asked professors to compare their program to some of the other programs I had been accepted at. Obviously they all said that their program would be the best place to go, but I still found it helpful. I'll be visiting Penn State in a week so I can tell you more about the department then. I don't really know much about UCLA but it seems like a fairly strong program and the location is AMAZING (I love LA). Visit if you can, and if you can't try e-mailing professors and students at each program. Do you have any idea what it is you want to do?

Hey Pierre. Sometimes I forget how much more complicated things are for international students. I hope things work out well for you and your partner.

Hey Pierre, congrats on all the amazing admits. Would it be at all possible for you to make a decision before April 15? If you wait until April 15, which ever departments you decide to turn down won't have the opportunity to offer your spot to someone on the waitlist. I've been told that I'm on the reserve list (not really sure what that means...) at UNC so this is a pretty selfish request, but I also have a few admits and plan on turning most of my offers down by April 10. Obviously whatever you choose to do is ultimately up to you. As for the the original topic, I'd go to Iowa and try it out for a couple of years. If I really really hated the area, I'd leave the program with a masters and go into industry.

hey, I'm an American and I received the same email as the others. 80% tuition and waitlisted for TA. They have 4 GAANN fellowships this year so I've also been asked to turn in my FAFSA to see if I qualify. I posted this on the results page too. I checked the online login for JHU and there wasn't anything new. They have visit days on March 25 and April 1.

hmm.... I'm working a temp job full-time right now so the $20 doesn't hurt too bad (really, what's the difference between $900 and $920 spent on the process?). Plus, sending it out will give me peace of mind. I don't want to call on Monday only to find out that they won't take faxed or e-mailed copies even if I've already sent the same document in the mail. Thanks for the suggestion. I'll definitely give the department secretary a call on Monday!

Thank you everyone for the responses! I think I'm going to resend the SoP tomorrow morning with a note that says something to the effect of: "I recognize that the font size on my previously submitted form might make it difficult for the Admissions Committee to adequately review my SoP. I sincerely apologize for this and have included a newer version of my SoP for the Committee's consideration. Thank you very much for your understanding." ?? I'm pretty bad with words (incredibly wordy), so any advice on how to phrase, "I'm sorry that I messed up, please accept this better looking version of my SoP?" (As for the word limit, the SoP sheet actually says it's alright to attach additional sheets so I'm not too worried about them thinking I'm trying to get around some sort of limit. It's just too bad that they require everything to be turned in as a hard copy... ) I suppose I've learned my lesson... All other apps will be submitted with AT LEAST 2 weeks of wiggle room! Thanks!

So I sent out my SoP today to UCLA (their deadline is next Tuesday so I'm cutting it really close). The problem is that I just realized that the text might be too small for some people to read. UCLA's SoP sheet resizes text when you enter it so that it all fits on the page. So now I have 900 words crammed on 2/3 of a page... it never crossed my mind that the people reading this would probably be tired/irritated/etc. and have a lot of trouble reading the size 8pt text. Should I spend the extra money to ship a new copy of my SoP first thing tomorrow morning, printed on a separate sheet in standard 12pt font (with a note attached)? I feel really ridiculous that I'm considering spending another $20 just to send these 2 pieces of paper out, but I really don't want people reading my SoP to be mad at me the whole time (probably wouldn't help with the admissions decision), plus I feel bad about it. Any suggestions...?

It's nice to know that I'm not the only one that froze up during the test. Verbal wasn't so bad, but on the quant. section I ended up spending 15 minutes on the 7th question... I have no idea why. I finished the quant. sections on PP with at least 10 minutes to spare (which is probably why I thought I'd still be okay after spending 15 minutes on one question)... Too bad I'm applying to an incredibly quant. heavy field. BAAAAAAH. moral of story: only spending one week prep'ing by looking at vocab = really stupid mistakes on quant. section At least it's all over.