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literaryreference

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Everything posted by literaryreference

  1. I heard a negative review of Davis MS Stat program from a current student. He indicated that there was a lot of change in the department and some of the current students were unhappy. Also stated that coursework was pretty theoretical.
  2. How well is Purdue regarded for machine learning? It seems to be a prominent area of focus for their school, the only other schools that seems to have as much of a focus on ML are Stanford and CMU. Are their any other schools known particularly for ML?
  3. I hope this doesn't come off as self aggrandizing, but I am having almost as much trouble phrasing an email declining an offer as I did in writing an SOP. The department chairs I have spoken to have been very welcoming and super nice and helpful (at the couple of places I got in, the others were terse). Should I say a reason I am declining their offer or which school I am attending, or is it better to just say say that I am declining and leave the specifics out? Earnest question, I promise.
  4. I turned down my offer so someone should hear from them soon.
  5. Here is a link which explains in a bit more depth - http://provost.gmu.edu/council/courses/apr11/CGSResolution.pdf
  6. I just looked into this. If you accept a funded offer before April 15, you can get out of it before April 15th, but if you hold onto funding after that point, you need a signed note from the dept.
  7. I am curious about what people believe are the best schools for Industry/Government placement, and if there is any major divergence from the list of top schools for academic placement (excluding biostat). Based on anecdotal evidence, a few I think would make the list are: Harvard Berkeley CMU NYU UMD Purdue Iowa State NC State UNC Stony Brook Again, this is based largely on anecdotes from people I have spoken with. Obviously as has been mentioned many times before, choice of advisor has a major impact, but options for advisors are not independent of school quality. Any thoughts are greatly appreciated.
  8. I got a rejection from UMD a week ago, so I know they are in the process of making decisions. I got a call to interview at Pitt for stat, not biostat, but they may make decisions at the same time.
  9. I would totally second everything said by the other posters. It sounds like you are a very ambitious, very young person who has been accelerating things for a while and you don't feel like you will be able to compete. My senior year of college I was a bit like a (less academically successful) version of you: I was looking at the competition and I spent too much time looking at forums where it seemed like all of the applicants are Ivy League graduates with 3.9+ GPAs, very high math subject test GRE scores, meaningful research, straight A's in graduate coursework, letters from famous professors, etc, etc, etc. So I decided not to apply to grad school that year, considered myself a failure, and went into industry for a few years, and eventually started working on a masters in stats. As it turns out, that was all just a pessimistic narrative I allowed myself to believe because I was in a college environment. It can seem like academia is the only possible path, simultaneously the most noble and coveted of professions, and that going to grad school immediately is the only possible path because you don't want to be seen taking time off. But it isn't exactly true. I think you should be proud of your accomplishments, particularly your GPA and completing an REU at Duke. There is always going to be competition, but if you apply to a bunch of programs, and get good LORs from professors, you will get in somewhere that will be a good fit. Waiting a year might improve your chances, but there is no harm in applying your senior year (other than the cost of apps). Best of luck to you.
  10. As acceptances and rejections for Pure Stat PhD programs start to roll in and I am getting a better picture of what my options will be, I am wondering if anyone has any input on unranked programs. Programs like George Mason, University of Arizona, UVA, Virginia Tech, UCSB, UCR, Temple, GWU, and Pitt are all on places I have applied and which are on my radar. I am unlikely to pursue academia outright, and would prefer to work in industry or government. Is there a major difference in access to opportunity or earnings potential in industry and/or government between attending an unranked/low ranked school vs. attending a top 20-30 school? Among this list, are their any schools that should be avoided outright? I am finding that I am getting more generous funding offers from unranked schools. I would appreciate any input anyone has into the process as I am tying my brain into knots trying to figure out what to do.
  11. Very good list. I might also be interested in the local job market for PhDs who go into industry, as it seems professors have stronger contacts near their schools.
  12. Also no mention of BU's stat program, only biostat. Is this meant to be comprehensive in any way? Does a school need to actively court USNWR to attain a ranking? If this is the best they can do, I'm going to substantially deemphasize these rankings in my decision, I don't think these accurately reflect the consensus opinions of the academic community outside of the very top tier. Any chance Cyberwulf, or any other academics could weigh in on this?
  13. Hello, I wanted to check and see if anyone else has had this experience, or if I am possibly incorrectly interpreting an email. I applied to a PhD program which has indicated that they accepted me recently and then I received a second email that they have not yet received a response from me regarding their offer. I don't believe that funding has been discussed, and it has not been made explicitly clear that I have some form of assistantship, which would be a prerequisite for attending. Because it is still relatively early on in the response season, I am concerned that if I reach out to ask and am offered funding, I will be pressured for an immediate answer, which may not be in my best interest if a better offer comes along. My understanding is that most offers made at most schools must be accepted by April 15th, and after that date funding may be released to other students. Has anyone ever heard of this practice, or is it much more likely that I have merely misinterpreted a component of the email? I greatly appreciate any guidance on this, definitely had a mini panic attack thinking that I might have to accept an offer right now.
  14. I made the decision to apply to statistics PhD programs in December, took the GRE and started submitting applications in January. Most of the deadlines for the programs I submitted to had a deadline of January 15th (all applications were submitted before that day). My question is this: Does an admissions deadline mean that all materials must be received by that date, or that all materials have been fully processed by the receiving institution? Some of these schools have 4-6 week processing times and I am worried I may not have made the deadline for any of the schools I have applied to. Does anyone have any idea how this process works and to what extent I may have hurt my candidacy? Thank you for any input.
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