Hi everyone,
I'm interested in applying for biostatistics PhDs in the USA, starting fall 2015. I'd be an international student, and so have relatively little idea of what my chances of getting into a good school would be. I'm very keen on biostat and have been thinking about this for a while. Any help would be greatly appreciated!!
As a note: I'm not entirely sure how my grades stack up in terms of GPAs, as most universities don't use that scoring system here in Australia. I've tried to calculate my GPA using the Australian system, which is out of 7 (on a very coarse scale, only 4 or 5 levels), and then scaled it down to the usual 4.0 system. However, I'm unsure if this gives an accurate representation of my GPA relative to the US system- I suspect it might be lower than it appears. If anyone has an opinion on this, let me know! I did the last year of my undergrad on exchange at an excellent US public university, where unfortunately my grades were lower than usual- GPA 3.2 during that year, I'm worried this is going to hurt me.
Degree history
Undergraduate: Bachelor of Science with major in pure math, minor in biology
Post-graduate Diploma of Public Health
Master of Mathematics & Statistics (currently in my final semester)
GPA
3.8 for everything excluding first two years of undergrad
3.97 for current masters in maths & stats
GRE
167 verbal
161 quant
6.0 analytical writing
Wasn't happy with my quant scores so taking it again soon.
Experience
I did two substantial research projects in my undergrad, both in mathematical biology type areas. I've had several research assistant positions since, three in schools of public health doing math biology or applied stats type stuff. I'm currently doing an internship with a biostatistics group in a research institution attached to a hospital.
I've got three first author papers to my name, not exactly published in top tier journals, but of a relevant nature (applied stats/ math bio).
I'm doing a research project for my masters (25% of total degree work), which is in a statistics-related area.
I've tutored one applied statistics subject (aimed at 3rd and 4th year students without a strong math background) and one math biology subject (for first year pre-med students).
Letters of Rec
Masters research supervisor: professor of stat
Past and current research supervisors: one professor, one associate professor (a public health expert, not a math or stat guy), one dr
Lecturers: associate professor who's taught me three times
Schools that I'm interested in
I'm aiming high at the moment but unsure if I'm being realistic (especially with my gre quant score, although like I said, hoping to improve that). I'd love to apply to:
Harvard, University of Washington, Johns Hopkins, UC Berkeley, UCLA, Columbia, Emory, UNC, University of Michigan
It's very hard for me to judge the next tier down. Any tips?
Thanks in advance!