sild

Your schools are all private -- some of the largest and best-known MS biostat programs are at public schools (UNC and Michigan for example). Some schools focus on the PhD so that an MS could be an indicator of weak performance in the PhD (not always, but ask about that). Top tier programs not in your list include Washington, UNC, & Michigan. Harvard and Hopkins are the other universally-acknowledged top tier schools. Minnesota and Emory have stronger programs than some on your list as well.

I think you are definitely in the game based on the statistics you have provided. The math subject tests are not often taken by applicants, and you have a strong score. If you have one more year it would be great to get some research or other experience with faculty at one of those schools, perhaps even visiting a summer program if possible.

Those choices seem realistic assuming you have strong letters and a strong GRE as well. Funding is much less likely from a MS program than from a PhD program. Also the programs you list vary substantially in terms of the focus. I would also add SC biostat given that you have SC stat and MUSC on your list.

The Harvard department is very highly ranked and will get you far in either academics or industry. NCSU has a lot of great faculty, but the program has nowhere near the reputation of Harvard's program.

Emory has a strong history and some great mid-level faculty members; would be hard to justify Florida over Emory to me unless you have family considerations....

I would select them in the order you listed in the original post. There are clear differences in program quality among the three schools, and biostat employers will know this unless they are very new....

Now that you've been admitted, I would contact the Director of Admissions to see what the chances are of getting funding. You can let them know you are interested but that you need money in order to come, and most places will try to find something. It can be harder for MS students though.

Include the paper (in fact you could upload it as supplemental material, especially if you feel the paper outranks the journal, but I agree you don't want to put it that way ). If you can't increase the GRE-Q, you need some safety schools. Even in biostats the median score in top schools is going to be over 165. I'd feel confident about BU biostat but not the others unless that goes up.

Most US universities consider advanced calculus to be elementary real analysis. If you have a space in which to describe relevant courses, it would be good to clarify this if it is not clear on the transcript (for example, if it gets translated as "advanced mathematics" it will be ignored).

It depends on the grades in Analysis and Math-Stat Theory (smiley faces!). If those are A's and you score well (>165) on the new GRE-Q, and you are confident in your academic reference letters, I'd apply to the top 5 (Harvard, Hopkins, UNC, UW, Michigan) and a smattering of others. If you've got B's in some of those and it has been a while since you've taken a theoretical math/stat class, admissions committees might get nervous. The year off to teach English shouldn't hurt at all, though you want to be sure your post-MS experience (if you have graduated) is directly relevant, so you may need a good spin on what you are doing now if you have graduated and are still job hunting.

DrPH programs can vary a lot across universities. You might consider well-ranked programs who also offer that degree, e.g. UNC, Columbia, UCLA. In terms of places to apply, some schools with strong reputations have newer biostat departments so you might consider those, e.g. Vanderbilt, Penn, Brown. Maybe more of a stretch but potentially worth it depending on how your letters/statement look include Minnesota and Emory. Colorado-Denver has been building and has some first class faculty, so that might be a nice choice. More along the safety lines would be Alabama, MUSC, South Carolina, Ohio State, Dartmouth.... For a PhD program you might consider taking real analysis first.

Duke biostat is not competitive. You'd ideally want the GRE-Q a bit higher for the top programs, especially if you're not at a top undergrad institution. All the biostat programs will know what SIBS is, so you can just list it as SIBS on your CV. With strong letters from profs in your proofs-based courses (esp analysis) you should not have trouble though.

If you could get research experience from someone who could write you a strong letter of recommendation, that would be ideal. One point to consider is that the Duke STAT department is highly specialized in Bayesian inference. If you were applying to the doctoral program and did not mention Bayesian inference in your statement of purpose, you'd have a much lower chance of being accepted. You can always ask your stats prof if they feel comfortable recommending you for grad school right now, or whether you should get more experience/take classes. If you take their advice and show them you're working hard, that could turn into a really nice letter.

Job prospects are superb for grads from the top schools (Harvard, UNC, Hopkins, UW, Michigan); students who don't get jobs generally carrying out quite focused searches (e.g., trying to live near partner in specific city). These programs are all quite broad in their training, as Latte indicated. UNC is a quite large department with faculty representing most areas. They have something of a reputation of being one of the mathier programs currently, but if you look at their website you can see that a few faculty members are super theoretical while others are quite applied; most are somewhere in the middle.

You've gotten some great advice so far. I don't think you need to apply to all that many programs with your credentials, to be honest (I'd just apply to Latte's first 5, but I only applied to 2 schools, probably not the safest strategy). If you know you want the PhD, don't bother applying to MS programs. Many schools with strong MS programs would automatically consider you for them if they felt you were not yet ready for the PhD. Given your lack of research experience I would be sure on the application to make your motivation for biostats (as opposed to pure stats) clear. If you did do a gap year, there are a lot of great opportunities in NIH labs for postbaccalaureate training that would shore up biostats credentials.

I think it would be hard to get into Michigan or UNC doctoral programs without a higher GRE quantitative or an A in real analysis to shore things up. You would have a great shot in the MS programs though, and if you do well you could transfer to the PhD.