OctopusPrime

Does anyone know how turning down an offer from a Statistics MS program would affect your eligibility for the following year (or later) at the same program? I may be offered a job that would cause me to postpone my graduate studies, but I wouldn't want to burn bridges with programs I'm applying to now.

Does anyone know whether it's a good idea to list specific books or papers you've read in your Statement of Purpose? I'm describing my interest in Bayesian statistics, and am inclined to mention the big influence three books on this subject have had on me. I don't know whether this is a nice detail which demonstrates interest and motivation, or if it is heavy-handed.

Does anyone know what PhD fields (other than statistics) are in reach of someone with an MS in Stats (with relevant electives)? How about Econ, Finance, and Operations Research? And are there others?

Could anyone provide a list of statistics and biostatistics departments that are considered friendly to Bayesian methods? I am not a Bayesian hard-liner, but would like to attend a program where I can get a very solid foundation in both Bayesian and frequentist methods, and write a Bayesian dissertation if I develop in that direction. And I'm interested in all relevant departments, not just top 10.

Thanks! That's encouraging.

I was hoping to get some suggestions as to what range of Biostats programs I should apply to, because I have no clue. My profs are pretty unhelpful in this regard. My interests are mainly in epidemiology and Bayesian methods, if that's relevant. Undergrad: Mediocre public school Major: Math (Math Stat concentration) Minor: Political science GPA: 4.0 GRE Scores (revised version):Q: 165V: 170AW: 4.5 Research Experience: A few projects in political science and psychology, resulting in two conference talks. Spent two summers working on applied math problems, the second being quite statistical. No publications or biostats-related projects, though. Programming: Matlab, R, Python, a bit of SAS Pertinent Activities or Jobs: None except for aforementioned summer workLetters of Recommendation: 1 math (good to glowing), 1 stats (good to glowing), 1 political science (the political science guy knows me best and loves me, since I've worked with him since I was a freshman, but would it be a bad idea given his discipline? The alternative would be math profs who would write good but probably not glowing recs)Stats Courses taken: Probability, Math Stats (honors), Stochastic Processes, Intermediate Stats, grad Regression, grad Categorical Data, grad Data Mining Proof-based courses: Advanced Calc 1 (honors), Advanced Calc in n dimensions, Integral Transforms, Discrete Dynamical Systems, upper level Linear Algebra Other courses: intro bio sequence, intro chem sequence, a few environmental science courses So far I'm thinking Minnesota, Michigan, and UNC as the best schools I'll be applying to. But again, I have no clue what schools are good bets, which ones are long shots, and which ones are off limits. I could really use some help!