Pierre
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Posts posted by Pierre
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My opinion is that it is very very "dangerous" to let brand name decide where you're going. Of course if you have two schools who are equally well reputed in the specific field, offering you the same amount of money etc., then you should perhaps take the one more "famous" one.
But as many have already pointed out, if you go on to work in the field that you have your PhD in, your co-workers will know the reputation of such departments and the usual suspects (i.e. Harvard, Yale, Princeton etc.) might not carry as much weight. Therefore IMO one should always go by research interests and how they correspond with the faculty at different departments when deciding where to go. Of course funding is also a crucial aspect. Brand name (in the sense of the general public's opinion) should not be brought into the equation until the very end, if at all. I feel very much the same about different rankings, as they are not tailored to your own specific needs and interests and therefore can give you the wrong idea about a department or school.
In this particular case, UNC is to me the obvious choice. I am a bit biased since I already love the town (although I am a the type who prefers a big city, go figure) and the school, but the biostat dept. is nothing but awesome. Also, you have an incredibly stat dept. from which you can take courses and collaborate with people in and of course the research triangles provides a great deal of opportunities.
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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?
Unfortunately you won't. Uncertainty regarding my girlfriend's possibilities of getting a work permit made me stay in Sweden and I will therefore be attending the Royal institute of technology in Stockholm (possibly Oxford, but that is very unlikely). I can only congratulate you though for going to CH, I absolutely love the department and the people there are just great. The town is rather nice to live in as well and of course if you're into sports it's a really nice area.
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Good question. Specifically, the idea would be to actually take the past qualifying exams on my own, under timed conditions, and then show the results to the target schools.
Perhaps I should have waited until after April 15th to post this, since I'm interested in what others plan to do in this regard. Of course, I may be the only person on here myopic enough to apply to only four programs.
It might work, but I highly doubt the exam thing will do much for your application. Grad courses in relevant subjects and possibly research on the other hand will of course without a doubt help you. Taking courses that coincide well with what you list as your research interests shows that you actually know some things about the topics you mention in your SOPs. And of course getting good LORs from relevant professors will open some doors. But you already know this...
Good luck, hope you don't have to worry when it's all said and done
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Can't do anything but agree with the above posts. If you just tell them the situation there should be no harm done. I would say that this is in some ways similar to a student applying to more than one school and then choosing amongst those that he/she receives an offer from. Or even applying for multiple jobs at the same time (even though then you probably won't tell the different companies about each other, thus hurting the analogy) - my point is that you rarely put all your eggs in one basket and hope for the best. Again, just tell them the situation (without freaking out about it) and you should be fine.
Good luck !
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Still nobody with some news from Toronto? Is the glorious April 15 deadline not honored by Canadian universities?
Late last night (European time) I saw that my status had changed to "decision made". However the results are only sent out via mail so that's five or so days before it gets here - I emailed the dept. asking them to reveal my result since I have to respond to non-North American schools before or just when the letter will arrive here. Let's see if they can oblige...
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Anyone?
.Haven't decided just yet, but if I go there I'll be studying for a DPhil in statistics and belong to St. Catz college (if I'm not moved, I don't know how that goes).
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I am in a sort of similar situation myself and I must say that things like this makes you not enjoy getting into that top program as much as you would want to/should.
With that said, I definitely don't think that you're being selfish. If you've already done long distance and it seems to work for you, then by all means go for that top program and kick *** at it. Think about the possibilities that it will give the two of you in the future. Now if I can only apply this logic to my own situation I should be fine (the old saying "easier said than done" has never been this true).
Good luck to you
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Hello all,
I have recently been considering writing a Fulbright submission for 2011 to Sweden. Does anyone know how competitive these full Fulbrights are? I know that England is the most competitive and Germany is probably the least because they offer so many but I haven't found too much information about Sweden. Are there any other fellowships for study abroad in Sweden for graduate studens (masters) that anyone knows about?
Thanks.
Even though I can't answer your questions, I was wondering what school(s) in Sweden you had in mind and what particular subjects you would want to study? It's always nice to see some interest in your home country
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For Chicago it was listed as a strong recommendations that you take the Math Subject test, but since they also consider applicants for the M.S., I just applied. I got into the M.S. program with a moderate tuition reduction, but the national needs fellowship offer from Iowa State pretty much sealed the deal for me. I contacted UNC about my application a week ago, and they replied that they're still making decisions. When I get the letter from ISU and gather the nerve to sign it, I'll let UNC and UFL know I'm no longer in this dog-and-pony show. Congrats on your admits, Pierre. Have you made the final decision yet? Some people would find the name Oxford irresistible, but you have a good choice of countries at your disposal.
I never saw the re-written "guide" for applicants, I could have sworn that the subject test at least used to be mandatory since this was actually one of the reasons I did not apply to U.Chicago...Oh this hurts a little, I would definitely have thrown in an applications otherwise. And here I tell people how important it is to really research the departments you are considering
. Congrats on Iowa, that's really nice. I haven't made a final decision yet. Oxford is indeed tempting but we'll see, I am waiting for their funding decisions and that is of course a quite crucial part of the offer. I'm also going to talk some more to the inteded supervisor to see how well my interests/aims coincide with what he wants to do. -
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.
Thanks. I'll definitely turn some offers down before April 15 so that others can take my place. Unfortunately this probably won't help you - UNC is one of my absolute top choices and until I get all the info I need regarding my significant others visa status I won't be able to make a decision. If everything turns out well it is a high probability that I'll accept that offer actually. In that case, hopefully we'll be able to meet in CH next fall. Best of luck to you - if I do not get the news I want I'll of course let the dept. know ASAP and hopefully that can help you.
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Thank you for your great suggestions. I will have a look at the courses, and see whether they matches my interest.
Congratulations on your admissions. Which school do you want to go? Oxford?
No problem. I have tried to be consistent when it comes to really looking at the research and course work available at each institution that I've considered before choosing to apply/enroll there. It is sometimes very easy to be blinded by a very good name or rankings and forget to really think about how well the particular school/program will suit your interests and goals. I left out several highly ranked/famous universities that I first thought that I would apply to because I felt that they didn't coincide with my "needs". With that said, most "top" universities of course can appeal to a very broad group of students and will offer you an excellent education.
Thank you. I am having a really hard time choosing and am trying to decide which of the many topics that I am interested in that I would want to study for 4-5 years. Oxford is certainly a good candidate, but having spent time at UNC and knowing the faculty there I seriously considering going there. It's a good thing there is still some time until April 15
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Although I am in general a person who is very fond of Stanford's program, I think I would really think twice before turning down Iowa. One question that I would at least consider is what type of industry you want to work in - the term industry isn't exactly precise. I would the look at Stanford's program and see what classes are mandatory and what possible electives there are, perhaps you will be able to take only one class that is very close to the particular field that you want to work in or perhaps the entire program fits perfectly into what you want to do...
Remember that Iowa is still a top program and going there wouldn't be a "step down" IMO. Also, aren't rankings (since this is a big pro for Stanford here, I tend to try and disregard rankings in general) generally done for the PhD programs? Yes the MS program should also be very good of course but my impression is that Stanford is great for very theoretical studies of probability and mathematical statistics and if that is what makes the program #1 this should perhaps be considered...I don't know, just my thoughts.
Anyways, just make sure that Stanford at least gives you some edge if you choose to go there because even though it's no problem, you will still be out 100k and will have to pay this back with what you earn...BTW congrats on the admits, you do have a rather pleasant dilemma
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Forgot about this thread. I'm the international (at least if there is only one that have posted results) admitted to the stats dept. My impression is that they are still looking at applications and deciding, but perhaps bumath has more knowledge than I do (just extrapolating from what they've stated in emails). Might visit there soon - a little tricky since I'm in Europe right now - and will try to make a decision as quickly as possible. Any insights regarding the city of Boston or the dept. in general? If I don't visit I'll talk with some of the professors on the phone and I'll try to gain some knowledge regarding number of students they plan to admit etc. for the different programs and then post what I learn here. Good luck everyone!
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I've been contacted by the dept. twice (Prof. Kolaczyk and Prof. Blanchard) regarding my application. Apparently the graduate school has misplaced some application materials when forwarding applications to the dept., in my case it was my transcripts. The second time it was a quick question about my educational background (I'm an international student). They are still actively going through applications (wrote this explicitly in one of the emails) and my impression is that they still haven't made all the decisions yet.
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Hi all. I am having a big dilemma about where to continue my education. I am accepted at both UNC and U of Florida for their PhD programs in statistics. I have an exceptional financial aid package from the U of Florida, but it's an exploding offer and I have to make a decision shortly. I know that both universities are pretty good in the area of statistics, but as I browse through the professor's interests I think that UNC is a better fit for me. Also UNC's location is better, I believe. On the other hand the attention that I'll get in the U of Florida will maybe compensate for those factors.
Any thoughts about my dilemma will be appreciated.
Thanks,
mtey
Do you have any idea on what particular subjects/topics you want to study? My impression is that UNC is a better place if you want to focus on probability theory and possibly mathematical statistics - I might be wrong though.
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Thanks, it's good to hear from someone who has actually lived there rather than just doing hypothetical calculations.
My biggest problem is that I'm offered MUCH more money for grad schools here in Europe and the programs are definitely as good as UBC's - particularly one of the schools I'm considering. However I've found that I really enjoyed grad life in North America (visited for six months) and the whole experience of going abroad, especially to a place like Vancouver, is quite appealing.
My girlfriend would also come with me and thus we face the problem of finding her a new job - seeing how she now has her dream job here, it is a bit difficult to pull her away from that..
Oh well, I'm glad there's a month left to decide in
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Just wanted to add that I as well received an offer from UBC this week, although this was also from the math dept.
I got an email from one of the prof. working in my preferred field last week letting me know that I was accepted and then this week the official offer with funding details arrived. I have to second that they are very specific about funding.
On a related note, does anyone know much about Vancouver and the cost of living? I have no idea how far 20-22k/year will go
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Hi,
I think I am lucky to be accepted by the two programs (stat@Harvard, stat@UChicago). But at the same time, I feel it difficult for me to make the final decision.
1) Harvard. The name is so appealing to me! The night I got the news that I was accepted by that program, I simply couldn't fall asleep. I do have a very strong Harvard complex. The program is ranked 3rd or 4th. And MIT is just next to Harvard, so I may have great opportunities meeting people of great potential. But the size of faculty is so small (only 5 professors) and they mainly focus on Bayes and MCMC. (Of course, the 5 professors are all stars!) And I've heard from some other professors that they feel the reputation of this program is vastly overrated and they seldom consider PhD graduates from that program as their assistant professors. I am really sad to hear that because I really like the name of Harvard. I would really need a lot of courage to turn it down.
2) Chicago. The faculty size is large and there are several excellent professors whose interest is in stochastic processes, as well as other fields. Although the name of the university of less appealing and the program is ranked 6th, I feel the program is better (I got the idea just by comparing what is posted in the webpages of the two programs). The program seems to be a better match for me. I know that the program emphasizes theory very much and many PhD graduates find positions in universities. The placement is good! But, I personally prefer to live in Boston.
I am not sure about the research direction I am mostly interested in, since I major in math and lack deep understanding of all the branches of statistics. Currently, I feel that I am interested in stochastic processes and MCMC. On the one hand, Professor Kou at Harvard is good match, but he seems to be the only professor at Harvard who are interested in stochastic processes. Of course, Harvard is very strong in regard to MCMC. On the other hand, there are many professors at Chicago interested in stochastic processes, and the research in Chicago is broader and deeper (some professors said that to me). I really can't decide which one to go. I might feel regretful to turn down Harvard, but I might have a better future if I attended University of Chicago.
What should I do? Can someone share some opinions? Thanks!
Apparently there were two threads and I replied in the other one. Oh well
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I don't know how much this will help you, but having considered both programs when I looked at schools here are my two cents:
My background is more in math than in statistics, I have a degree in engineering physics with a master's in engineering mathematics (lots of probability theory and related mathematical topics). From my perspective, the program at U. Chicago is a far better math than Harvard. First of all, if you're not entirely sure on what direction you want to take it seems better to go to a department that gives you more choices rather than one whose faculty have very limited research interests. Also, my impression is that at Harvard there is a lot of focus on applying statistical theory to biology and related topics, something that wasn't very attractive for me. At the same time, with my interests I would choose Chicago and the possibility to work with Prof. Lawler any day of the week so I am of course a bit biased
In the end, I think you just have try and decide on a general direction in which you want to take your studies - should you feel that the few topics that are emphasized at Harvard would suit you, then by all mean go there. If you instead have a hard time deciding and want to "browse" some of the subjects more before you make a commitment, I would suggest Chicago. Don't let the name Harvard get to you too much. I know it's hard, I also had only the "famous" universities on my original list. Being an international, you seldom here about other places than the really famous ones and thus you think that they are to prefer for all subjects. Three months later and lots of consideration and looking at schools, my list was very different and was much more based on how my research interests compared to those of faculty members at the different departments. If you have a strong personal bias towards living in Boston that should of course be taken into account, but remember that you will have to work really hard for 4-5 years and therefore should make sure that you can choose a topic that you really enjoy.
Good luck and remember that this is a quite nice choice to have
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I applied to 12 schools, which was a logistical nightmare, but I knew that I didn't want to wait around another year and apply again. I'm also a somewhat atypical applicant, since I'm depending on my work/research experience more than my academic record in my application. I was a math major, but never took stats/probability (unless you count Lebesgue Integration). I've been doing bioinformatics work of a statistical nature for the last two years at an academic institution
Out of curiosity, did those of you applying to these same schools take the GRE Math Subject test? It's tough to find the time with a demanding full time job (and nearly 4 years since graduating), but I probably should have made the time. General GRE was no problem (although next year my score would have been too old!), and the vast majority of stats programs don't require the subject test, but I wonder how many do take it. With two acceptances, it's mostly water under the bridge, but if I took a masters program at a school I preferred, I may end up taking it later down the road.
I consider many of those I haven't heard back from to be longshots, but there's probably one or two acceptances left, or at least an offer for the masters program. Maybe the style now is to send out more PhD. acceptances but with no funding. Washington sent out a strange pair of emails; the first saying they had no funding for anyone for 2010-2011, the second saying I was rejected. Not sure what that was about; trying to make me feel better?
No word:
Harvard Stat
Johns Hopkins Biostat
Berkeley Stat
Michigan Stat
Stanford Stat (M.S.)
U. Florida Stat
U. North Carolina Chapel Hill Stat
U. Chicago
Cornell Stat
Accepted:
Iowa State (funding, possible fellowship/comajor)
Wisconsin-Madison (no funding)
Rejected:
U. Washington
I applied to some of those schools: UNC Chapel Hill, Berkeley and Cornell, and did not take the GRE subject (I ended up taking it anyway since I needed it for one place, but didn't send it to these other schools then either). I'm curious how you could apply to U. Chicago without a subject score unless it's for a MS degree? And the situation at U. Washington is very peculiar, I didn't apply there due to a statement on their webpage that they would have very little funds for incoming students in F2010. Apparently, very little was an over estimate on their behalf...
Good luck with your applications!
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Since I'm an international (spent one semester in the US, but that hardly counts) I'm not entirely sure about how much emphasis is put on different aspects of your application etc...However, it seems as if you have a solid background for entering a PhD program. As some have suggested I would also encourage you to pick up some more analysis, especially if you want to go in a very theoretical direction. However if you are leaning more towards an applied direction for your studies, some more advanced statistics and/or computer programming surely wouldn't hurt.
Also, you could always do yourself a favor and apply to a department that conduct research influenced by finance (I can't remember if you wrote that this was something you didn't want to do, my apologies if so) and where your background would suit well with the interests of the faculty.
As for the GRE, only a few of the statistics program do require it. E.g. out of the top three (according to US News 2008 ranking) only one require it (Stanford), one recommends it if you performed well (Berkeley) and one is satisfied with a solid math background (UNC). Here you can of course show the programs that you are indeed good at math, even though the program doesn't necessarily require the test, should you feel that your grades/courses aren't doing your abilities justice. I'd also follow the other posters recommendation and really study for the Subject test if you plan to take it.
I advise you to make a list (really big at first) of places that you can see yourself applying, and start looking more carefully at every program. What professors would you want to work with at each place (is it one or ten), what type of research does the faculty seem to focus on/lean towards and how does this correspond to what you want to do, etc.. In my case this completely changed where I applied as compared to what I thought a couple of months earlier. I don't know how set you are on certain departments or so, but this "tactic" was really useful for me.
Best of luck!
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Wondering the same thing...The SGS page says that most decisions are made in March/April so perhaps a few more weeks? The deadline (Jan 22nd right?) was also later than most other schools I applied to so I'm still cutting Toronto some slack...
What topics are you interested in studying there? I wasn't particularly sure whether to apply or not and can't say that I know as much about the dept. as I do for all the other ones where I applied.
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As many others I got the first word from Brown (applied math) yesterday, waitlisted at the moment. Kinda surprised since I know that I'm not necessarily a good fit for the entire dept., although very good for a few profs.
Also got accepted to UNC's Stat & OR program earlier today. Even though it was sort of expected (spent some time there as a visitor and had recommendations from two profs in the dept.) it was great to finally hear something. Now if only all the others would follow suit and let me know
Canadian Phd Programs
in Mathematics and Statistics
Posted
I applied and was acepted to UBC (and Toronto as well but for statistics) and I can only give praise to the department. That is of course with regards to their research in probability theory, since that is the field that I work in. The reason that I didn't end up going there was all non-academic and I would think that if one considers research in probability theory (particularly of the more theoretical nature, if that even makes sense) then it is one of the top departments in all of North America. As for the rest of mathematics, I'm not quite sure but I would imagine that they offer a solid education.