localfdr

Indeed, at most universities you will receive the same funding as all American students, should you get accepted. At some departments there might less available funded positions for internationals though. For example, in some biostatistics programs the domestic candidates are funded by the NIH, while the graduate school pays for the internationals.

So if I understand it correctly, you want rigorous math, statistics and machine learning (and AI etc), but come from a biological background. Well actually it really depends on the University. For example, for UW I think you could apply to their biostatistics department, because they also have rigorous math courses and also machine learning (which is what you want I think). In contrast, other biostats programs place a lot more emphasis on computational biology/public health/epidemiology applications rather than on rigorous math (e.g. Harvard biostats), so these would not be a good fit for you. On the other hand, you will get rigorous math and a good dose of machine learning (if you are interested in that), in pretty much any statistics department, which is why I recommended it. Plus you can always do biological applications in stats departments. Of course, indeed your mostly biological background means that you will have a better shot at getting admitted at biostats programs. But still, I think you have covered almost all math courses that are important for a stats PhD program and some stats departments look for people with an applied rather than math-y background. Depending on your research experience/GPA/LORs I definitely think you could have a shot at getting admitted to stats programs. Very mathematical programs (usually the ones which also have probability theorists in the stats department, such as Berkeley) might be a longer shot, but maybe still doable with a very strong GRE math subject test. In conclusion, my advice would be to apply to some biostats departments which are similar to UW plus to a few stats departments.

I really think that what you mean by pure/theoretical math is what most people call applied math. Also your post is a bit confusing... But my general feeling is that a Statistics department would be a great choice for you! You can do biostat applications in most departments (including neuroscience which is not really traditional biostat), take quite theoretical math classes (measure theory), computational (programming, optimization) and statistical machine learning classes.

Well, they sometimes are. Based on my great sample size of 1+1 offers from these areas, public southern schools might offer something like 19k per year, while private California universities seem to double it.

Congratulations! I guess you cannot go wrong with either choice. From a purely academic point of view, I think most people would consider Chicago to have the stronger and more diverse Statistics department and for a PhD I would definitely go with Chicago (unless there was a particular faculty member I would like to work with at Harvard - as always). For a Master's degree, things are more subtle: Again from a purely academic point of view, I would choose Chicago, but connections and the name also matter a lot. I don't have any information regarding that and it might be advisable to ask people in the field and part of the world which you want to join later.

@cyberwulf Ok, thank you!

@cyberwulf is the dress code for recruiting visits also the same as for interview visits? Or is it more casual?

First of all, congrats on getting into two of the best biostats programs! I would make this decision dependent on whether you already have clearly defined research interests and whether there is a specific faculty member at Berkeley with whom you want to work with and who is also interested in taking you on as her/his PhD student. For example, I could imagine that working with Lior Pachter or Bin Yu could lead to a very productive PhD, assuming research interests (and personalities) match. But if you are not sure about a particular Prof. at UCB with whom you want to work with, then I would go to UW because it leaves you so many more choices. For example, I did not even apply to UC Berkeley, because I felt that it would not be a good fit for me. UW biostats on the other hand accommodates pretty much everyone interested in anything biostats/stats related!

Based on the titles of the thread, I would have said go for nonparametrics, no doubt (see next paragraph as well). But based on the description you posted, the nonparametrics course seems lightweight content-wise, especially since I guess it will not be a proof based class and does not cover cornerstones like kernel density estimation and nonparametric regression. On the other hand, the time series course covers more ground, so I would be inclined to choose that. Now regarding biostats: I think both courses could be useful. Depending on your biostats interests though, you might not come across time series material (really time series would be more important if you were looking into econometrics or mathematical finance or something like that), while the nonparametric stuff you will see everywhere. But I'd still go for the time series class, if only because it will increase your statistical maturity more. Plus you might still need it for biostats!

Me too, just got an offer by Stanford (guess where local fdrs were first proposed :D)!!!!!!! Wooohooo

Also let's see when CMU & Stanford will start answering..

As another case in point, Harvard's biostatistics department does *not* invite international applicant to the recruitment weekend; only domestic ones. In other words, if you are an international, depending on the school you are applying to, you should not worry at all about not getting invited!

Yes, to both. Though for schools which have both biostats and stats departments I applied only to biostats. Are you applying only to stats?

Yeah Chicago definitely does it in batches (i.e. I have not lost hope yet!) , also to quote from their FAQ: "We consider applications in batches. For example, one week we may consider all the applicants who are interested in a particular specialty or who are from a particular part of the world. We release decisions throughout February and March. If you have not received a decision from us, we are still considering your application." I do not really know about Harvard Stats since I have not applied there. At least it seems like they send a big batch of their admission letters simultaneously.

Yeah exactly! But again this is just my opinion, there are other people on this forum who are more qualified than I am to answer!