GoPackGo89
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Posts posted by GoPackGo89
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1 hour ago, gyxyc said:
Any courses may help for finding job? SAS courses?
Like an internship? Strong programming in SAS or R and a regression class would probably help you more than a math class.
I also just noticed mathematical statistics. I would take that this fall 100% if you are interested in statistics grad school
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On 4/9/2019 at 12:24 PM, Aweaston said:
Thanks for your reply! I was admitted with RA offer sent by two specific profs (they'll co-advise me), and they mainly work on genetic data. Since I had little exposure to genetic research during my undergraduate and am not very familiar with this field, I wonder whether it's a promising research direction and whether UNC is good at it.
Actually, I'm interested in Prof. Michael R. Kosorok. So I wonder whether RA offer means I'll be tied with the two profs for the coming five years of Ph.D. Is it possible for students to choose their research advisors after the first year (qualifying exam) in UNC?
By the way, congratulations on so many good offers you received. I guess you are struggling to make a decision lol.
Sorry I did not see this sooner than April 15th. Yes genetic research is promising and UNC has strong researchers in the area (both junior and senior faculty).
You won't be tied to your GRA advisors for five years. Assuming you are coming straight into the PhD level courses and pass quals the following summer, you will be able to shop around for an advisor after your first year. There is no guarantee you'll be able to choose any one specific advisor though. There are also cases where your dissertation advisor is not able to fund you so you would need to be on a training grant or work as a GRA.
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I'll share an idea I heard recently. Find professors on campus who are looking to hire postdocs. This could be evidence they are looking to expand their lab and might have startup money to hire a qualified masters level student.
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If you already have a solid resume then you could find funding at UNC Bios which can cover tuition for working as TA/RA. You would need to secure this yourself though. It won't come as apart of your acceptance.
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21 hours ago, Monte Carlo said:I am having a hard time choosing between Duke's Statistics MS and UVA's Statistics PhD. Duke’s stats program is top 10 in the US. It is also one of the only two year MS programs. It requires MS students to finish a Master's Thesis to graduate, which seems like a good preparation for PhD. But the problem is that if I want to continue pursuing PhD, I need to do well in the MS program. Typically they admit around 2 PhD students from their own MS students, and around 3-4 more students get admitted to other PhD programs elsewhere, out of 35 students each year. For UVA, they have a pretty low program ranking (around 70 in the U.S), but the advantage is that I don’t have to apply again and I get full ride for the five years. Also, they have a pretty small program (3-4 PhD students each year), which means I might get a lot of attentions from the advisors.At this point I’m not 100% confident about my academic ability to become a PhD. Also, I'm not quite sure what research topic I want to do for PhD. I thought it would be better if I get a masters degree first and decide afterwards. But at the same time, I realize that a PhD degree can give me much better job opportunities and higher salaries. If I force myself to go to PhD at this point, I might as well finish it, but I might struggle. I guess my question is if I want to work in the industry eventually, does program ranking and school reputation matter a lot? If money is not a big issue, should I go straight to PhD now or get MS at Duke first? Can anyone give me some advice please?
I wouldn't worry about not knowing what research area you're interested in. Most people in my cohort have only the slightest idea (except for genetics folks... they seem to know that stat gen is their thing and even that is very broad). Meeting faculty, reading papers, going to seminars will steer you.
It feels like your quality of life during what I am assuming will be your mid 20's is going to be much better as a UVA PhD student. BUT a masters in statistics from Dook is likely going to open doors and help you land a high paying job if that is important to you. You could also leverage an MS + a few years of solid work experience to get you into a program at least as good as UVA or better if you later decide a PhD is right for you.
I guess I agree with omicron with the added thought that Masters -> industry -> PhD is a common route people take.
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For R I would recommend this book: https://r4ds.had.co.nz/
Visualization and manipulating data will always serve you well.I think worrying about analysis might be overkill for a masters in biostats. If you really insist then I agree that working through Abbot would be good.
Linear algebra. Looking at the textbooks/syllabus for your regression courses will probably give you the best idea of how to brush up on linear algebra. I don't know other programs masters coursework but at my program applied linear algebra would help you more than heavy proof based books. Strang seems sufficient to me. (I'm actually going to review with Strang and pick some spots in Axler this summer before I head into my 2nd year PhD courses).
Calculus. Agree with Stat Phd Now postdoc.
In order of importance I would say:
R (programming as research assistant or in a datascience course has more of a learning curve than the calculus/algebra you're going to use IMO)
Brief derivative/integral review (You're going to get really good at turning an integral into a pdf so you don't ever have to integrate anything difficult anyway)
Lin Alg (Rank, determinants, inverse/transpose rules, multiplication)
Current students at Minnesota would have more relevant opinions than me though.
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9 hours ago, fireuponthedeep said:
the cost wasn't so prohibitive I'd love to
Just checked and it's a about $43000 intuition to get a masters in biostats from UNC. I wonder how that compares to Harvard, Washington, Hopkins, Michigan, Berkeley, Minnesota. One day I'll compare unless someone has done the math
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10 hours ago, galois said:
Just got the rejection from Duke, along with a few others it seems. Honestly, while I am obviously disappointed, I feel better now than I did not knowing. So there is a silver lining I guess ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
You're career is going to be amazing either way so don't sweat Duke. Can always do a postdoc there
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4 hours ago, hnn12 said:
I think they mean only PhD applications. Given that Penn State is a popular school, I am not surprised that they receive that many applications.
That's really impressive. I heard that UNC Biostats is over 300 applications so far but that is including masters
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When schools say 400+ applications , those are masters and phd applications right?
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First of all congrats on your acceptances! Have you thought about where you'd like to live when you graduate? Do you think you'll be to start a nationwide job search or does living in one of those cities really excite you?
I never realized how much location would matter in grad school (even though everyone seems to rank it was one of the top criteria). I naively and without any evidence believe prestige will not make up for the cost and especially not cost + sacrificing location once we get into the Emory/Wisconsin/Minn zone
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A quick google search yields many articles with advice on reaching out to students and alumnas. OP, if you want to reach out then you should. Sounds like worst case is you'll be made fun and best case you get some important feedback on one of the biggest decisions that you've had to make
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1 minute ago, bayessays said:
Someone told you that you should stalk people on the internet and send them unsolicited emails? Think about how crazy it would be to receive an email from someone you don't know asking whether you enjoyed your undergraduate college or your high school and asking for advice. Most people would not want this.
Assuming I survive grad school I would love for potential students to contact me with questions about past things I've done. In fact some of my other summer program colleagues were reached out to and I was the tiniest bit offended that I wasn't contacted. To each their own I guess
- bubbagump17 and Cavalerius
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There are good computational biologists in many biostat programs. Harvard, UW, JHU, UNC, Michigan, Minnesota all have some.
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3 hours ago, murball1 said:
Thanks for the reply. I easily fall into the non-traditional category. Graduated college 10 years ago with an actuarial science degree, and have been working the last 10 years in the profession. I know what I need to do in order to look good on paper (I am actually debating on taking a few college classes to freshen up on some math classes as a prep for mGRE and use that as a way to get to know some of the professors). Just curious if there are others who are not fresh out of the undergrad.
Yep you are in good company
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On top of the other posts I would consider what your post-graduation plans are. What industry? Where do you want to live? How flexible are you? If placement of their students isn't online you could email and ask. Otherwise you could check professors' CVs for what master theses they advised and search where they ended up.
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What is the definition of non-traditional? In my incoming biostatistics cohort there are at least a handful of students that have been working/teaching for sometime (now aged 27+). Don't get caught up in the proportion of non-traditional students in programs to gauge your chances. I think posting your grades, relevant experiences, who you have in your corner for letter writers, etc will allow people to give you a better idea. Either way, good luck!
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17 minutes ago, marmle said:
Almost certain @GoPackGo89 meant UNC (and Michigan) biostats (regardless there are faculty in both stats and biostats at UNC that don't just do theory, so this comment seems a bit odd).
You are correct. I meant UNC biostats and Michigan biostats. OP, what did you mean by "looking at data within the next 6 years" ?
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I would be careful choosing your letters of recommendation. If you impressed the statistician (are they an academic?) and your other research advisors, those letters could go a long way.
Based on past profiles/results I think your list looks fine. If you're interested in statistical genetics you should put Michigan on your list. UNC and Ohio State as well. Don't put too much weight in the rankings and definitely do not associate lower ranking with increased odds of acceptance. Someone can correct me if I am wrong but I think your chances are much better at NCSU, Minn, Wisconsin, UNC, Michigan, Iowa State than they are at the Ivy/Ivy+ you listed
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I think your biostats list has a nice spread of schools. I also think you would get into a top masters program but if your goal is to get a PhD and you are happy at any of the schools you listed, why bother with a masters?
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On 6/25/2018 at 9:18 PM, TangentMan said:
Here's a list of schools that I'm interested in:
Stanford
Harvard (Biostats)
Yale
Columbia (Biostats)
UCLA
Emory (Biostats)
Vanderbilt (Biostats)
Ohio State University
Penn State University
Rice University
Florida State University
UT Austin
I think most past applicants/students/faculty would agree you are getting into at least one of those. Your biostat list seems very bottom heavy to me. If you are taking suggestions from strangers, maybe look into UNC, Michigan, Johns Hopkins, Washington, Minnesota, Penn. Depending on your location preferences those schools might be worth an application
Biostatistics v/s Statistics PhD
in Mathematics and Statistics
Posted
I think UC San Diego biostat also has majority international student body if you were looking for more programs out of the top 30.