GoPackGo89

Your profile seems like it'd be in the conversation anywhere you apply. Do you have a list in mind?

Don't worry about having so few hours that one semester. I think you have a great shot at getting an acceptance from a school on your list.

It sounds like at least two of your letters will be great. If you are considering biostatistics programs (I am biased and think you should), I don't think you'd have to look any further than Chapel Hill, Michigan, Minnesota tier. You don't need a background in biology or medicine to thrive in a biostats program. The methods being developed by biostatisticians are motivated from public health/biology/medical problems and data so having an interest in those areas would be important. You'd be trained as a statistician first and foremost.

Do you have any research interests? Have you taken the GRE? The strength of math departments at schools in the USNEWS top 20 private list varies a lot but if it's a strong department I don't see why you couldn't apply anywhere you wanted to.

Another good read: https://medium.com/@dorsaamir/modest-advice-for-new-graduate-students-b0be6b8dbc22

Last time I looked at Berkeley's M.A in stats it was VERY industry oriented and not a good fit for someone wanting to go on for a PhD. If you were trying to improve your odds of admission at top 30 schools then I would think Washington would be the better choice?

I came across this earlier and hope someone else enjoys it. https://stearnslab.yale.edu/some-modest-advice-graduate-students

*Oh nvm I found pitt ranked 45 last rankings

I think another school given your profile should be Ohio State. Large program, lots of bayesians.

I totally understand where you are coming from with wanting US dollars to go to US students but let me offer you a different angle: When it comes to funding universities, I want my tax dollars to be spent on the best possible science. If that means bringing in top talent from around the world then so be it. It's only one opinion but the US might be better of in the end if we are investing in best science possible. If it's any consolation, many training grants that come from the federal government (see NIH) do have limitations on foreign students.

They have a badass biostatistics group too. I don't see how international students should hurt a ranking (I actually see this helping)

I did not go through the undergraduate admissions process (or at least I knew I was guaranteed admission transferring from a CC) but I suspect with PhD programs there is a lot of moving parts to ensure students are fully funded. Some schools juggling tons of students moving them on and off training grants are just better at it than others. I could be wrong but I also suspect most if not all respectable PhD programs have at least sent out initial offers and for the rest of their pool it comes down to how quickly offers are accepted/declined.

What do you mean by coming off as a negative?

Is Columbia's masters intended to be a terminal degree? I only know that they churn out a ridiculous amount of masters students and it is often referred to as a cash cow. If you plan to finish in one year you only have from now until December to improve your application. In my personal opinion attending Columbia's masters program seems like an expensive/not so helpful bridge for re-applying for fall 2019.

https://www.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-science-schools/statistics-rankings Here are the old rankings courtesy of @Applied Math to Stat STATISTICS 1. Stanford 2. UC Berkeley 3. UChicago 4-5. Harvard, Washington (tied) 6. Carnegie Mellon 7. Duke 8. UPenn 9. Wisconsin 10-12. NCSU, Texas A&M, Michigan (tied) 13. Iowa State 14-17. Minnesota, Columbia, Penn State, UNC Chapel Hill (tied) 18-19. Cornell, Purdue (tied) 20-21. Ohio State, UC Davis (tied) 22-23. UCLA, Florida (tied) 24-26. UIUC, Yale, Iowa (tied) 27-29. Florida State, Rice, Rutgers (tied) 30-31. Colorado State, UConn (tied) 32. Michigan State 33-35. NYU, Northwestern, Pittsburgh (tied) 36-39. George Washington, Georgia, Missouri, Virginia Tech (tied) 40. SMU 41-45. UCSB, Arizona State, Oregon State, South Carolina, UVA (tied) 46-47. Temple, UC Riverside (tied)48-49. Kansas State, Colorado-Denver (tied) 50-52. Baylor, Case Western, Kentucky (tied) BIOSTATISTICS 1-2. Harvard, Washington (tied) 3. Johns Hopkins 4-5. Michigan, UNC-Chapel Hill (tied) 6. UC Berkeley 7. Minnesota 8. UPenn 9-10. Columbia, UCLA (tied) 11. Yale 12. Emory 13. Brown 14-15. Iowa, Rochester (tied) 16. Pittsburgh 17. Boston University 18-20. Medical College of Wisconsin, UIllinois-Chicago, UTexas-Houston (tied) 21. Case Western 22. Medical College of South Carolina 23-25. SUNY Albany, Alabama, SUNY Buffalo (tied) 26. South Carolina, Virginia Commonwealth Marmle separated the new rankings below

I think getting an A in real analysis would help you tremendously given your other grades. If you've impressed your letter writers then I think your list is reasonable.

If you still need to you can copy and paste that into it's own thread and then wait for the following responses: "If you are at Princeton, Harvard, Chicago with that profile, you can apply to any statistics PhD program you want to". Take the Math subject test, nail your thesis, think about your letters of recommendation and apply wherever you want.

New Usnews rankings come out next week which is kind of cool

When professors came to talk about their research some of them listed recent placements and it was a good mix. Beyond that you'll just have to dig into their CVs. They mentioned that every PhD applicant at the visit had been offered funding and that it would come through RAship, Training grants, or for four applicants, a fellowship.

I would think your chances of being hired as a quant will come from the training you receive during your PhD and where you got your masters won't matter much after you have your PhD but I could be way off. Columbia's masters churns out like 400 graduates a year so don't get too attached to the name

I love the town of chapel hill, the campus was beautiful, and the school of Global health was great. The students showing us around were all very friendly and helpful. The research going on in the department was broad and impressive (Seemed like any subfield of stats/biostats that you want to work in there is someone good there save maybe Imaging?). Funding was mentioned to be with research assistantships or training grants (I feel like there is some stipulation on training grants and international students though). The coursework is heavy and qualifying exams include measure theory prob and advanced stat theory (past casella and berger). Let me know if you have any specific questions otherwise I would give them a call about funding soon?

UNC biostat phd was march1-2. I believe the 23 is the Gillings visit

A PhD from Michigan statistics probably won't leave (m)any doors closed when it comes to the data science industry. Your listed goal is too broad to know if a masters is suitable or not. Maybe search for roles at companies doing what you describe and see what they prefer. Starting a masters at Stanford and realizing you want to do a PhD could be messy financially. Starting a funded PhD at Michigan and realizing you only want a masters seems like a better deal. I'm biased towards the PhD option at least in the field of stats

Undergrad Institution: State school out west, not known for any math/stats Major(s): Math (applied/stats focused coursework) Minor(s): Economics GPA: 3.95 Type of Student: DWM GRE General Test: Q: 165 (89%) V: 156 (73%) W: 4.0 (60%) GRE Subject Test in Mathematics: M: N/A Programs Applying: Biostatistics Research Experience: Two REUs, RA'd for a semester, presented a few posters/small presentations, no publications. Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Graduated rank 1 in small math department Pertinent Activities or Jobs: I tutored calculus for two years, graded for two years Letters of Recommendation: My mentor for undergraduate research (assistant professor), My REU/RA advisor (senior faculty), lecturer who I took many math courses with. Math/Statistics Grades: A's in math coursework: Intro analysis1-2, ODE, PDE, Linear Algebra, Numerical Analysis, Math Stats, Prob Theory, Intro regression, proofs Any Miscellaneous Points that Might Help: I dropped out of college before joining the military. I've met more than a handful of students and faculty who dropped out, got their shit together and came back to find success. For anyone worrying about a somewhat distant past just know it's more common than you think. For what it's worth when I came back to school I started at a community college (people seem to worry about this too much). Results: Biostatistics PhD Harvard University - No Interview, Rejected UNC Chapel Hill - Accepted 1/23Pennsylvania - No Interview, RejectedDuke - No Interview, Rejected (admitted to MS) Michigan - Rejected (admitted to MS) Vanderbilt - No Interview, assuming rejection Statistics PhD NC State - Waitlisted

How well known is your LAC? I would have your research supervisor write one of your letters over one of the math profs (four strong letters is always a nice thing to have too though). Biostats wise I think you could apply to any program you want to and it wouldn't be a waste of money. Id guess you probably get into at least one of UNC, Michigan, Minnesota. There are also some good public health/ biomed faculty at pure stats programs that you would be competitive at: NC State, Wisconsin