statscan9

Obviously I'm an applicant just like you, so take what I say with a grain of salt, but your GPA is extremely low (I've seen a lot of schools with a cutoff of 3.3) and your GRE actually isn't very good (although it would probably be fine if you had a 3.75+ GPA). I think Northwestern and NYU are way out of your league, but I don't know enough about the others to comment on whether you have a chance there. Looks like you're either gonna have to pick a very low ranked PhD program, which might not have funding anyways, or bite the bullet and pay an exorbitant amount to get a masters first. You don't mention a reason for your low GPA so take a good hard look at yourself and ask if you really think you can get a higher GPA in a masters, because if not that option could be a huge waste of money. Don't kid yourself by saying "oh I just didn't work very hard in undergrad", I've never seen anyone drastically change their GPA by just "working harder" unless they were literally not attending a single class or doing any studying.

I don't know much about those US programs, but based on what footballman said it sounds like you'll get into them. You should know that UBC does not fund MSc students, in fact they don't even guarantee funding for their PhD students. The only fully funded (i.e. stipend plus full tuition scholarship) Canadian MSc Stats programs that I know of are Waterloo and Toronto. I think you'd be able to get into those (assuming your University is of the same calibre as top Canadian schools), but remember in Canada almost nobody does direct entry PhD so MSc competition is a lot tougher than it is in the US.

From past posts on this forum lots of people get into programs that "strongly recommend" the test without taking it so I think you should be fine since you have a stellar record in math classes. I'm in the same boat as you, applying to stats PhD with a lot of upper year math, and I'm not gonna bother writing it.

Great idea! I'm also interested in Bayesian statistics, particularly their uses for understanding the theory behind deep neural networks. This fall I'll be applying to PhD Statistics programs at Chicago, Penn, Columbia, and MIT (Operations Research), plus Toronto and Waterloo in Canada (where I live). Still considering whether I'll also apply to Berkeley and CMU. I'd love to swap SOPs with someone, so message me if you're interested!

Totally agree it's hard to compare class averages between schools. I have friends at both Toronto and Waterloo and when I compare exams and lecture notes the courses are basically identical to me, so I'm confident I'd have similar grades at either of those schools. However, it's hard for me to tell if there would be more of a noticeable difference to an "average" student.

@insert_name_here I can't speak for OP since I don't know what school he attends but at my school we have less grade inflation than at US schools so our GPA has to reflect that. We actually get grades in terms of percentages, and then those are converted into GPA, roughly as follows: 50-60% is a D, 60-70% is a C, 70-80% is a B, 80-90% is an A, 90-100% is an A+. The average grade for almost all of our classes is between 60% and 65% (so a C). My marks (virtually all A+, with an actual average of 96.5%) put me in the top 2-3 of my class for the Statistics and Actuarial Science department (~200 undergrads in my year). My supervisor (who knows the top marks) says I'm likely going to win the award handed out at graduation for highest graduating average, so I might actually be the top student. We definitely don't just hand out marks here, in fact our averages are lower than what most US averages are from what I understand.

I'm a Canadian entering my fourth year of undergrad and I think I'll get into any school I desire in Canada. I'm looking at top US schools that are in cities I'd enjoy living in, and have research interests matching mine. For instance, my one supervisor is close with some people at Cornell and would like me to go there for OR but I'm not living in Ithaca for 5 years. I know from looking at past profiles I seem like a strong candidate but it's hard to say since I'm Canadian, so any thoughts you guys have would be much appreciated. Undergrad Institution: One of the top 5 math schools in Canada Major: Financial Mathematics (offered in the statistics department here) Cumulative GPA: 3.96/4.00 Major GPA: 4.00/4.00 Type of Student: White Male Upper Division Courses: Math: Multivariable Calc (A+), Advanced Linear Algebra (A+), ODE (A+), PDE (A+), Numerical Analysis (A+), Probability Theory (A+), Statistical Theory (A+), Real Analysis (A+), Optimization (A+) CS: Algorithms (A+) I will have a Measure Theory course and a graduate course in Stochastic Processes by the time I graduate, along with the usual fourth year stats courses. Lowest mark in my entire degree is an A- (took a film course for breadth requirements). GRE: 167Q, 163V, 4.5W Not writing the subject test. Research Experience: Summer research project in Queuing theory and simulation Awards/Honors/Recognitions: NSERC USRA (same idea as an REU in the states) Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Insurance Analyst intern, Telecommunications Data Analyst intern Letters of Recommendation: -Two statistics professors (both were supervisors for me during my USRA) -Analysis professor (knows me quite well, is also the chair of the math department here) Plan to apply to (Phd Statistics Programs): Toronto, Chicago, Columbia, Penn, MIT (Operations Research), and Waterloo (MMath first)

Here are my stats: Undergrad Institution: Western University (Canada) Major: Financial Modelling (read: Statistics and Applied Math) GPA: 3.97 Type of Student: White Male Upper Division Courses: Math: Calc III (A), Intro Linear Algebra (A), ODE (A+), PDE (A+), Numerical Analysis I (A+), Probability Theory (A+), Statistical Theory (A+), Monte Carlo Simulation (A) Next Semester: Analysis I, Operations Research, Advanced Linear Algebra CS: Algorithms (A+) Others: All courses are A or higher except two first year courses: Film (A-) and Sociology (A-) GRE: 167Q, 163V, 4.5W Research Experience: Summer research project in Queuing theory Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Dean's List, NSERC USRA Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Insurance Analyst intern, Telecommunications Data Analyst intern Letters of Recommendation: -Two statistics professors (research with both) -Analysis professor (knows me quite well) Plan to apply to (Phd Statistics Programs): Stanford, Chicago, Berkeley, Harvard, MIT, Penn, CMU, Northwestern, Toronto Am I dreaming with these top US schools? I'll get into almost any Canadian school I want I'm pretty sure.