leafpile

According to the April 15 Resolution, "an offer by an institution after April 15 is conditional on presentation by the student of the written release from any previously accepted offer". I'm in the exact same position as you, and I just accepted my offer at my second choice. I've already declined offers elsewhere and I couldn't take the risk of having my only other offer rescinded.

So... "by April 15" means I could accept an offer on the day of April 15, right?

https://galton.uchicago.edu/admissions/faqs.shtml#AfterApplying-DecisionTimeframe It seems to depend on where you're from, and your interests, according to the department.

I feel you statscan... But I'm sure you'll be able to get into one of your top choices. Now I'm getting really nervous but need to wait until Monday I guess!

Hi all, I noticed many schools have interviews for stats/biostats PhD applications. I have several questions about the interviews, and hope people could share their experience of the interviews (or interviewing students??) Some of the questions have been asked before about particular schools or fields, but I'll ask again just to keep everything in one place. Hopefully this will also be helpful for future applicants! Who are the interviewers? The "professor of interest" the applicant specified in the application? Or just a random professor on the adcom? What is the usual content of the interview? My impression is that people usually talk about research interests and prior research experiences, but have also heard there're rather "technical" interviews where they would quiz you... Who are usually interviewed? Only the people on the cusp of admission or every possible admit? How important are these interviews? Thanks!

As an international student, I think it would depend on how other student from your school/country did on the GRE sub, and also the particular program you're applying to. I do have the impression that admission committees expect higher scores from international students (although there's really no way of validating this). My guess is that they compare applicants to other applicants who have a similar training (i.e. students from your school or country). There're schools I know where many people applying to PhD programs score 95%+ on math sub, and students with lower scores usually avoid submitting the scores. It's not saying these people are "stronger" applicants. I think the adcoms would simply expect you to have a really high score if you've been through such heavy training. That being said, 88% is indeed a respectable score and I don't think it would hurt to submit it unless you're from one of the schools I talked about... Also, I think the adcoms know the math sub isn't a very good way of gauging advanced math training. It probably doesn't matter that much in the end, and you should be fine as long as you have good grades in advanced math courses. Hope this helps!

Hi @Wzz! Thank you for the advice! I feel the same way, especially for PhD programs. I feel there's a certain 'barrier' depending on the reputation of the uni. That's why I'm thinking of getting into a top masters program first, which presumably would be easier. And at this point, it seems more viable an option for me than applying for PhD programs. The results from my uni is a bit more varied though: last year the best student (wrt to grades) in the stats track got into a mediocre biostats MS program, while 2 years ago the top student went to one of the best biostats PhD programs, and got accepted by a bunch of top masters programs in stats as well. I think the result still depends, more or less, on the strength of the individual. How helpful is the math REU (admission-wise) for stats programs, from your experience?

Thanks for the advice @edward130603!! Unfortunately most REUs aren't open to international students. I applied to one and will probably hear from them in a few weeks. I'll also try to find an RA position once school starts. I know R pretty well from the statistical computing course at Berkeley and hopefully that will help me a bit. Undergrad research here in China really depends on the institution, but usually it's pretty rare once outside the very top unis. The workload from the courses is quite high. Still I know some very talented students from top unis have done very good research. I also have the impression (do correct me if I'm wrong) that some summer research programs are like workshops on research-related skills. Is that usually the case? Or are those 'research experiences' already?

Thanks! I doubt if I can have any solid research experience as an undergrad but I'll definitely try. Do you have any suggestion on how to produce 'solid' research as an undergrad? As for 'top PhD programs', what I was thinking was (PhD programs at) Berkeley and Stanford, for which I don't think I have the slightest chance.

Hi everyone! I'm a junior majoring in maths (subtrack stats) and looking for some advice on what to aim for. I admit this is a strange post. I really don't know what to aim for though. Any help is very much appreciated!! ======= Undergrad Institution: Some uni in China (top 15 in China, known for its maths program) Major: Maths, in the statistics subtrack GPA: 3.84 (converted. Since we use the raw score, with 100 being the full score, it's not very informative. Rank: top 5 out of 70 students in the stats subtrack) Awards: Top scholarships in China GRE: (will take it next month) GRE Math: 80% (plan to retake next year) TOEFL: 118 ------- Courses: At my uni: Maths: Analysis I (good), Analysis II (OK), Analysis III (excellent), Linear Algebra I (somewhat bad), Linear Algebra II (very good), ODE (very good), Abstract Algebra (excellent), Probability (OK), Complex Variable (very good), Real Variable (basic Lebesgue measure, good) Others: Physics (excellent), Programming (good), Algorithms (good) Study Abroad (at UC Berkeley): Stochastic Processes (A+), Statistical Computing (Masters level, A-), Theoretical Statistics (PhD level, A+) ------- Experience: No research experience at this moment. ======= I have some interest in PhD programs, although not entirely sure. But because my undergrad institution in not among the most prestigious unis in China (Peking, Tsinghua, and a bunch in Shanghai), from what I heard it's very hard to get into top PhD programs in the US. So I'm thinking about trying to get into the top masters programs, work a few years, and then probably try to apply to PhD programs. I don't know if this is a good idea though. Basically my goal is to get into the top PhD programs. So given my current record (I still have a year before applying!), do I stand any chance getting into the top PhD programs? Is there anything I can do to enhance my application to top masters programs (or possibly not-that-top PhD programs)? Also a specific question: for top master programs (Stanford, Harvard, and UChicago are the few that's on my mind), do research experiences play an important role in the admission decision? Thanks for the help! If you are one of the students anxiously waiting for admission decisions, good luck to you!!

Hi @reallyworried. Just curious, were you applying to PhD programs or MS programs in stats/biostats?