iceman007

Hi All Prospective Fall 2018 MS Stat applicant here, looking for a profile eval and suggestions: International Student from India Undergrad Institution: Public, National Top 10 university Major(s): Mechanical Engineering GPA: 6.3 / 10 (Weak, I know) Type of Student: Indian GRE General Test: (took once, thinking of taking again to bolster profile) Q: 166 (91%) V: 158 (80%) W: 4.0 (80%) Programs Applying: MS - Statistics, will also apply for Operations Research programs Work experience:Total 3 years 1.5 years as a Customer Insights Senior Analyst at a loyalty card company: Retail shoppers segmentation using dimensionality reduction and clustering to provide customised offers per segment Customer churn modelling using logit models Online purchase propensity modelling using logit models Developed an RShiny app to evaluate past SMS/Email promotional campaigns and plan future campaigns 1.5 years as a data analyst at a Fortune 200 Pharma MNC: Doctor segmentation and response modelling for sales promotions Goal setting tool for sales representatives using forecasting methods and optimization subject to constraints General Business Intelligence work: Reporting, Dashboarding Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Won best project award twice at the pharma MNC Certifications: 1. SAS certified base programmer2. SAS certified statistical business analyst: Regression and Modelling3. Machine Learning from Coursera Letters of Recommendation: HOD from second firm is an ex professor at a top 10 business school in India. Strong recommendation. The other letters I expect to be moderate. Goal: To develop a strong base of advanced statistical techniques and apply them in the online tech or consulting industry Programs considering: MS: 1. Columbia2. University of Chicago (super reach)3. UCLA 4. Georgia Tech (I know a friend from undergrad with a similarly low GPA with no work ex but got accepted to the MS Civil Engg)5. University of Michigan6. John Hopkins7. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill8. University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign (I know an ex colleague with a lower GRE score and a similar profile getting accepted for MS Stats last year)9. Duke10. Cornell Concerns: My undergrad GPA is pretty weak. Should I give the GRE again to make up for it? In practise tests, I was scoring higher than my current final score. Advice on shortlisting universities and does my profile sort of 'fit'? University recommendations Thanks!

Hi Everyone! Saw a very informative thread with some active discussion for Fall 17 (link above) so thought I should replicate it for Fall 18. Lets get to know each other better!

Hey Eigen Thanks a lot for some very insightful advice. How does this advice differ for an MS applicant? I believe a lot of the points you mentioned apply to PHD applicants?

Hi everyone I've worked as an analyst for 3 years and am fascinated by the application of statistics and related sophisticated algorithms by tech firms to drive business value. I want to deepen my knowledge base of the same via higher education. While researching programs, it appears to me that Analytics and Data science programs are sort of general purpose and don't go quite deep into the subject matter. Due to this I've been considering Statistics / Operations Research / Management Sci MS programs. Thoughts?

Hey New gradcafe user and prospective MS applicant for an MS in Operations Research / Statistics / Management Science for Fall 2018. Please evaluate my profile and whether I'm being too ambitious/do I stand a chance here? Key features of my profile - Low undergrad GPA, high quant GRE score, related work ex Here's my profile followed by an initial university shortlist GRE 324 - Q 166 (91st percentile) V 158 (80th percentile) (Might give again to offset low undergrad GPA) TOEFL - Yet to give Undergrad CGPA - 6.3/10 from the National Institute of Technology Warangal in Mechanical Engg - Top 10 India for engineering Work Experience - 3 years 1.5 years - Data Analyst for a Fortune 200 MNC (1 promotion) + 3 good projects - Quantitative Sales/Marketing analytics 1.5 years - Senior Analyst for a Loyalty Card company (jump in designation from previous org) Fair amount of projects on quantitative modelling work Research papers/Publications: None Certifications: 1. SAS certified base programmer 2. SAS certified statistical business analyst: Regression and Modelling 3. Machine Learning from Coursera Recommendations: 1. HOD from work - ex prof at a premier MBA school in India - Strong 2. Team Leader from previous org - Moderate 3. Professor from college - Moderate SOP structure: Considering that my weakest point is my undergrad GPA, I'll bring in a point about how I messed up the first year but post that my gpa has been increasing plus ever since starting work I've been really driven and talk about my projects as proof. Programs I'm looking to apply for: 1. Statistics (with electives from the CS department) 2. Operations Research Not applying for "Analytics" or "Data Science" masters because I feel such programs have breadth but seriously lack depth. Current university shortlist: 1. Columbia 2. University of Chicago 3. UCLA 4. Georgia Tech 5. University of Michigan 6. John Hopkins 7. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 8. University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign 9. Duke 10. Cornell Questions: 1. What is my profile like? 2. How would you categorise the above universities considering my profile as Safe, Moderate, Ambitious and reasons for the same? 3. Thoughts on the SOP structure?

Hey guys Prospective MS applicant for Fall 2018 here. Still in the process of putting together a final university shortlist but will be applying for OR or Stat programs. Did everyone on here apply for a phD in 2017? Looking for university shortlist advice and profile evaluation. Is this the right thread to add to?