timaximum

Speaking from my own experience, gpa of irrelevant classes will not be very important in admission. I did an undergrad majoring in chemistry and my chemistry gpa is only 3.5. I had a math double major and my math gpa is 3.9. That was enough to get me admission into UChicago's stat ms program in the last cycle. Your math course background looks pretty strong, and I think that will seem to be a good profile for many top level MS programs. If you could get a high GRE Math Sub score, it will definitely be better since you are not from a math/stat major. That being said, although you could be a competitive applicant when admission committee reads these files, I heard that some school might impose some filters on applicants' profiles in their system primarily due to the large amount of applicants.I would suggest trying to avoid mentioning your major GPA in the application system and use the overall gpa instead. As long as faculties get to read your transcript and SOP, I don't think a major gpa of 3.0 will be an issue.

Thx for your advice. Actually I applied to almost all top 30 programs which I think are good fit for me, and UNC is the only phd acceptance I have got this year, with several waitlists, so I am not betting my chance on reapplying.

Thx for the reply! Surely it could be stressful and unsteady, and that is what I am worrying about. It seems that the overall financial situation of the department is not bad, they may just have some trouble allocating these funding resources to provide guaranteed funding for phd students. Do you know if the situation will become better after passing the QE and finding an advisor? I suppose your advisor normally will try to provide funding for you, am I correct?

Hi everyone! I am an international undergraduate student and an applicant in this cycle, and I am trying to make a really hard decision right now, so I hope to get some advice here. I am primarily choosing between three programs: Chicago stat master/UNC biostat Ph.D./UW biostat master. And here is some information and personal thoughts: UNC biostat Ph.D.: Pros: 1. It is PhD. I intend to get a doctoral degree ultimately, so it will be great to go directly into a Ph.D. program. 2. I am pretty interested in the researches going on here. Actually I am open to many different problems in the biostatistics field and the researches about precision medicine/statistical genetics/medical imaging at UNC all seem interesting to me. And it seems that the biostat at UNC has a pretty strong connection with their stat department? 3. Good climate and good surrounding natural environments. Definitely a better place to live than Chicago I guess. Cons: 1. I have not received any funding yet. I emailed several professors but they either don’t have available RA positions right now or have to wait until late May to know if they will have enough funding to support me. UNC’s biostat department states on their website that over 95% of their current Ph.D. students receive financial support, but it does not seem like a quite positive process for me:-( 2. The department is pretty big. I am not sure if they show enough care for their PhD students. Chicago stat MS: Pros: 1. Chicago’s program is probably the best master’s program for Ph.D. preparation. I could have chances to get into other top-tier PhD programs two years later. Cons: 1. With 25% tuition waiver, I still need to pay about 40k for tuition for my first year. However, this does not seem that bad since I do not have financial support from UNC either. 2. I will have to reapply for Ph.D. programs two years later. Considering how fierce the competition is for international students, I am not quite confident that I will get a better result than UNC biostat two years later. 3. My research interest lies in statistical methodology with applications to biomedical data, and I have zero interest in financial statistics/econometrics/time series kind of stuff. Considering my personal interest, I guess there are not as many POIs at UChicago as at UNC? UW: Pros: 1. Top school in biostatistics with a lot of exciting researches going on. They have an internal application process at the end of the first year of MS study, so there will be chance to transfer into their Ph.D. program. 2. Better location than Chicago. Cons: 1. They only admit one student through the internal application process each year, so the competition could be fierce. From the information I have gathered, two of their MS graduates went to UPitts biostat PhD last year and one student got offers from UPenn biostat and UCD stat this year. These results do not seem that impressive compared with the placements of MS alumni posted on UChicago’s website. 2. Again, I need to pay for my tuition. And considering the living costs and the length of the program, the total cost is almost the same as UChicago or even a little bit higher. I am not sure whether I want to go to industry or academic position after I finish my PhD. It is probably 50/50 for me. Personally, I am leaning towards UNC a little bit right now, but it is hard to convince myself to pay for one year’s study at UNC and turn down the opportunites at UChicago/UW since I will have to pay for my tuition either way. Does anyone know how likely it is to have guaranteed funding at UNC biostat since my second year? Or is it possible that I could still receive my financial support for my first year after April 15th? Also, I am currently on the waitlist of NCSU stat and UMN biostat PhD. Which one should I choose if I get off the waitlist? I am really torn apart between these choices right now. Any advice will be greatly appreciated!

Hi I guess we are on the same boat. International student still waiting for funding right now. UNC biostat is not only one of my top choices but also the only phd offer I have got, so it is really stressful waiting for the funding info.

Thx!

Thank you so much for your info! Did they mention if every phd student will have some sort of funding? And when will the funding information be available to us normally? Also, did they talk about their placements both in industry and academic? I couldn't find the placement info of UNC anywhere.

Could you please share some information provided at the UNC phd visit? How do you feel about the department and the school? I have been admitted to their biostat phd program but was not invited to the March 1-2 visit, probably because I am an international student. Anxiously waiting for their funding information right now...

I have really no idea what is going on with UMich...I just got an interview with the statistics department. I asked whether I am on the waitlist but the professor told me they are still interviewing applicants before sending out offers and setting up a waitlist. The interview just lasts less than 10 minutes...Really didn't anticipate that...

Self introduction at first, and talked about my undergraduate research experience, programming skills and research interest. My interviewer said they do not usually take undergrads into PhD program, so it's highly likely I will be offered MS admission, possibly with funding. The main intention of the interview is to learn if I will be suitable for GSRA.

I have just finished my interview for UMich biostat PhD (via phone, the professor told me they were not supposed to give interviewee notice before making phone call). The professor said they will not meet until next week so I assume the result will come out sometime next week. I am an international applicant so I don't know if this is also true for domestic applicants.

I am about to begin start those applications but I am still not sure about the chances of getting into the schools on my list. Any feedback and suggestions will be highly appreciated. Thanks! Undergraduate Institution: Top 2 in China Major: Chemistry GPA: 3.5 Double Major: Math GPA: 3.9 GPA(all courses combined): 3.6(WES) Type of Student: International Asian Male TOEFL: 30(R)+30(L)+23(S)+29(W) GRE General Test: Q: 170 V: 157 W: 4 GRE Subject Math Test: Taken on Oct. 28th, waiting for result. Expect to be higher than 90% Courses : Calculus 1 - A+ Calculus 2 - A+ Linear Algebra - A+ Mathematical Analysis - A+ Advanced Algebra - A Probability Theory - A Statistics - A+ Statistical Programming(SAS) - A Functions of Real Variables and Functional Analysis(something like real analysis) - A Operation Research - A- Abstract Algebra - A- Applied Stochastic Processes - B- Ordinary Differential Equations - B- Applied Time Series Analysis - C+ Measure Theory - B Applied Regression Analysis - B+ Research Experience: Research on statistical genetics: more than one year but no result at this moment Summer research for 2 months: statistical computing and Bayesian statistics Letters of Recommendation: Math professor from the course of Probability Theory Statistics professor: my summer research instructor, from top public schools in US Statistics professor: the instructor of my current research(on statistical genetics) I intend to ask for a letter of recommendation from a professor whose course I am taking this semester. It's a graduate level statistics course and the professor is IMS fellow/ASA fellow/ISI elected member. If he agrees, I will probably use this recommendation letter on programs with a deadline later than 12.20 Programs: I've not finalized my list yet so any suggestions would be appreciated. Statistics: University of Chicago Ms Duke Ms University of Michigan-Ann Arbor PhD University of Wisconsin—Madison Ms North Carolina State University PhD University of Minnesota—Twin Cities PhD Iowa State University PhD Purdue University—West Lafayette PhD University of Florida PhD Biostatistics: Harvard Ms University of Washington-Seattle Ms University of Michigan-Ann Arbor PhD University of Minnesota-Twin Cities PhD University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill PhD Yale PhD Emory PhD Concerns: The first concern is from my chemistry background. It is definitely not as competitive as a math-major background. And the second concern is that I've got poor grades for several upper level courses(Time Series, Stochastic Processes, and a B for measure theory does not seem good as well, I guess). So I am really not sure what the admission committee will think of my math and statistics background. I intend to go on pursuing a Doctoral degree. Therefore, for master programs, I only picked programs that are theoretical and useful for further application for PhD. Does anyone know some other statistics master programs that are useful for PhD application? Thanks in advance!