DJ3Sigma

Undergrad Institution: Large State School Major(s): Physics, Statistics Minor(s): Actuarial Science GPA: 3.30 Type of Student: U.S., Male GRE General Test: Q: 161 V: 156 W: 4.0 GRE Subject Test in Mathematics: M: N/A Grad Institution (M.S.): Large State School Concentration: Statistics GPA: 3.74 Programs Applied: Statistics PhD Research Experience: As a GA I also did research with a professor throughout the last year of my Master's program but nothing will be published until this Summer. My research was into causality and Bayesian networks. Awards/Honors/Recognitions: None Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Worked as a GA for a center that focused on Biostatistics. I was a part of consultations on research projects and I assisted in the analysis of many projects. Unfortunately, all papers baring my name would not be published until this Summer and so I had nothing to really show the departments to which I applied. Letters of Recommendation: One was from my Mathematical Statistics & Quality Control professor. One from the department chair under which I did research. One from another professor which I collaborated with on a few consultations. One from the manager for the center with whom I also collaborated on a few consultations. Math/Statistics Grades (Undergraduate): Calculus 1,2,3: done as dual enrollment, Mathematical Statistics: A, Probability: A, Linear Algebra: B-, DiffEq: A, C programming: A, Advanced Calculus: A, Design of Experiments: C+, Regression Analysis: A-, Multivariate Statistics: A, Categorical Analysis: C+ Math/Statistics Grades (Master's): Fourier Analysis: B+, Quality Control: A, Game Theory: A-, Mathematical Statistics 1 & 2: B+, Regression Analysis: A, Multivariate Statistics: A, Design of Experiments: A, Data Analysis 1 & 2: A Programming Skills: R, C++ Applying to Where: UC Berkeley- PhD / Rejected / 02/15/2018 U Washington- PhD / Rejected / 02/09/2018 Carnegie MU- PhD / Rejected / 02/09/2018 U Toronto- PhD / Probably Rejected Duke U- PhD / Rejected / 02/22/2018 U Michigan- PhD / Rejected / 02/08/2018 U Florida- PhD / Waitlisted & Rejected (I do not think being waitlisted here means much as I heard they had a large waiting list) / 04/09/2018

Personally I like desktops but, I have found my laptop to be a necessity because of its portability so I would say that you should consider a laptop. There are many and I am not an expert on all of them so I instead I will recommend features that your laptop should meet. Intel i5<= or its equivalent in AMD (I forget right now what it was) 500GB HDD <= This can also be an SSD but try and get something with 500GB total 8GB RAM <= Anything less than that and you might as well just get yourself a decent calculator and some graph paper 2 USB ports <= Ethernet port Audio port A separate video card (If you want to be able to play some video games) If you are going to get a desktop as well with at least this features then you can just ignore this post.

Please everyone remember Goosfraba! And do not forget the song that goes with it: I Feel Pretty by Julie Andrews I feel pretty Oh, so pretty I feel pretty and witty and bright! And I pity Any girl who isn't me tonight I feel charming Oh, so charming It's alarming how charming I feel! And so pretty That I hardly can believe I'm real See the pretty girl in that mirror there Who can that attractive girl be? Such a pretty face Such a pretty dress Such a pretty smile Such a pretty me! I feel stunning And entrancing Feel like running and dancing for joy For I'm loved By a pretty wonderful boy! Have you met my good friend Maria The craziest girl on the block? You'll know her the minute you see her She's the one who is in an advanced state of shock She thinks she's in love She thinks she's in Spain She isn't in love She's merely insane It must be the heat Or some rare disease Or too much to eat Or maybe it's fleas Keep away from her Send for Chino! This is not the Maria we know! Modest and pure Polite and refined Well-bred and mature And out of her mind! I feel pretty Oh, so pretty That the city should give me its key A committee Should be organized to honor me La la la la I feel dizzy I feel sunny I feel fizzy and funny and fine And so pretty Miss America can just resign! La la la la See the pretty girl in that mirror there What mirror where? Who can that attractive girl be? Which? What? Where? Whom? Such a pretty face Such a pretty dress Such a pretty smile Such a pretty me! Such a pretty me! I feel stunning And entrancing Feel like running and dancing for joy For I'm loved By a pretty wonderful boy!

@GoPackGo89 I understand that it is more complicated. When it comes to funding should not all of these programs have an estimate of the kind of funding they can offer for the following year? They should at least have some prediction interval for the amount of funding available. I would only see funding being complicated if the program was restructured somehow or if this is the first year the program is being offered. I would also say that by the time the end of January comes around basically every school has sent out admissions letters to their top applicants. However, the system in place is inefficient because as you mentioned they must wait for applicants to make their decisions. But how can an applicant make a decision if not all schools have responded to said applicant? This could be solved if schools released information at the same time and were more forth coming with information. If the schools agree on releasing all the information at the same time then they could allow the applicants at most a month to decide which school they would like to attend. By the time that the first applicant has been notified of acceptance the schools have information on everyone that applied to their program and so at the same time rejections should be going out to the majority of applicants or at least if you are going to be placed on a waiting list you should be notified of the number of spots that they have yet to fill and the amount of people in front of you on the waiting list. You are most likely right in that I am oversimplifying this issue because this process is not new and I would hope that much thought has been placed into making sure it is as efficient as possible.

Wow haha I can't believe they are telling people that their students are sub par. I do not understand why they cannot be more or as efficient as the undergraduate applications. For undergraduate everything was known for most schools by February and yet it is late in March and still people are waiting on decisions from programs. If the delay is in making sure that they include the applicant's name in the rejection letter then I would prefer they send out rejections like spam mail and only include "You are the weakest link!" in the subject line.

@kelsia thanks for the reply. Though it is a bit strange that they told you this and they told @Jairo333 to keep waiting.

Sigh... another week and still nothing from UFlorida and UToronto.

@Jairo333 My status is the same as yours. I am not putting any hope in being accepted. Good luck to you.

@MJF thanks for the information good luck with your studies.

Hello I may be going to Tampa for graduate school in the Fall and I was wondering if anyone could provide me with an updated list of places to live and places to avoid? Also, any information on places with great food, and great all around vibes would be nice. I know some of the information is biased because everyone has different tastes but as my knowledge of Tampa is entirely based on one trip to Busch Gardens I would like any additional advice based on your experiences. If you need any help with some of your own things I have also lived in Miami and Gainesville so I know a bit about each region.

Anybody hear back from University of Florida? I know some have heard back from University of Toronto but does anyone know if they are done sending out acceptances?

Jeez! I can relate to you guys I am still waiting on U of Florida and U of Toronto. No whammies, no whammies, no whammies!!

I concur with @bayessays and @Bayesian1701. There is always the possibility of doing worse the next time around and since you both seem to have done pretty great this time, why risk it? Plus consider that the competition may even be greater next time around.

For all of you preparing for another week of possible rejections don't worry. If we don't get in anywhere we will just create a new institution where acceptance is just a click away. It will be called South Hampton Institute of Technology.

@statscan9 congratulations! I am surprised you did not get in everywhere.

Hello again, I just wanted to know if anyone here knows of any good stats/biostats programs outside of the US that would be worth looking into as well?

@huxlb You are interested in Bayesian Statistics and machine learning right? I am interested in those two as well and although I did not apply to biostatistics programs I can tell you from experience that both topics play a major role in biostatistics especially in the analysis of gene expression data. In fact one of Duke's programs called Banjo is frequently used in the biostats center that I work for. I did not apply to those programs because my passion is not truly in applying my research to medical data. But, honestly who do you think funds a lot of machine learning type research? NIH does and they are interested in solutions to health problems. What I realized (too late) was that my goals and the goals of the health organizations actually coincide. The organization and I have the same goal and that is for a complex problem to be solved. All they want me to add is the use of health data but who is to say that I can't go ahead and apply my solution elsewhere once I have given them what they want. My guess is that this is often times the way actual professors look at the research they do and the funding they receive. "They are paying me to look at this problem and so I will solve it how they want and then turn around and apply it to what I want." Basically what I am getting at in this long winded commentary is do not limit yourself and remember that whether you are looking at cancer data or netflix movie selection data the problem that you want to solve may still be the same one.

@huxlb If you want the PhD go for it. If you are really that worried about not getting in anywhere look at schools that are not even ranked on US news but are still in the USA. These ~30+ (this is just an estimate) schools should be easier to get in to. Personally I do not think you have to go that far but if it makes you feel better why not?

Let us be honest the people on here are not the best people they bring drugs, they bring crime, ... and some, I assume are good people haha

@huxlb I am sure that all of them or a good percentage offer some degree of funding (Master's TA, RA, GA) but if you are going to be paying out of state tuition and living expenses I am not sure that the level of funding provided by the schools at the Master's level will be enough. I am at an institution that does not guarantee funding but I am an in state student and already lived in the area. I was able to obtain scholarships for my first year which covered my tuition for the year and I did get a GA position starting the summer before my second year and it covers tuition and gives you a stipend but honestly it is not enough to live on I am just lucky that my parents were still living in the area haha. I imagine that the amount given to a TA/GA/RA varies for every school but let me tell you that the yearly contract that I currently have only offers $11k and tuition wavers for Fall, Spring, and Summer and the yearly contract offered to a PhD student in the same college is $30k+ and tuition wavers for Fall, Spring, and Summer. Now if we assume that they are not purposefully trying to make these PhD students wealthy then one can say that it takes roughly $30k in my area to lead a life that is not horrible which from what I have seen is a true statement. So you can see the great difference between what is offered to a PhD student and what is offered to a Master's student. My experience is limited to the university that I attend so if I were you I would check with the Master's programs that you are interested in and see what level of funding they offer.

@abc11 Which were the schools on your list?

@NumStats that would make sense and I am sure that funding plays a major role in what each program offers. I was just thinking that I did not apply to the right places. I did not adequately gauge the level of competition in the field. I am too much of a dreamer haha.

@Bayesian1701 why do you think it is a rough year for stats?

Based on ASA there are a total of 120 stats and biostats phd programs in the US (I think they are missing a few schools). So I would say that anywhere between 960 and 1200 spots (incoming class size of 8 or 10). Of course this drops completion rate to somewhere between 49% and 61%. This to me seems reasonable as according to the Council of Graduate Schools website PhD completion in mathematics and physical sciences is 54.7%.

Good luck to you too.