cannonwalker

I'm curious about this: spending ten years raising children is a difficult, long-term project. It's educational psychology adjacent. Is it possible to translate the enormous value of the experience that's taken up most of your adult life to an application? I guess, if I was an admissions committee I would want someone who had good grades when they were in school, could demonstrate they were smart via GRE performance and good writing, and had developed the grit from 10 years of parenting.
 

DEFINITELY, and I don't regret it (I submitted my decision early this morning ha!). I made a list of three objective arguments, plus it just clicked for me . Anyway, honestly I think any of the two schools would have been a great place, no doubt.

Just for all prospective students who may find this thread and read my comment... Rankings are not everything. Your mentor is far more important than your department's ranking and you ultimately determine most of your own success. I'd be remiss not to mention that at large, high tier departments the selection of quality mentors is larger than lesser departments, but these departments can also be a lot more competitive in terms of getting to work with a specific person. Great researchers can come from mediocre programs, and mediocre researchers can come from great programs, and you can find a great mentor/adviser at places other than Harvard, Hopkins, and UW. 
I've been on these forums since 2012. I started grad school in Biostatistics in 2013 at a department that isn't in the top 10 of these rankings.  To inspire a little hope for most  people that do not have the privilege to attend a top-tier program, you can still be successful and pursue a career in academia! To be transparent, my goals have never been to have a career as a full-time methodologist. I'm pursuing an academic career as more of a collaborative biostatistician that works on methodology, but not exclusively. I have over 5-10 publications from grad school, most in clinical journals but a couple in stats journals at the level of Biometrics, JRSS-C, and Statistics in Medicine. I have won student paper/travel awards for multiple conferences, including a first place student-paper award at JSM. I've been an invited speaker at several internationally attended meetings in my area of research, having traveled throughout North America and Europe. I'm finishing my PhD this semester and I received multiple offers at the assistant professor level to various academic institutions. Now keep in mind, I'm not pursuing a career primarily as a theoretical/methodological statistician, but the offers that were made to me were from Biostat departments at several institutions ranked in the top 30 for  research universities and have highly regarded research hospitals affiliated with them. 
Look, what I've trying to say to everyone who is considering/attending a program outside of the top 10, is that you are ultimately responsible for your own success. You can still win awards, publish in good journals, and get good job offers in academia. Do not believe that unless you attend Harvard or Washington, you can't get a job in academia, because you absolutely can. And I am not an anomaly from my institution either, several other students that have graduated from my department are at top 30 research universities, and a few in top 10 biostat departments. So, good luck to everyone and just know that rankings are not everything and do not decide your fate. I encourage prospective grad students to PM me for advice if you want - I'm always happy to help. I received a lot of great advice from here ~5-6 years ago when I was applying to school and deciding where to go, so now having been through it, I'd love to pay it forward. 
 

@moxis  I am not a nationalist. Sorry to disappoint you.  I am about as Blue as you can get.  Sorry to burst your sexist bubble. It is called the #metoo movement.  And yes I do believe if the people of the US are paying for a large portion of Stanfords budget then  most of the benefits should go to domestic applicants.  Your bullying and name calling tactics will not scare or deter me if that was your goal.  You were wondering how nationality can be determined.  It is called websites and linkedin.  You may want to look into those concepts.  Best of luck to you.

This conversation is not productive anymore and if off topic. If someone wants to start a are domestic female students discriminated against thread go ahead, but this conversation no longer has anything to do with the rankings.  

Hey, 
Not sure if this is the right place for this, but can anyone chance me / give general advice for the fall 2019 application cycle? I'm interested in applying for PhD programs. 
Stats:
Undergrad institution: Top 3 US News
Major: Statistics and Math
Overall GPA: 3.87/4.00
Quantitative GPA: 3.95/4.00 (three A-s, the rest were As) 
GRE: 170/170/ 5
Math GRE: Should I take this over the summer?
Research:
I really haven't done much statistics research up until now, but am currently working on a senior thesis (I am a junior) with a famous professor in causal inference. I'm counting on this turning out well. 
1 REU at lawrence berkeley lab doing physics research
Summers:
- 1 internship doing software engineering / data science
- REU at lawrence berkeley
- Committed to internship at top tier tech company for summer '18. Will simultaneously work on my thesis. 
Coursework: 
- 4 grad level stat/ CS courses (A, A- ,A- , the fourth one is this semester)
- All As in undergrad level stat, math, and CS classes (complex analysis, algebra, most of the undergrad stat courses that are offered)
Other relevant info:
- school teaching award for my work as a TA in 3 semesters
- award for being in the top 10% of the class
 
 
 
 
 
 

If you still need to you can copy and paste that into it's own thread and then wait for the following responses: "If you are at Princeton, Harvard, Chicago with that profile, you can apply to any statistics PhD program you want to". Take the Math subject test, nail your thesis, think about your letters of recommendation and apply wherever you want.

Just in time for the deadline! 
The thought of a decision spreadsheet makes my tummy glow. That's normal, right? 

Personally, it wasn't things I asked or did, it was how I felt or things I observed. At one, the current students spent the first night dinner complaining about the commute, the free shuttle, the crowded gym, etc. Didn't get happy vibes from them. At another, I just felt like the current students weren't really my crowd, neither were the people in the recruitment class. I didn't feel like I would fit in. Only question I asked at one place that turned me off was whether or not they had outreach programs. The director of the program literally asked why I cared.....

Just in time for the deadline! 
The thought of a decision spreadsheet makes my tummy glow. That's normal, right? 

Thanks for your thoughts! Perspectives I hadn't considered.
It is sobering to see the number of strong applicants rejected from the top programs... 
I think I'll know better once I visit the departments and gauge their interest in me. UW-Madison has some process by which MS students can move into the doctoral program, but I'm not sure how much of a sure thing it is, given good performance. 
Either way, good problems? 

That sounds like a great feeling. The constant checking can really run a person ragged. 

I just got my last rejection. But with that comes an end to my grad school  application process! It’s weird but since I have a few acceptances I feel like I’m breathing fresh air for the first time in months. After months, probably even a year of stress, I can finally stop refreshing the results page, delete the application portal bookmarks, and be excited about having actual prospects.