theduckster

One of my recommenders is a little late, but I called the admissions office and apparently it is quite common for recommenders to get their letters in late. This usually won't affect your ability to submit your application from your end (it didn't affect mine). I have even heard anecdotes of letter writers being a week or two late. As long as the letter comes in before the admissions committee meets for review (which at this point should be after the semester ends, i.e. around the holidays), then you should be fine. But feel free to call and double check with your school's admissions office as I did.

No, I appreciate your advice. Please don't think I don't. It's just that I wanted to get a multitude of perspectives on this before I made any drastic last-minute decision. I'll make sure to give this a closer read, thanks.

If you have time I would do it, just to make sure it looks like you care. Just mention what got you interested in statistics and reiterate your research interests, reiterate what you like about UMich and how you would fit into their "culture", and find a clever way to mention that you are part of an underrepresented group - if applicable.

I am posting this again to solicit additional suggestions from the helpful posters here, since many of my apps are due soon and I am completely torn on this issue. Last year I suffered from some poor (non-math/stats) grades due to an illness and I also went part time as a result. The product of all this was a transcript for the year that looked something like the following: Quarter 1: F, B Quarter 2: B-, B- Quarter 3: A- Again, none of these are math/stats grades. However, I am very worried that since this was recent, adcoms will think I have not yet recovered (I have) and am not yet ready for grad school (I am). To give additional context: my math grades prior to this are very strong. Should I give a justification for this recent eccentricity, or should I just hope that adcoms will gloss over it? Finally: I also have a letter writer who said they could mention the illness in a letter. Would it maybe be better to let my recommender be the one who mentions it? Or should I tell my letter writer to scrap any mention of the issue? Thanks (as you can see, I am pulling my hair on this).

Would it be better to just not mention it at all? This is the advice I'm getting from some people, since the courses I performed poorly in were non-math/stats courses (and a part-time status is common enough that apparently many adcom members don't bat an eye when they see it). Mainly, what I'm hearing is that any mention of health potentially sets off red flags in committee members' eyes if extremely strong evidence of recovery is not present (in my case the issue was only resolved ~6 months ago, so I only have my "summer months" as proof - not exactly 100% compelling on paper).

Thanks @bayessays. Final questions and I'll try to wrap this discussion up: In my final quarter going part time (we have a three quarter system), I had only one class in my schedule and an A- in it. Does a single class all on its own look too suspicious? And should I ask the aforementioned letter writer (a professor) not to include any reference to my health? He said he would include this in his letter after I mentioned it in passing.

It was a non math/stats course (I am not a math/stats major). Basically the entire year I took a really light courseload (with one F and a couple of Bs, all capped with an A-). These were all non-math/stats courses, but my concern is that this episode was quite recent and so adcoms might be concerned that I am "not ready" today (despite having strong math grades prior and some evidence that I have recovered and am productive as of the last several months). My dilemma is whether to try and assuage these concerns of theirs (if they have them), or not bring any of it up and hope they overlook it all. ...And I am not so worried about the grades themselves, as like I said they are non-math/stats courses. I am more worried that being the detectives they are, they will look at this part time/mediocre grade combo and see evidence of some serious issue, which is why I want to beat them to it by offering a reasonable explanation and an assurance on my part. Or perhaps I am just being paranoid.

It sticks out like a bit of a sore thumb (with a single F and some B's, all in unrelated classes) but I may be able to ignore it like you said. One of my letter writers (a former professor) already said that he can write that this anomaly was due to an illness. Should I let him go ahead and do that, or request him not to?

@cyberwulf Your insights here are thoroughly appreciated by both myself and many others. I am currently writing the statement of purpose and find that there is no getting around making a reference to a health issue and the impact it had on me over parts of the last year. I have, however, fully recovered in that time. Is there a preferred format for including such a point in my SOP? For example, should I spend ~100 words to demonstrate to the adcoms that I've recovered and won't be an academic liability as a grad student (for MS programs)? Or should I keep the whole thing extremely brief? Thanks, as always.

I see where you are coming from. Unfortunately I need to explain away why I went part time for the entirety of one year, so there's no getting around making some reference to my health. That being said, I have evidence that I recovered completely. How long do you think I should talk about such evidence, so as to assuage any concerns that the adcoms might have?

Thanks @MarineBluePsy and @bayessays. If I briefly mention the illness (in the context of how it set me back and how I overcame it), then can I be deliberately ambiguous about the specific illness? Will they suspect that I haven't actually yet overcome it, or that it is some "stigmatized" illness? I don't think I want to share too many personal details w/ random committee members.

I've been told that bringing up health issues in the SOP ruins what is supposed to be a professional document that focuses on one's strengths; moreover, apparently some faculty interpret such addendums as "excuse-making". Unfortunately, some of my applicantions have no space for supplementary information regarding health issues related to poor performances. In this case, should I just mention the issue briefly in my Statement of Purpose, and if so how should I go about doing this? Thanks!!

This is just me relieving my curious urges: Have adcoms ever seen a Master's applicant and rejected them because they might be a better PhD candidate than a Master's candidate? I ask not out of ego, but because I have a demonstrated interest (and background, to some extent) in theory and research, and I wonder if adcoms will themselves wonder why I am not applying to PhD programs instead.

Thanks Bayessays, as always. @Biostat_Assistant_Prof @biostat_prof @cyberwulf I would love to hear the opinion of a faculty member on this matter, if you wouldn't mind! Thanks either way.

(To give additional context: I am applying to MS programs.) I did coursework at my university corresponding to "advanced undergraduate research" for one semester, where I primarily worked with a PhD student being supervised at our statistics department. Nothing came out of it except a couple of presentations (w/ graphs) and lots of knowledge on my part, but I talked about it for a good two paragraphs in my statement of purpose. I tried asking the PhD student and their advisor for a letter of recommendation but this plan fell through when they went AWOL and I had to find another person to write the final letter (who coincidentally will also give me a good letter for Statistics programs so not a huge loss). I technically have proof that I did this independent study because I got transcript credit for it (marked as "advanced undergraduate research"). Am I then okay talking about it in my SOP without a corresponding letter of rec?

I think if you do well on the Math GRE then adcoms will be more likely to forgive some poor math grades. You seem to be at least okay on analysis and linear algebra by now, and with a little review in both of those topics as well as some review in basic calculus, I think you have a decent shot at getting a score that will be looked on favorably.

If you are able to work in a statistics related field, then by all means do that. Working in relevant industry positions is a good way to improve your profile since MS programs look favorably on those with such experience (plus your ultimate goal seems to be industry anyways, so the work experience obviously aids that by fattening your resume). I'm not sure if taking additional classes will help you that much at this point. Taking the Math GRE will probably help some if you get above a 70th percentile, but you should weigh the opportunity costs of doing so against the return. If you ultimately choose to take a gap year or two for the sole purpose of boosting your MS profile, then I would prioritize the Math GRE over additional classes.

I think your industry experience will be a big plus here, believe it or not. Lots of people get admitted into top Stats programs w/ substantial industry experience in data science/business analytics. Equity research seems like a lot of the latter, on paper at least. Where did you do your recent math classes if you don't mind me asking? If I am understanding correctly, this is not the Ivy league school you attended for undergrad?

You can, but Stanford's deadline for Fall 2019 is rapidly approaching. Depending on your time constraints, it may be wiser focusing on applications instead of cramming for the GRE now (though studying for the Quant GRE is not all that hard). Go for it if you think you can get a higher score, but note that if you go from a 166 to 168/169 this is unlikely to change your chances. Your former GPA and letters of recommendation are weighted much more heavily than GRE scores. Even a 170 will probably only be a small bump at best (unless your math grades are bad, but in that case you are going to have a rough time getting into top programs regardless).

Forget the financials of paying application fees for now. I found a list of 10-11 schools that I am really interested in for an M.S. program in Statistics, and I want to apply to all of them to maximize my odds of getting in somewhere. My worry is that my recommendation writers won't take too kindly to this number of schools (I assumed that they would be more or less copy-pasting letters for each schools). Any thoughts on this? @cyberwulf Since you are a faculty member yourself what is your opinion on this situation? Thanks!!

My professors will probably write positive reviews but if they are ultimately describing the work I did in their letters, how should I proceed with wording my statement of purpose when describing that same work? Perhaps I am overthinking this...

Thanks. I've heard that a mediocre GRE quant score raises questions of grade inflation if paired with strong math grades, since the combination is so odd. How bad of a GRE score would I need before that starts to happen, you think?

Somehwat recently - about a month and a half ago. A 166 constituted a 90th percentile for my test.

...And I apologize if I am coming across as a massive asshat by making this post. I am just a paranoid person by nature

I am a bit of an oddball due to a great Mathematics GPA (including Real Analysis and one graduate-level class) but a relatively average quant GRE score of 166 due to poor time management on tests. Will my math grades overcome this, or will my GRE score cast suspicion on my entire application? Thanks.