theDKster

Just to give context: I did research with a professor (mostly under the supervision of one of his postdoc students) about 2-2.5 years ago. In the time afterwards, however, I've unfortunately had zero contact with him. Would it look weird if I re-establish contact just to ask for a letter of recommendation for Stats MS programs? If not, what would be the most polite way to do it? I genuinely liked that professor and thought we had a decent relationship back then, if that counts for anything (also I still have 2 months till the first of my application deadlines so this is not a rush job). Thanks for the advice!

Sure. I can do that below, or elsewhere in the forum as well. Let me just do it below for now (and don't feel obligated to do any research on my behalf): ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Undergrad Institution: Top 50 U.S. university (top 20 public) Major: Engineering GPA: 3.6 Major GPA: 3.0 Type of Student: Domestic Male Undergrad (Math/Stats) Courses: Calculus II-III (A), Linear Algebra (A), Diff. Equations (A), Into to Probability Theory - calculus based (A+), Advanced Calculus (A), Real Analysis I (A), Real Analysis II (A-), Topology (A), Measure Theory - grad (A) GRE: Going to retake soon, didn't study for Quant at all (and confident I can get at least 167) Q: 165V: 163W: 5.0 Programs Applying: Statistics MS Research Experience: -Two quarters for computational neuroscience research, with no publications and an informal paper I submitted to the lab. Worked mostly with a postdoc -Two quarters of (ongoing) research with a distinguished statistics professor (no publications yet here either) Recommendation Letter: One from statistics professor above (hard to tell whether this one will be great or just decent), one from a known math professor who does a lot of work in ML (should be strong), not yet sure about third one... Miscellaneous notes: Some of my engineering grades were affected by a health problem in one year, which I have documentation from the university for. Retaking one of those classes now (got two F's, one of which I already retook for an A-). ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Based on this profile, any recommendations for target programs? From my preliminary research it looks like MS programs are more competitive than I'm being led to believe (yet still not as competitive as PhD programs). Most of the good programs I've seen have acceptance rates under 20%, with some under 10% (and these are not even elite programs).

You have a fantastic math background (as well was quant GRE) from a good school. As for your research background, it is hard to gauge without any publications (though the fact that you have publications on the way means that you can link your working paper with the application for review). To make up for this, I would try to assess the likelihood of strong LOR's from your research supervisors/teachers. Do you personally think they will be strong? Overall, your background is extremely solid but your Statistics list is very top-heavy, making it likely you may not get in anywhere. You seem like a strong bet for 10-20 ranked programs so I would apply to a couple more in that range just to be safe. I'm not super sure about Biostatistics so I won't comment on that. ...And I am interested to learn how to deal with bad grades as well. I am an engineering major and have poor grades (worse than yours) in some of those courses, but like you have a strong math background (3.97 math GPA, but no stats classes).

Does anyone have any recommendations for target M.S. programs given my cursory profile description? (I can elaborate more if needed, though my initial rundown briefly touches upon everything). I am having a lot of difficulty constructing a non-risky portfolio of schools to apply for, hence this question :(

Going to bump this just once.

My major GPA (in engineering) is unfortunately only a 3.0, but my math GPA is significantly higher - a 3.97, including undergrad courses in linear algebra, analysis, topology, calculus-based probability, and a graduate class in measure theory. How much emphasis do admissions committees place on math/stats grades over grades in courses unrelated to those two fields? Based on my awkward academic profile (to give additional context I go to a top 50 university and have some statistics research w/ no publications), would I still be competitive for good-to-elite Stats M.S. programs? I totally understand that someone with a similar background but higher major GPA would get in over me, but barring competition, do admissions committees forgive poor grades in unrelated classes? Thanks for your insights!