alshap1010

Hello, I am going into my senior year of college, and I know I want to go to grad school, but I am constantly second guessing what type of programs I want to applied to. I am an Applied Math major, with a minor in Stats and a concentration in programming, and I can program in C++, Matlab, Python, and R. I have received A's in all 8 of my programming courses, but they are courses in the Math and Stats departments and not the CS department. I am interested in getting a Phd is a field that will allow me to get into research in Data Science and Machine Learning. I have been looking at Stats programs, but I really enjoy the programming courses more than Stats theory. I realize most CS departments require some undergraduate breadth courses, and since none of my programming courses are in the CS department, I would have to take a large number of undergraduate courses in addition to my graduate classes, which makes me a not a great candidate to apply for these programs. But, I have noticed that many computer engineering or EE programs don't have this breath requirement and seem more open to non-CS majors. Additionally, some of them have focuses on ML and Data Science or other interesting topics. Would these be appropriate programs to apply to, and are there any good recommendations of schools to apply to for ML, both reach schools and more reasonable schools?

Undergrad Institution: UCLA Major: Applied Math Minor: Statistics GPA: 3.793 Type of Student: domestic white male Relevant Courses: Linear Algebra (A), Calc. II (A), Multivariable Calc. 1/2 (A-, A, 2 courses at my school), Numerical Analysis I/II(A, A), Analysis (A), Probability (A-), Nonlinear Diff. Eqn (A-), ODEs (A-), C++ programming I/II/III (A, A, A-), Math Modelling (B-, first Upper Div Math, got rocked, only B in a math class, though), Python (A) Currently taking: Mathematical Statistics, Statistical Programming in R Taking Fall Quarter: Complex Analysis, Monte Carlo Methods, Algorithms, Statistical Linear Models GRE: Only have taken a single practice test thus far without studying, but this is what I got. Expecting/hoping to see 3-5 points of improvement in Q/V. Q: 165 V: 156 W: 4 Will be taking the Math GRE in September Programs Applying: Statistics PhD unless otherwise specified Research Experience: - One summer in a Physics/Biology lab, mainly student run and not very impressive (fun, though) - Math research course in fluid dynamics - Applied Math REU, same fluid dynamics lab/advisors, but a different project Teaching Experience: Curriculum director for a club that teaches science to low income middle schoolers. Recommendation Letters: 2 from math professors / research advisers from fluid dynamics lab (one was my programming professor, the other was the adviser for the REU project, not the adviser of the whole REU program), other from a Stats professor I have taken classes with. I think they will be decent, not sure if they will be stellar. Coding Experience: C++, R, Python, and Matlab Research Interests: I am interested in researching Machine Learning, Data Science, etc. Not 100 percent sure, but definitely computational and data intensive. Not sure if I want to go into industry research, but I’d like to keep that option open. Stanford Berkeley UWashington CMU - Stats/ML joint program UChicago Cornell Harvard UPenn Duke UNC U Michigan UT Austin Texas A&M UCLA Yale Johns Hopkins Maybe some Canadian schools CalTech - Computational and Mathematical Sciences PhD G Tech - ML PhD UCSD - ECE with emphasis on ML and Data Science NYU - Data Science PhD Concerns: Finding good Stats programs with research in ML, DS, DL. Most web searches bring up CS departments, which isn’t particularly helpful. Not sure what are reasonable schools to apply for. Dreams/Reaches are pretty obvious, but choices are less obvious for more mid/low tier. Should I apply to programs listed as specifically Machine Learning PhDs? Do other programs/industry respect these programs? What about Data Science programs? What schools should I add, which should I take away? Any other recommendations?