Hi guys, was planning on applying for a Stats PhD this coming fall, but am a little worried because I am a little short on the research experience/personal projects part. I was had a very quantitatively focused undergraduate course load, and math is probably one of my fortes. Ideally I want to stay in the SF/bay area. What do you think I should do to increase my chances?
Undergrad Institution: Top 10 US
Majors: Mathematics, Economics
Concentrations: Statistics, Finance GPA: 3.88/4.00
Type of Student: Domestic Male
GRE General Test:
Q: 170 V: 168 W: 4.5 GRE Subject Test in Mathematics:
M: taking in October, but expect 85-95% range
Programs Applying: Statistics
Research Experience: None Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Putnam Competition school winner - top 200 nationally, graduated summa cum laude Pertinent Activities or Jobs: TAed for 5 different courses (1 compsci, 1 statistics, 3 finance), all quantitative. Worked at a quantitative trading firm with work on quant research macro projects. Interned as a data scientist at a few marketing research firms, applying models to transaction data.
Letters of Recommendation: 1 stat/marketing professor who is very prominent in his field (helped me get my data science internships), 1 finance professor (quantitative finance focus, took 2 of his classes inc financial engineering and TAed 2 of his classes), 1 stat professor (senior stat professor, ex dean of admissions for the school, teaches 1st year PhD stat class which I took as a sophomore)
Math/Statistics Grades: Calc IV (A+), Real Analysis 1/2 (A, A), Algebra (A+, A+), Complex Analysis (A+), Statistical Methodology (A+), Bayesian Statistics (A), Modern Regression (B+), Financial Derivatives (A), Financial Engineering (A-)
Coding Skills: Python, SQL - mostly self taught/learned on the job, but I have done a lot of self studying on algorithms and have a few small software projects/coding competition awards Applying to Where: Stanford, Berk, UC Davis
Concerned primarily about my lack of research experience and long term critical thinking projects. I really want to emphasize my math skills, and I think I'll get pretty solid recommendations from pretty senior professors. Is there anything I can do in the next few months to increase my chances?