Hi guys, I'm in my final undergraduate year and plan to apply for stats PhD in 2020. I have a good exam ranking but I haven't published any paper yet and don't know if this will be a serious problem for my application. What would you recommend me to do in the following year to better prepare for my application?
Undergrad Institution: Top 2 (1?) in the UK
Subject of Study: Mathematics
Courses: Mainly in analysis and probability theory and a few stats courses
Ranking: Top 2 in my year (1%)
GRE General Test: Q: 170 V: 164 W: 4.0
GRE Math Subject Test: Plan to take next September and I hope to get 90%-95%
Research Experience: I did a summer project with a probability professor in my university last summer, though some progress was made I didn't get a very solid mathematical result to publish a paper. I'm now applying for a few stats summer research opportunities for next summer
References: Plan to get one from my undergrad tutor, one from the probability prof I worked with last summer and one from my research supervisor next summer
Programs planning to apply for: Harvard, Berkeley, Stanford, Columbia and Duke (all PhD in statistics).
Another concern is that I will have only taken 2-3 stats courses in my undergraduate degree (but I really enjoyed these courses) though I do plan to take mainly stats options in my fourth year (which corresponds to a masters degree in UK). Will it be a serious disadvantage for me during my application next year? Thanks!