fireuponthedeep

I recently graduated from UMN with my MS in biostats, and I can say that you will have a very very high chance of securing a TA or RA position by your second year, which will help defray the costs. If you are really self motivated, during your first year you can search for and obtain RA positions outside the department (it requires a lotta emails and networking, but it is doable!). As for job prospects afterwards, one of my cohort mates was offered a job in California afterwards, and I had several offers from around the country, so you won't be locked into only finding jobs in Minnesota. In regards to the application process, companies/organizations want candidates that have the skills and knowledge to do the job, so the reputation of the college is not the primary concern. However, what often happens is that companies based in a certain area usually employ graduates from institutions located there as well, so they end up going with what they personally know (the program they were in), over an institution they are not as familiar with. UMN is not a total unknown in the stats/biostats field, so that won't be as much of an issue, and you can always search up alums and see if they work in areas or at companies you are interested in. Ultimately the cost is going to be a big determinant, and UMN is fairly cheap relative to most programs. You'll have good job prospects afterwards (especially in this job market). Edit: to touch on the weather like @bayessays mentioned, the winters in the twin cities are horrendous, but transport to/from/on campus makes them tolerable (the winter tunnels under campus are fun, but trippy to walk around in without anyone else around). Just invest in a good coat, hat, gloves, and warm pants! And the summers make up for the winters

For an MS, the main consideration is cost to earnings ratio: which place will allow you to accrue the least debt while most increasing your job prospects afterward? For MS positions, most employers aren't as concerned with the prestige of your institution after you've gotten the first job, they just want to know you can do the job (prestige does help in getting the first job). Fortunately, the job market for MS biostatisticians is utterly insane rn with intense demand, so you will likely have excellent job prospects after you graduate, even from a less "prestigious" institution (I say likely as I cannot ascertain what the next two years will look like re: inflation and the potential of a recession, but the field has a major deficit of Masters level biostatisticians). I would encourage you to think about where you'd be most comfortable among the three schools and weigh that against the costs: you'll be spending two years there, which is not that long, but grad school is also pretty difficult! Being unhappy with your environment won't be help with your learning and skill development. Ultimately, each of the three schools will lead to good job prospects afterwards, by virtue of the field (academic research) in desperate need of candidates. Personally, I would pick the cheapest option! When I was considering my MS options, I ultimately chose the cheaper, "less prestigious" option over the more expensive, higher prestige institution, and it did not hinder my learning, job search, nor my future prospects for a PhD. Regardless, you have some great choices, congrats!

The cost would mostly be a wash other than tuition since I can get higher paying jobs (I have one rn) in Minneapolis UMN that will earn enough for rent + the $450, basically tuition vs no-tuition. If I don't get a PhD, I would like to work at a medical device company or a hospital doing clinical trial work. And even if I do get a PhD I would still like to do work in clinical trials. I actually had a biostat internship for this summer at one of the big med device companies in Minneapolis, but they cancelled all internships due to covid ? And I had an interview with Mayo Clinic for another clinical trial internship that I was super excited about, but they cancelled too. And I got those opportunities solely from being a UMN student, came from alumni. If I knew those opportunities would still be there next spring I'd stay with zero issue, I just don't know and I'm fairly risk averse, one of the reasons I chose biostats. It's hard to say, since I would be at NDSU a year, maybe 3 semesters max, and it might be online next fall. But they are a small department so that would help to develop closer relationships for sure. Yeah, it seems like rankings matter much unless you intend on going into academia and want go to a larger university, a PhD is a PhD as long as the school prepares you well and I don't have any reason to think NDSU wouldn't do a good job in that regard. But the issue is that NDSU isn't really focused on what I want to do (clinical trials), they're more traditional statistics program, some cancer research but not much in the clinical trial field. And I know it would be far more likely I stay in the Fargo area with an NDSU degree, and there aren't many of the biostat jobs that I've been able to find in past research.

Yeah, I'm definitely not sold on pursuing a PhD since I've gotten pretty drained by coursework after this first year, but that's more due to external circumstances + two really really bad professors. But I've also really enjoyed the (little) research I've been able to do, which I hadn't honestly anticipated. Probably 50-50 chance of pursuing a PhD. My undergrad GPA was 3.76, Mathematics BA. Mostly theory based, but didn't take Real Analysis. GRE was 164Q, 168V, 4.5W (I think). Current UMN GPA is a 3.89, but it'll probably drop to a 3.72 after this semester, gonna get a B/B+ in a core stat course cuz #pandemic. I think I'd probably be okay getting into lower ranked schools? I'd want to stay somewhat near family if possible, which restricts my options to the Midwest. It just feels like UMN opens my options up so much more, but damn, I really don't want to have another 20k in debt if the job market is super bad.

Hello everyone! I hope you are all doing well during these trying times. I have a bit of a dilemma on my hands and wanted to see if anyone had some sage advice for me. I am a current 1st year MS student in the UMN biostats program. I've been somewhat unsatisfied with the program, specifically how little some of the faculty I've had in class seem to care about the students, Masters in particular. However I've enjoyed reaching out and meeting other faculty, and the research/career opportunities were plentiful and interesting before the pandemic. I've had little luck securing a RA/TA position, coming supeeeeeer close twice, but I am currently paying full price, with no guarantee of getting funding next year (although it is common for most if not all MS students to get funding the second year). This is something I was comfortable doing before the pandemic as I receive in state tuition and the cost at UMN is fairly low. However, the pandemic now makes me reticent to take out more money in loans since I am not sure what the job market will look like in 2021 when I graduate. And I don't know whether I might go back to try and get my PhD. My mother works at North Dakota State University, and I decided to apply to their MS Applied statistics program since I have no clue what the fall looks like and wanted to be safe. They immediately accepted me and gave me a TA offer that waives tuition and pays $450/month, so I'd be making money while living at home for free, and I believe about half of my credits would transfer (the stat theory/regression coursework I've taken), but I don't know if I'd graduate 2021 like I would for UMN. However, NDSUs program isn't as well known, so I'm not sure what my outlook for jobs would look like afterwards. And I'm also interested in a PhD (particularly if the job market is very bad, but if not several years down the road), and I know an MS from there would make it harder to get into PhD programs elsewhere. Basically, I can either go to UMN for ~20k with a decentish chance of getting an RA/TA position one of the two remaining semesters, or go to NDSU and get paid, but I don't know if my job/PhD prospects will be damaged by going there. I also don't want to leave UMN, but it hasn't been what I was hoping for. Any advice would be greatly appreciated! TLDR; MS student considering transferring from well known school to lesser known due to financial issues, pros and cons for both, need some advice and perspective Edit: Probably important to mention too, but I was given a deadline of May 7th to accept the TA offer from NDSU, which I am going to ask for an extension on due to the pandemic, but no guarantee I get that, so I might have to choose sooner rather than later.

No problem! And I totally understand that impulse, I'm excited at the prospect of teaching basic calc again lol. Best of luck in your program!

I feel somewhat like the blind leading the blind since I don't know for sure, beyond what I've been told and seen on the UMN job boards, so take this with a grain of salt! But I think that that is a definite possibility. The UMN internal job search portal lists available graduate assistantships that anyone can view and apply for. They looked like normal job applications, you submit your resume and if you have the requisite skills potentially they'll hire you. So if you were to see a RA/TA position in the Chem E department and you have what they're looking for, I don't see why you couldn't apply for it! Additionally, I know Emory has a similar portal to look for RA/TA positions, so I'd imagine they're fairly ubiquitous across American universities, but I can't definitively say that every school has one. That would depend on your school, but there's still the option of manually searching through the Chem E department and finding professors you think you could help, then emailing them. Worst case scenario they ignore you, assuming you're polite and respectful in your email. I will say that it seems likely that preference might be given to students w/in their own department, and I'm sure there are downsides to seeking positions outside the biostats/stats department if you're looking for research opportunities specifically w/in biostats/stats. But for my part I just want my masters to be cheap and don't really care about the research since I'm gunning for an industry job after I'm done. UMN is so big that there seem to be a surplus of GA positions available, you just need the skills for them and they don't seem to care what department you're in if you can help. Obviously in an ideal world you'd find something in the biostats/stats department, but life ain't always that idyllic. As far as the licensed engineer question, I honestly don't know, but I guess that would depend on the specifications of the individual position. If it's a TA position, it doesn't seem like you'd need one? But I have no clue, I know nothing about engineering lol. Maybe try posting on one of the engineering subforums and see if they've been required to have engineering licenses for those postions?

I can't tell you exact figures, since they didn't provide those during my visit. But all the Masters students I met while visiting campus had some sort of graduate assistantship, whether as an RA or TA, and they indicated that it wasn't particularly hard to find them, especially since MS students are likely to have skills that researchers in other departments need, mainly using R/SAS to clean and analyze their data, but frequently don't possess themselves. The only issue with that is gaining those skills might take the 1st or 2nd semesters worth of courses, so that might not be an option until then. It can totally be a different department, and frequently is! One masters student I met was a TA for an online course in social work (idk the exact school/department) since that was her undergrad specialty. It seems like it's honestly dependent on the strengths of the individual student and whether they're willing to reach out and find those opportunities. It's definitely not taboo to reach out between departments looking for those opportunities. As I actually find out for myself this fall, I am more than willing to let ya know what that entire process looks like tho

I can corroborate this being somewhat common, for UofMN at least. The biostats department and the public health career services department both bluntly stated that incoming masters students should essentially cold call professors that aren't a part of the biostats department and ask about opportunities, especially for the first semester. Since masters students aren't guaranteed assistantships, whatever you can secure for yourself is what you're gonna get. As far as harming your chances of getting aid, well, the worst that'll happen is being ignored. I'm planning on reaching out to math/biology/psychology department professors and seeing if there are lower level courses I can get a teaching assistantship for, since I did it for 2 years in undergrad and have some experience. However, I don't imagine spamming all those professors with the same email begging for a TA position would be looked charitably upon, so I'm going to practice my due diligence and individually email those that are teaching courses I know I could help with lol. Idk the specifics of how funding works at other schools, but getting an assistantship for x hours a week equates to y% of your tuition being waved, e.g. if I worked 10 hours a week then 50% would be waived, and that's standard procedure for all UofMN assistantships. Getting money beyond tuition being waived would necessitate a PhD

Undergrad Institution: Top 60 Liberal Arts (according to super accurate USnews lol) Major(s): Mathematics Minor(s): Biology, Psychology GPA: 3.76 Major GPA: 3.79 Type of Student: DMW GRE General Test: Q: 164 (86%) V: 168 (98%) W: 5.0 (92-94%, Can't remember exact percentage tbh) GRE Subject Test in Mathematics: M: N/A Programs Applying: (Biostatistics MS, Wisconsin Statistics MS - Biostats option) Research Experience: Lol literally none Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Magna Cum Laude, Dean's List most semesters, few academic scholarships Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Math TA for several semesters Letters of Recommendation: Letter of rec from Psychology professor, Biology professor, Classics professor, and my college swim coach. Psych professor is the most prolific researcher, but even they're not particularly well known. Undergrad was wayyyyyyyy more teaching focused than research intensive. Math/Statistics Grades: Calc I-II (A-/A-), Linear Algebra (A-), Abstract Algebra (A), Multivariable Calc (A), Combinatorics (A-), Euclidean/Non-euclidean Geometry (A), Numerical Analysis (A), Probability Models (B), Statistical Models (A). About half of my courses were primarily proof based, from spring semester sophomore year onwards, which I think was very beneficial to my application. Didn't take Real Analysis unfortunately, didn't like the professor. Any Miscellaneous Points that Might Help: None that I can think of relating to actual biostatistics/statistics. I'd like to think I was a unique applicant, I swam varsity collegiately for all 4 years in undergrad, served an AmeriCorp term after I graduated, really interested in Public Health and that shone through in my SOPs. But I have no clue if any of that made a difference lol. Also got a D in physics my first semester due to mental health issues + lack of readiness for college, so that tanked my GPA pretty hardcore, would've been 3.85 w/o it. Idk if it was beneficial to my applications that my GPA would've been drastically better w/o that one disaster, or if they were damaged by doing so spectacularly poorly. Or made no impact. At the very least, future applicants know that they can eff up in a non math stem course and get into someplace lmao. Applying to Where: School - University of Minnesota/ Admitted / Accepted School - UNC Chapel Hill / Admitted / Declined School - Emory / Admitted / Declined School - JHU / Rejected School - Wisconsin / Rejected School - Colorado / Admitted / Declined School - IUPUI / Admitted / Declined School - Vanderbilt / Applied to PhD with assumption I'd get auto-rejected and hopefully be considered for MS lol. I was asked to Interview for one of 4 MS spots, but declined to do so due to Minnesota acceptance Overall I was pretty satisfied, UMN was my top choice. In retrospect, maybe getting letters of rec from my mathematics professors would've been smarter, but I was closer with the others and naively thought LOR were just intended to be like "Hey, this person is cool, let them into your school" rather than speaking on research suitability and whatnot. Although I'd like think my Psych/Bio/Classics professors actually wrote letters that were very complimentary of my research potential. Plus for just an MS I don't think LORs really matter too much lmao, as long as they're not damning. Seems like a numbers game, get the GRE/GPA/Course Prereqs, launch those apps into the abyss and you'll probs get in somewhere. I also feel like I lucked out as far as coursework and grades, I had zero inkling wtf biostats was in undergrad, and sorta stumbled into the math major path cuz I like being tortured by proofs and it turned out everything I took ended up being necessary or helpful. But yeah, best of luck to everyone at your respective programs!

@Stat PhD Now Postdoc okay, sounds like I will be poring through linear algebra done right and understanding analysis for the next couple months! And I'll just review Calc with some sort of open course ware, good to know I can ignore trig and polar coordinates tho haha. Coursera has a few R programming courses offered through JHUs Biostat department I can audit for free, but I think just jumping into would be a good idea too, that's usually how I learn best with programming. Maybe mix and match if I need more help/guidance. As an aside, thank you for all your help, both on this post and the others I've previously made. It's been indescribably beneficial to get an informed opinion!

Hello all! I have been researching topics to review prior to the beginning of my program, and wanted to know if these were good places to start? -Basics of Linear Algebra -Calc I-III, u-sub, chain rule, etc. -Gain familiarity with R -Dip toes into Measure Theory/Real Analysis if feeling particularly ambitious I took Linear Algebra 4 years ago, and have been reviewing the textbook I used (Introduction to Linear Algebra, Strang 5th ed) and it's coming back quickly. However, I'm (now) realizing it's mostly applied, and it seems a proof based text would be more appropriate? Is there a specific proof based text (I've read that Matrix Analysis and Applied Linear Algebra by Meyer is a good proof based text?) I could use instead, or will that be overkill and just reviewing Strang/basics enough? None of my calc courses were hard to understand when I took them so I'm not particularly worried about reviewing/regaining the info, but how in depth should I go? Just review some problems, or should I redo my textbooks? Any specific books/courses for learning R? I was planning on using 'The Art of R Programming' by Matloff. I have literally no experience with R lol. Is trying to learn Measure Theory (Casella & Berger) and Real Analysis (Either Rudin or Understanding Analysis by Abbott) total overkill? I didn't take Real Analysis in undergrad, but planning on taking it during my program. Feels like a decent idea to at least get some basic understanding beforehand. And I just wanna hit the ground running for my program, been out of undergrad 2 years and worried about being behind the curve. If there are any areas/topics I didn't mention and definitely need to cover, please let me know! And any other tips, advice, or good texts to use would be greatly appreciated!

I think UNCs honestly not too bad compared to those schools (especially Harvard/JHU/berkeley once cost of living is factored in), out of state is 15k a semester for UNC, far higher at the other places. I receive in state tuition to UMN, so it will be nearly half as much to get my MS, which is a no brainer to me. And that's assuming I don't get a graduate assistantship lol. Plus I'll be closer to my family and my dogs need cold weather! If the costs were closer I'd definitely consider UNC, but regardless I'm sure happy to get an admit!

I guess the actual admissions email was just slow to arrive, I received it this morning. If the cost wasn't so prohibitive I'd love to go, but still nice to be admitted! Best of luck to everyone else waiting on admissions decisions!

Did anybody get a weird email from UNC today? I reached out a few weeks ago about my MS Biostatistics application, and they responded with Hi [me], I am sure you have been notified of your admission! Congratulations! So that seems like an admit? But also that was all it said, the application hadn't changed on their website, and I haven't heard anything else from them lmao. It doesn't really matter since I'm going to UofMN, but it would feel good to know I got admitted to UNC too lol.