Robatum1030

Yes, be honest! Most non-SOPHAS apps won't ask you about it.

When I was applying to biostats PhD programs, I don't remember ever having to report academic violations, only criminal offenses. So, I don't think it should be a problem for you. However, read the questions they ask on the applications very carefully to ensure you are being honest. Does this violation appear anywhere on your transcripts?

Every prospective and current grad student is going to give you a different answer about your "chances" of getting into certain programs, because everyone's background and story is different. I wouldn't bother retaking the GRE, since you got a perfect Quant score, and that's really the only thing stats programs focus on. Competition among international applicants is very high, so I would recommend applying to biostats/stats PhD programs ranked ~20-30 based on your profile. Masters programs are much less competitive, so applying to highly ranked biostats/stats Masters programs seems feasible for you. However, please do apply broadly to any program you want. You never really know unless you try! Give UC Berkeley's Masters program a shot!

From your background and profile, it seems like applying to stats Masters programs may be your best bet, instead of applying straight to PhD programs. Then, after your Masters, it should certainly be easier to get into a PhD program. Clearly explain in all your personal statements your reason for transitioning from econ to stats, and why.

Hello! Grad schools may not like the C+ you got in measurement theory. I'm not sure how much emphasis they'd put on the other courses you took abroad. Also, I believe courses in Europe have a different grading scale from the US? But I may be wrong. I've heard getting higher grades in courses abroad, like in Europe, is more difficult than in the US. Make sure to address the hardships from your first year and year abroad in your personal statements. That could help explain your story. It's definitely good that your grades increased sharply over time. Your GPA and GRE scores seem fine. Any research experience would be very beneficial for PhD programs, especially to outweigh your earlier low math grades. Don't bother taking the subject test unless it's required or you think you can score very highly (>80%). Otherwise, the exam won't really distinguish you much from everyone else. You could apply to both Masters and PhD programs. I don't think Iowa State or Ohio would be reaches for you. However, posting your full profile will allow people to make better judgments!

Unless application fees are too burdensome, you should apply to Washington anyway. You never know unless you try! With my profile, I didn't think I would get into my biostats PhD program.

Hello! I'm currently a first-year biostats PhD student at Columbia. My cohort is 5 students (1 came in with a biostats Masters from Harvard, and the other 4, including myself, came in with a BS in applied math or stats). Emory's program has a cohort of ~8 (4 Masters and 4 Bachelors). That's what I was told during their summer biostats program. UPenn is approximately 6-8 students, but I'm not sure what their usual Masters/Bachelors breakdown is, but I believe they try to keep them roughly even. They invited me to their Interview Day, and I was rejected shortly after.

I think you have a chance anywhere. Your profile is extremely strong. Just don't apply to too many programs with really small cohorts, unless they are schools you are really interested in.

Mega-congratulations on those two acceptances! Hopkins is consistently ranked the #1 public health school in the country and their biostatistics program is definitely up there, too. However, Hopkins is in a terrible location to me. I currently live in Baltimore, and it just is not a comfortable place to live in (for me, anyway). This fall, I will be starting a biostatistics PhD program at Columbia (that was my dream school, more so than Hopkins). Columbia's statistics program is in the top 15, which is not at all bad. The school still comes with great name recognition. It really depends on the location you want to live in and your research interests (look at faculty research in both departments and see which stands out most to you). I chose Columbia because I am really interested in entering the pharmaceutical industry after grad school, and they have a whole bunch of pharmaceutical stats courses and professors who do drug-related research that I think will best prepare me this type of career. Columbia is also pretty close to home and friends for me, which played a role in my decision. I honestly think both schools will get you very far in either academia or industry. Also consider which financial aid package is better. Living in Manhattan is more expensive than living in Baltimore. Regarding the "narrowness" of biostatistics, I think if you want to do more applied stats work after grad school, biostatistics would be a better fit. Most stats PhD programs are very theory-heavy, which is why I chose biostatistics over stats. In the job market, I don't think it makes a huge difference in industry, but it might if you want to enter academia. Biostatistics and stats professor jobs can be different depending on the school's emphasis on theory vs. application, but either school is a fantastic option!

Your scores are not at all a problem. And don't be afraid to apply to some of those MS programs above the 70th percentile. You never know unless you try!

Has anyone else not heard back from the biostats PhD programs at Columbia, UNC and Vanderbilt yet? Assuming rejection at this point?

Can I assume that since several people have already heard back from UNC for biostats and I haven't that I'm rejected?

I was accepted to the fast-track MS to PhD biostats program at UMich, because I applied without a Master's. In my acceptance letter, they explicitly stated that their policy is to only accept students who apply with a Master's directly into their PhD program. There are very few exceptions, like if you have an extraordinary amount of research experience and publications, similar to the level of a Master's student. So, if you applied to their PhD program with a Master's, you'll probably hear from them soon.

Hello! I will be attending campus visit/interview days at UPenn and Columbia, and will be interviewed via Skype by Emory, in the coming weeks for their biostatistics PhD programs. Has anyone previously participated in these visits/interviews with these schools that could offer some advice on what to expect, what to focus on, how many students were there, etc? Any help/advice would be very greatly appreciated! Thanks so much!

You are so right, bayessays! Some of life is just getting lucky with who your reviewers are. You'll never please everyone and faculty at certain schools are vastly different.

Hello! Your profile is certainly unique (which most grad schools like)! If you don't mind me asking, did you work for Senator Harris (I think she's awesome)? Anyway, have you taken the required math courses to apply to Master's programs in stats, like calc 1-3? These are a must! I think your GRE scores are fine. Getting a LOR from someone who can talk about your math and stats skills would be very helpful for you (and for admissions committees). Are you looking to stay in CA or go to the east coast? What programs are you looking at? I would consider Berkeley, since you hopefully have some good connections there from undergrad. Any math/stats-oriented research experience or familiarity with R, Python, or any other programming languages? Was your thesis math/stats heavy? Why econ to stats?

It depends how low it is relative to your other years. Grad schools understand low freshmen year GPAs, but they need to see that you progressed and your GPA has increased throughout the years. I would say if your freshman GPA is different by 0.4 or greater than your other years, you should mention why it was low. The "how" to mention it part, I cannot answer for you. That depends on what happened and the circumstances. But I'm sure a lot of admissions committees hear the "I was a freshman, and didn't know what I wanted to study, etc." story all the time, so my advice would be to try and make it a bit more substantial than that.

If the position is just to literally grade papers based off of a professor's answer key, grad schools won't care that you did that. You aren't really learning anything by doing that. Studying to get good grades in your math classes is much more important! If you hold office hours and review sessions to actually work with and help students, then that's a different story, and I would recommend you take advantage of that opportunity!

Yeah, those 2 math classes sound fine to drop! No worries. Enjoy your last semester!

I think that programs will be a little skeptical about why you said you were going to take 4 math classes and then decided to drop 2 of them, depending on how relevant they are to each of the school's stats PhD programs. But I would try to stay a full-time student every semester, even if that means taking "filler" classes. It would be ideal if you could get credit for your research project through an independent study or something like that! What are the 2 classes you want to drop?

Every institution should send you an interview request by email. Very rarely will they call you to tell you that they want to interview you. But, if they do email you to set up a phone interview, be sure to provide your correct number and mention that it is wrong on your application.

I think interview requests are disseminated to applicants at roughly the same time, but not always. Every school does things differently, but almost all interview requests are usually sent out in Jan and Feb. I was shocked to see that someone already got accepted into UMichigan's PhD program! Makes me a bit nervous as I also applied there (and Harvard).

Thank you! If you don't mind me asking, which Emory SIBS cohort were you a part of? Best of luck to you as well!

Thank you for sharing your thoughts! I appreciate it. Hopefully my research experiences will hold a bit more weight than my GPA. I believe all of my letters are strong, but I did not mention my GPA potentially being lower than expected in my SOP or tell my references to talk about that. Luckily, one of my references knows the Dean of Columbia's Mailman School very well and one of my current research mentors is friends with the Chair of the biostats admissions committee at UPenn, so hopefully those connections will help me! Looking forward to the interview visits, but also incredibly nervous.