Undergrad Institution: State school (ranked between 100 and 200 for liberal arts) Major: Applied Mathematics GPA: 3.58
Major GPA: 3.65
Type of Student: Domestic White Male
Undergrad Courses:
Calc II (A), Calc III (B+), Linear Algebra I (A-), Intro to Mathematical Proof (B), Programming & Mathematical Problem-Solving (B+), Differential Equations (B+), Probability (A-), Intro to Complex Analysis (A-), Statistics (A), Linear Algebra II (A-), Numerical Analysis I (A-), Models & Algorithms in Machine Learning (A), Real Analysis I (A-), Numerical Analysis II (A), Statistics & Machine Learning (A-), Intro to Biostatistics (A, graduate course taken during SIBS program at Emory)
GRE:
Q: 162V: 148W: 4.0
Research Experience:
1 year of statistics and machine learning research at home institution
Summer Institute for Training in Biostatistics (SIBS) at Emory University
Summer Program in Epidemiology & Biostatistics at Harvard University (8 students selected out of 270 applicants)
1 year of statistics and genomics research at the National Institute on Aging - NIH (Manuscript in preparation, will likely be submitted to peer-reviewed journals in March or April)
(8 professional research presentations)
Teaching Experience:
Chemistry Laboratory Instructor (1 year)
Teaching Assistant in Linear Algebra (1 semester)
Honors, Awards & Certificates:
Certificate in Pharmacometric Analyses in Clinical Trials using R, NIH
Protecting Human Research Participants Certification, NIH
Excellence in Mathematics Award (home institution)
Bronze Award in Computation and Application (regional ASA conference presentation)
Pi Mu Epsilon Mathematics Honor Society
The Phi Beta Kappa Society
National Residence Hall Honorary (NRHH)
Golden Key International Honour Society
Phi Eta Sigma National Honor Society
Professional Leadership Certificates (8) (leadership program through home institution)
Additional Training:
Certificate Program in Health Disparities, NIH Academy, Bethesda, MD
Selected to explore methods to actively address scientific, socioeconomic, cultural, and environmental factors that jeopardize global wellness.
Engaging in community outreach activities to support diverse groups that are impacted by health inequities.
Coursera Classes Completed
Teach-Out: Solving the Opioid Crisis, University of Michigan (Score: 90%)
Mathematical Biostatistics Boot Camp 1 & 2, Johns Hopkins University (Scores: 96% & 97%)
The Atlantis Project Fellowship, Lisbon, Portugal
Shadowed physicians consulting patients with widespread public health concerns (e.g. cancer, obesity, motor vehicle injuries) and explored therapeutic strategies to address these conditions at Hospital São José.
Gained competency in Portuguese culture and the European health care system.
Outreach Conference to Increase Diversity in Mathematical Modeling & Public Health, Harvard University, T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA
Selected to participate in hands-on workshops in disease seasonality, vaccinology, immunology, modeling infectious disease dynamics, statistical inference, and genomic data analysis.
Recommendation Letters:
Research advisor and professor from home institution
Professor (linear algebra) and Chair of Math Dept. at home institution
Research Mentor and Instructor during SIBS program at Emory
Scientific Director of the National Institute on Aging - NIH
Coding Experience:
R, Python, some SAS and Matlab
Applying to:
(All PhD programs in biostatistics!)
Harvard
Yale
Vanderbilt
Columbia (invited to campus visit from Feb. 12-14!)
University of Pennsylvania (invited to Interview Visit from Feb. 7-8!)
University of Michigan
Duke
Johns Hopkins
UNC - Chapel Hill
Emory
Brown
Concerns:
I know that some schools are beginning to put less emphasis on GRE scores, but I am still worried that schools will be concerned with my low Verbal score. Reference #4 has addressed my low Verbal score in their letter, so I hope that schools will take that into consideration. My cumulative GPA (3.58) may be a little low as well, but hopefully schools will focus more on my major GPA (3.65). Applying straight to PhD programs with only a BS is probably not preferable to schools, especially if the student has no publications (like me), but hopefully my research experiences will help!
What do you think my chances are of getting into at least one of these programs?
Also, for anyone who has participated in the campus interview visits at Columbia or UPenn, do you have any advice to prepare for these? I know that being invited to these visits is a good sign, but am wondering how many students typically get invited to these types of events and how intimidating these opportunities are.
Thank you!!
