jelquiades

Same with ranking schools :^)

I plan to hook an old wacom tablet up to my computer; looks like a new one of these goes for about 50 bucks. An ipad seems way too much if you just want to draw stuff with a pen. Do a search for "drawing tablet".

I highly recommend the above. A $28.5k video card will be necessary for rendering ggplot outputs.

I honestly don't know enough about masters admissions to give you any answer, and I generally think "chancing" people has a lot of information bias (you think you're learning something, but it's noise). But I do suggest you apply to schools of a wide range of prestige (that offer a thesis option, as mentioned above). Perhaps you should try to look for these programs first.

I understand as an international student you are shooting for the top schools, and perhaps there is not as much literature on schools that are less prestigious than the top 10. Truth is the schools ranked 50 and below are also excellent programs. I hate rankings. In fact I turned down a top 20 program for one ranked in the 60s this time around. Just looking at the numbers may make you think I'm crazy, but in fact the school I chose is a much better fit for me. Unfortunately, the ranking does tend to mean something about the quality of the program, so it's useful for discussion on this forum. But everyone knows that it's an attempt to compress everything about a PhD program into one dimension. As for masters programs, since you're shooting for a PhD eventually, look for programs that contain a research component, e.g. one with a thesis option. I know UChicago, Duke, Colorado State, UNC Chapel Hill, UC Santa Barbara have masters programs with a thesis. I know this because when I was researching schools, I created a giant spreadsheet with info like this. I suggest you click around on that US News list and do the same. Along the way you'll learn other things about the schools that can help you decide where to go.

That IU site looks good to me. At some point you'll have to email the prof whose class you wish to take and then forward his permission to the powers that be.

Yes! If you have a school in mind, look at their website. Somewhere should list that a non-degree option is available. On the school that I went to, it was in the "admissions" section. After you've confirmed it's available (I'm pretty sure most schools allow this), you can either start an application and indicate you're a non-degree seeking student, or email someone in charge of admissions for that department and they can help you out. For my school, I had to jump through some additional hoops to take a graduate class as a non-degree, but my experience is that the administrators are happy to help. If you have a school in mind I can help you find out how to do it.

I HIGHLY recommend taking real analysis (e.g.) as a non-degree seeking student. I was also a unique applicant since I've been out of school for so long and fell out of touch with professors. I took a measure theory class at a local university and made a good impression on the professor by talking to him outside class and scoring nearly 100% (of course it helps to actually be good at math etc). Doing so not only got me an A on an official transcript, it also got me a recommendation letter. I was able to get into one of my top choices this round (PhD). Honestly it's such a huge lifehack for non-standard applicants.

I think you should consider it a waitlist. I will turn down my offer soon™ so just hang tight.

I recently went to a visit day for a department ranked in the 60s in us news (though I hate ratings and think this department is underrated). There were a couple people who have never taken real analysis, so I wouldn't say you're screwed. Presumably they had something else that indicated their mathematical skills to the adcom.

Your grades may make it difficult to get admitted to many of the schools you listed, but the good news is that a lot of schools have data science programs nowadays. I suggest you click around a little on department websites (of different levels of prestige) and find out about where their graduates go and if it aligns with the job you want. I was in your position about a year ago, not knowing which schools to look at outside of the big boys. It's difficult to suggest masters programs since there are so many of them. What I did to get started was basically choose schools at random on the usnews ranking and go from there.

Hey, is there any evidence that it's not possible? I suggest contacting the Harvard and Berkeley departments and telling them just that. Maybe they can arrange something :^)

I second Kopp and Capinski. Not only is it exactly the material you're looking for, the book contains detailed solutions to every problem, crucial for self study. Plus it has bonus sections on applications to finance, if you're into that.

I'm starting my applications and I would like to put in that I want to be considered for the MS Stats program in some schools if I'm rejected from the PhD. I remember reading here that it's possible, but I don't see it explicitly on an application so far. Does anyone know if you are automatically considered for the MS (if the school has one), or is it school-specific, or are you expected to submit separate applications? For at least one school you are not allowed to submit two applications to the same department.

I am not looking for the quickest option, nor the cheapest one. I want one that will give me a good education, ideally capped off with a thesis. Seems to me like Stanford and UChicago have good programs. Duke also appears to be good. From my random clicking around, NC state also seems decent. However, the Columbia program sounds like a cash cow (moreso than masters programs already are). I don't know if any of this is true. My question is how the hell do you guys know what's actually good? There's got to be a better way than going down the usnews list and browsing individual programs... right?