MeepMeep92

@bayessays - Great, thank you for the review! This is much better than I was expecting.

@Geococcyx Thanks very much for the detailed response. I think your post definitely gives me some very useful perspective, even if you're not sure whether it's entirely accurate. Yes, the CS research I'm doing is applied. It involves some applied algorithm design but no new theory. If I'm somewhat competitive for 4-10, then that's great and I'd almost definitely apply this cycle, so I'd definitely appreciate it if anyone else reading this can chime in on whether that assessment sounds right. For your questions: The credit means I elected to take the class (credit/D/fail), where "credit" is given for C- or higher. I wasn't planning to go to grad school at all + didn't realize linear algebra was so important + had a busy semester, so I just took it for credit. But I'm hoping the A+ in the advanced linear algebra class remedies that, and I'll definitely have the advanced LA professor be a letter writer. (I think her letter will say pretty positive things about my proof writing abilities, and I don't have any other letter that I'd use anyway) What you said about not needing biostat specific research experience and classes is very useful, since I'm lacking both of those - would also appreciate if any other readers can weigh in on those points.

Hi all, I graduated a few years ago and recently decided that I'd be interested in doing a biostats PhD. Unfortunately, I didn't have a PhD in mind at all during undergrad, and this coupled with some depression resulted in some lackluster grades. I've been taking / am planning to take some more classes as a non-degree student to fill in gaps / improve my app, but I wanted to get an idea of where I stand and what further classes I should take. Undergrad Institution: One of Harvard / Yale / Princeton Major: Computer Science GPA: 3.6x in major, 3.5x overall Type of Student: Domestic, ORM GRE General Test: Expecting 167 Q, 167 V, 5 W Programs Applying: PhD in Biostats Research Experience: Currently doing image processing research with a CS professor. I'll hopefully get a paper and letter from it, but not sure yet. Also have 3 years of work experience as a data scientist + software engineer (but not research work) Letters of Recommendation (3 letters): One from my real analysis professor in undergrad (bit of an odd case, since I got a B in the class because I timed myself badly on the final, but he said he would write me a good letter since I wrote very clear proofs and did well on midterms). One from my advanced linear algebra professor, but the class was taken at a school ranked ~100 as a non degree student (got an A+). Hopefully one from the CS prof I'm doing research with. Relevant Course Work: Math / Stat Calc II (high school, A) Multivariable Calculus - B+ Probability and Statistics (200 level, but used multi var calc) - B+ Multivariate Statistics for the Social Sciences - A Linear Algebra - credit (but took advanced LA after graduating, see line below..) Advanced Linear Algebra (proof based, taken at GMU) - A+ Real Analysis - B (but will get a letter of rec from the professor, as said above) CS Algorithms - B+ Math for CS - A- Numerical Computation - A Introduction to Data Mining - A Intelligent Robotics - B+ Data Mining and ML - Credit Artificial Intelligence - A Advanced Topics in AI - A Systems Programming - B+ I'm hoping the recommendation letters from my real analysis professor and my advanced linear algebra professor will help (I think both of them will be good based on conversations I had with my professors when I requested letters). However, my lack of research experience and relative lack of math / stats coursework seem to be pretty problematic (especially with the B in real analysis...not sure how much the professor's letter will do to make that B look less bad). I'm thinking about spending another year to improve my application before applying. I believe I could take a couple more proof based math classes and get A's, though I'm not sure how significant that will be if I take them at a school ranked ~80-100 (I need to stay at my job full time for financial reasons, so I can only take about 1 class per semester). I'd be interested in any thoughts on what range of biostat PhD schools I'd be competitive for with the current profile above, as well as any thoughts on how I can improve my application over the next year (if I decide to delay a year, which I feel like I should do..)