bstat95

Th prof I interviewed with said decisions would be available by the second week of February. I am not sure whether an interview is required to be admitted.

@hopeful2020PhD Thank you so much for sharing!

@epi2be I'm having my interview for Harvard epi on Tuesday. Have you finished the interview? Is so, would you mind sharing what it was like? Also, would you mind sharing the track you're applying to and the initials of the faculty member who contacted you? I'm just curious whether we're all contacted by the same faculty member or potential PI (I'm applying to methods track and faculty is AB). NO NEED to answer if you don't feel comfortable!! Thanks!

@potlucknopotatosalad Thank you and good luck to you too!!!

It says "Submitted". I believe they're just beginning to send out interviews so don't worry too much!

No, this is the first time I've ever heard back from applications. The email is from a faculty member asking to conduct an interview via zoom. Did you also receive an interview? I totally understand... I've been feeling super anxious the past week

I received an interview invite from Harvard Population Health Sciences (Epidemiology) PhD today. Has anyone already gone through the interview? It's my first one so feeling a bit anxious about it!

This is my profile:

Hi everyone, I'm applying for Fall 2021 Biostat PhD. The letter of recommendation thing has literally stressed/depressed me for months, so I'm here looking for advice on my 3rd letter. I have two letter writers so far. One will be my masters thesis advisor who is fairly well-known (h-index>65). I'm currently pursuing a masters in biostat at one of Harvard/JHU/UW and have been doing research with this prof for a while. The letter should be reasonably strong, hopefully. The other will be a research fellow/biostat & math prof I worked with for 1 year at the national research institution of my home country during undergrad. I did absolutely nothing meaningful there. But the prof speaks very highly of me and actually let me look at the letter, which I think it's pretty strong. Now I'm trying to decide who to ask for my 3rd letter... A prof from my undergrad institution whom I took graduate level statistics with. She wrote one of my letters when I applied to masters. I was frequently top of the class. My biggest concern is that the prof doesn't know me well, so it must be a very standard "do well in class" letter. Also, I'm afraid this letter would be basically useless since I'm applying with a masters. My undergrad academic advisor (a public health prof). Also wrote one of my letters when I applied to masters. He knows me very well in terms of my career plans and academic performance in undergrad, and he seems to like me. But he can't speak much, if any, about my math ability or research potential in biostat. A prof from my undergrad institution whom I took linear algebra with. I'm hoping if the prof can write about my math preparations because although it's an undergrad course in linear algebra, this course was extremely difficult and proof-intensive (math at my undergrad institution is generally very hard) - it's actually much harder than any upper level math courses I've seen in my current institution. However, the prof doesn't know me well, and I only got an A while 10~15% of the students got A+. I've been feeling SO bad about not having built a relationship with professors (especially professors at my current institution), and worried about not having strong letters to boost my application. Any advice is greatly appreciated!

I think admissions committees would look at multivariate analysis more favorably than the applied class.

I think Berkeley and Michigan prefer applicants to do a masters first. You might not be directly admitted to their PhD but Michigan has a fast track MS-PhD and Berkeley the MA-PhD program.

Some schools might waive GRE but I think most schools won't. It's better for you to check the program website or contact the program. People here aren't able to give you the right answer.

Hi @bayessays and @StatsG0d, sorry to bother again. I've been looking at PhD options lately and I'm pretty drawn to the research of several faculties at UCLA Statistics (e.g., Handcock, Hartman, Hazlett) instead of Biostatistics. I feel that the work of these Stat faculties are more aligned with my interests and experiences. However, I'm less familiar with Stat PhD admissions compared to Biostat and coming from a public health/biostat background, I wonder how my application would be viewed and if this is a realistic aim. Would appreciate hearing your thoughts about this! Thanks!

Thanks for your advice. Unfortunately the B is in a theory class (took 3~4 theory classes and got B in the one I just took) and that's what concerns me the most. I'm thinking about compensating for this by taking grad level real analysis next semester (but perhaps won't get grades back by the time of application). Would you suggest doing so or spend more time on research and other statistics/biostatistics electives?

Hi everyone, I am applying for Fall 2021 Biostats PhD and need some advice on which schools to aim for. I have very little idea on how my profile is going to be viewed. Undergrad Institution: Top 1 in my country Major: Public Health GPA: 3.84 (graduated with an award for top 10% students in class; not sure if this helps) GRE: Q: 169 V: 162 W: 4 TOEFL: 110 Type of Student: International Asian male Grad Institution: One of Harvard/JHU/UW (attending) Major: Biostatistics MS GPA: 3.96 Relevant Courses: Taken in undergrad institution: Calculus (C, did not do well my freshman year..), Multivariate calculus (A), Linear algebra (A), Statistics I & II (A), Probability (A), Numerical analysis (A), Abstract algebra (A), Programming & statistical analysis (A), Experiment methods I & II (A), Epidemiology methods (A), Advanced statistics I & II (grad level, A), Linear models (grad level, A), Categorical data analysis (grad level A), Multivariate analysis (grad level, A), Computer science (A), Programming (A) Taken in graduate institution: Real analysis (A), Statistics/Biostatistics/Probability sequences (all A's except one B ) and all A's in other statistics courses (Survival analysis, Data science, Causal inference, etc.) Research Experience: Had one year REU with a Biostats professor doing data analysis in statistical genetics and causal inference. Currently working with my advisor (pretty well known in the field) on developing methods in causal inference (hoping to get a good letter of recommendation out of it). Schools considered: Honestly, I have no clue what range of schools should I be aiming for. I'm definitely going to apply to the school I'm currently attending (not getting my hopes up too high though since it's a top 3 biostats program). Would top 3 schools and other schools like UCB, UPenn, Yale be a huge reach and a waste of money for me to apply to? Any suggestion is welcomed! Thanks!