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Undergrad Institution: Large public university Major(s): Applied Mathematics GPA: 3.89(not including fall 2019 grades) Type of Student: Domestic minority GRE General Test: Q: 166 (89%) V: 165 (96%) W: 4.0 (57%) Programs Applying: Statistics PhD Research Experience: Did a project related to dynamical systems with an applied math professor as a sophomore, and this last summer and fall did an independent study with a statistics professor. I didn’t make any real contribution to research in either of them which is what I thought was expected of me; now I think that to get a solid letter the most important thing is to show that you're willing to work hard and without anyone necessarily telling you to, even if you’re just learning the fundamentals of the topics like I was. I think it takes years of experience/mathematical maturity and a lot of time to invest into working on something to actually be productive, both of which undergraduates don’t generally have. I think professors understand that so if you can put in the time and learn things properly(don’t be in a rush) you’ll have a positive experience. Letters of Recommendation: Two from the professors I did projects with, and one from the prof. whom I took analysis II, measure theory, and numerical analysis with. I did super well on many of the exams in those courses. In retrospect I think the letters were probably pretty strong and stronger than I thought they were when I applied. Grades: Mathematics: Calc III: B(in high school, lol) Linear Algebra and Differential Equations(proof based): A Multi-Variable Calculus(proof based): A Sequel to calc 3 for applied math students: A Intro. to PDEs: B Analysis I, II: A, A Measure Theory and Integration: A- Intro. to Probability Theory(proof based): B Modern Algebra I, II: A, A Numerical Linear Algebra: B+ Numerical Analysis: A Intro. to Mathematical Optimization: A Intro. to Stochastic Processes: A Computer Science: Intro. to programming: A Combinatorics: A Data structures: A Physics: I took 3 intro classes, a lab course, quantum mechanics, thermodynamics, classical mechanics, electrodynamics, and electronics and got all As. Initially I thought I wanted to do a physics PhD which is why I took so many physics courses and not so many statistics courses. The 3 worst grades, in PDEs, prob theory, and numerical linear algebra were all in the spring semester of my sophomore year, which I think looks a lot better than having them spread out. I also got an A- from an independent study with a physics prof. in the summer after my freshman year(a bad time lol). This last fall I took Stochastic Processes, Numerical Analysis and Electronics but maybe only one school saw the grades I got in them Any Miscellaneous Points that Might Help: None of my courses were strictly for graduate students, and I had no stats courses. Applying to where:(all PhD): All acceptances were with funding as a TA. Illinois Urbana Champaign: Accepted Penn State: Accepted Iowa State: Accepted Michigan: Accepted Wisconsin: Accepted Purdue: Accepted U Washington: Accepted CMU: Rejected Duke: Waitlisted UNC CH: Ghosted(rejected 4/21) Reflection/Advice: I’m very happy with my results but I think I was slightly too conservative in my school choices. If I could do everything over I would have replaced 2 of the lower ranked schools with reach schools, although all of the programs I applied to are great and I would have been happy to attend any of them. I don’t necessarily think it’s likely that I would have been admitted to Harvard or Columbia for example but in my case it would have been better to roll the dice than have 2 more acceptances. 7 acceptances is way too many to properly decide between and I ended up only really considering 3 of my acceptances as options. I think that using this forum correctly is difficult because it’s really easy get into the comparison mindset where you pay particular attention to the applicants stronger than you, despite how few they may be, and despite the fact that the people here are at least a bit obsessive about getting into grad schools and therefore aren’t representative of the majority of people you’re competing with. It’s also really difficult for a stranger to look at your profile with all of the info you didn’t include and make an accurate judgement on your chances. My advice to future applicants is to primarily base where you apply on 1. where you’re excited about attending and 2. where applicants in previous years who have profiles similar to yours were accepted. Advice from others here on your chances could be viewed as a proxy for the actual results you can find on this site yourself.

I got accepted to University of Washington! So excited I'm actually shaking

Thanks! Good luck. I think someone got an offer from UNC today but I haven't heard anything, so I know how you feel.

An acceptance email from Illinois Urbana-Champaign! A big relief to get the first acceptance, good luck to others.

Hi all, I'm a senior undergrad in the US graduating in the spring. I'm applying to PhD programs in statistics for fall 2020. I posted my profile recently and got great feedback, and I was wondering about a few more things: 1. I changed the list of schools I'm applying to, do they seem reasonable? I wanted to apply to more reach schools to give myself a better chance of getting into one, while also applying to enough lower ranked schools to not feel worried about getting into zero schools. 2. If I'm okay with doing a master's instead of a phd(in preparation for a phd), in general will it hurt me to apply for the phd programs? I.e. are there schools where you would get rejected outright(not even offered a master's) if you applied for the phd program but where you be accepted had you only applied for the master's? Undergrad Institution: Large public university ranked top 20 in math by US news Major(s): Applied Mathematics GPA: 3.89 GRE General Test: Q: 166 (89%) V: 165 (96%) W: 4.0 (57%) Math Subject Test: (probably won't take) Programs Applying: Statistics PhD/M.S Research Experience: Did a project related to Dynamical Systems with an applied math professor, and this summer have been doing a project with a statistics professor that I'll continue into the fall semester. Letters of Recommendation: Two from the professors I did projects with. The applied math professor will probably write an at least ok letter and I think the stats prof will be able to write a strong one. I'm going to ask a physics prof I took quantum mechanics with for the last letter because I did very well and I thought he liked me. Grades: Mathematics: Calc III(took in hs and it stayed on my transcript :///) (B), Linear Algebra and Differential Equations(honors and proof based) (A), Multi-Variable Calculus(honors and proof based) (A), "Applied Mathematical Analysis" which was a mixture of harder calc III and some complex analysis(honors) (A), Intro. to PDEs (B), Analysis I, II (A, A), Intro. to Measure Theory and Integration (A-), Intro. to Probability Theory(proof based) (B), Modern Algebra I, II (A, A), Numerical Linear Algebra (B+), Intro. to Mathematical Optimization (A), Intro. to Combinatorics (A) Computer Science: Intro. to programming (A), Data structures (A) Physics: 3 intro classes (A,A,A) a lab course (A), quantum mechanics (A), thermodynamics (A), classical mechanics (A), electrodynamics (A) Additional courses I will have taken before applying: Numerical Analysis, Stochastic Processes Schools I'm thinking about applying to:(For statistics phd unless otherwise indicated) "Safety"(not really of course): Iowa State, Madison, Illinois UC, Purdue, John Hopkins(applied math/statistics) Reach: Chicago, Columbia, U Washington, CMU, U Penn Any suggestions/feedback would be great! Thanks

Thanks for the replies!

Hi all, I'm a senior undergrad in the US graduating in the spring. I'm applying to PhD programs in statistics/biostatistics for fall 2020. I'm wondering about several things: 1. Are programs in biostats vs statistics significantly different? I think I'm interested in a more theoretical/mathematical training so if biostatistics programs put a lot less emphasis on that then I'm not sure I'd want to attend those programs. 2. Are the schools I'm applying for reasonable? Suggestions on where else to apply would also be great. 3. Will not taking the math GRE subject test significantly weaken my application to higher ranked schools? I'm not sure if putting in the time to prepare and take it is worth it; I was planning on taking a practice test and seeing how that goes. 4. Should I retake the general GRE? I think I could get at least a 4.5 writing score and a higher quantitative score with not that much more preparation. Undergrad Institution: Large public university ranked 15-20 in math by US news Major(s): Applied Mathematics GPA: 3.89 GRE General Test: Q: 166 (89%) V: 165 (96%) W: 4.0 (57%) Math Subject Test: (not sure if I will take) Programs Applying: Biostatistics or Statistics PhD Research Experience: Did a project related to Dynamical Systems with an applied math professor, and this summer have been doing a project with a statistics professor that I'll continue into the fall semester. Letters of Recommendation: Two from the professors I did projects with. The applied math professor will probably write an at least ok letter and the statistics prof I think will be able to write a strong one. I'm going to ask a physics prof I took quantum mechanics with for the last letter because I did very well and I thought he liked me. In general I didn't form that close of relationships with my professors so I'm sort of worried about this last letter but I have several professors I took classes with as backups. Grades: Mathematics: Calc III: B Linear Algebra and Differential Equations(proof based): A Multi-Variable Calculus(proof based): A "Applied Mathematical Analysis" which was a mixture of harder calc III and some complex analysis: A Intro. to PDEs: B Analysis I, II: A, A Intro. to Measure Theory and Integration: A- Intro. to Probability Theory(proof based): B Modern Algebra I, II: A, A Numerical Linear Algebra: B+ Intro. to Mathematical Optimization: A Computer Science: Intro. to programming: A Data structures: A Intro. to Combinatorics: A Physics: I took 3 intro classes, a lab course, quantum mechanics, thermodynamics, classical mechanics and electrodynamics and got all As. Initially I thought I wanted to do a physics PhD which is why I took so many physics courses and not so many statistics courses. Additional courses I will have taken before applying: Numerical Analysis Stochastic Processes Schools I'm thinking about applying to(and US news ranking): John Hopkins biostats 3 University of Chicago stats 6 University of Michigan Ann Arbor 12 Duke stats 12 Columbia stats 16 University of Wisconsin Madison stats 16 Iowa State University stats 20 Minnesota twin cities stats 24 Ohio State University 37 University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign stats 37 Any suggestions/feedback would be great! Thanks