PicoHenries

Thank you! I'm still probing my interests in statistics, I'm close to obtaining a major in statistics at my university just from my coursework in probability - so I'm checking out some more statistics-based courses to finish out my major. All I know for sure now is of my interest in probability theory, whether that interest will ultimately be theoretical or applied is not certain yet. For theoretical, I have mostly done work in stochastic processes. For applied, I could see my self enjoying a future where I create models using probabilistic methods. I would likely be most comfortable in either a mathematics department, or a statistics/OR department with the ability to focus on probability. Berkeley Stats seems like a good example of the latter, albeit perhaps a bit of a reach - would love to know any similar departments. I will definitely look into the schools you mentioned!

Also while I'm here, what are good non-obvious (I've taken measure theoretic probability theory and graduate analysis) higher-level courses to boost my preparedness for research into probability theory?

I'm a math and statistics major that is highly interested in probability theory, but I've had difficulty finding universities that are strong in probability theory that I would like to apply to. This can probably be explained by probabilists seemingly being dispersed across different departments such as mathematics, statistics, OR, etc. For example, I come from a university where the statistics department is much stronger in probability than the mathematics department. I was hoping for suggestions on PhD programs to look into - I'm more concerned about the professors and research groups than what department they belong to. For reference, I expect to have a strong profile - nearly 4.0 major GPA as well as 10+ grad courses in probability, analysis, etc. at a big state school. Multiple papers and publications also. Thank you!

You should definitely ask them now, while you're fresh in their minds. At best, they'll hold on to the letter for you until you need it. At worst, they don't write it right away and you can just ask again closer to the time of your applications.