[Profile Evaluation Masters Statistics 2021 Fall - Should I Bother Applying?]

Undergrad: currently junior at a meh private university barely in the Top 100 USNews ranking

Objective: Data Science, AI careers in industry

Major: Computer Science

Minor: Statistics, Mathematics

GPA: 3.5 (affected by freshman year 2.8 GPA)

Demographics: International, Asian, Male

GRE : don't know yet, but expecting top 10 - top 5 percentile scoring

 

Courses:

Computer Science:  Various Low and High Level Programming Courses (A, A-, B+), Algorithm Analysis (A), CS Theory (A), Data Mining (A), Big Data (planned), 2 Independent Studies in Computer Vision/AI (A, A)

Math:  DiffEq (A), Multivar Calc (A), Linear Algebra (C+ during Freshman year, A- after retaking), Discrete Math (C during Freshman year, A after retaking), Numerical Analysis (planned)

Statistics:  Prob&Stats for Engineers I (A-), Prob&Stats for Engineers II (B+), Mathematical Statistics I + II (planned), Multivar Stats (planned), Econometrics I (A-), Econometrics II (A-),

Programs Applying: Stats masters

Research Experience: First author on a third tier workshop paper in machine learning, more papers in the pipeline

Work Experience: Incoming summer analyst at a Wallstreet bank, role to be determined (most likely fintech)

Letter of Recommendation:  don't have any yet but plan on getting some from the professors I work with

 

I have two main questions here:

1. Should I even bother applying. Looks like everyone else here has 3.8 GPA from an Ivy.

2. If so, what tier of masters programs should I apply to maximize my admission likelihood and career objective?

Thanks all.