Hi there,
I have a fairly odd background and am hoping I could get some color on the chances I would be able to get admitted to a statistics PhD program. Due to personal depression and generally poor life choices, I received abysmal grades in my undergrad years. However, I am about to complete a part time MS in Mathematics at a private liberal arts college/university without a PhD program with nearly perfect grades. I have been working in data science for a large fortune 500 company for the past 4 years since graduating.
My reason for wanting to do a PhD is because I have come to realize that I love doing research. My job is pretty research oriented but most of the people senior to me who lead the group have a PhD. It's not that I want to get a PhD to advance the career that I already have. I just honestly believe that getting a PhD would make more effective in what I want to do long term. I don't plan to do academia as I understand that is probably out of my reach. I would probably plan on trying to get a research job within a large corporation. I know that Google, Facebook, Uber, hedge funds, etc. all hire people with statistics and other quantitative PhDs to do applied research. This would be my end goal.
Do I have any shot at a top 50 program? I don't care about the prestige of the program so long that it is somewhat reputable and will give me the resources I need to succeed as a student and become a competent researcher.
Here is my profile in detail.
Undergrad institution: Top 10 Research University
Undergrad Major: Applied Mathematics
Undergrad GPA: ~2.50
Graduate Institution: Not Well Known Private Lib Arts College/University. Ranked between 100 and 150 universities.
Graduate Major: Part Time MS in Pure Mathematics
Graduate GPA: 3.95 (All A grades and one A-)
Work Experience: 4 years as a quantitative analyst/data scientist at a large company
Undergrad:
I can't name all of the math classes I took in undergrad but I got a C+ in real analysis, lots of B and B- grades as well as a couple of failing grades where I retook those courses. Given that I did so poorly in undergrad, I won't have any letters of rec here.
Graduate:
This program is more of a mix between advanced undergraduate mathematics and entry level graduate mathematics I would say. The university isn't a bad university but nobody would be impressed by it.
Measure Theory (A), Rings & Modules (A), Group Theory (A-), Topology (A), Advanced Linear Algebra (A), Functional Analysis (A), Complex Analysis (A), Graph Theory (A), Advanced Topics in Analysis (A), Fourier Analysis and Special Functions (A)
General GRE: 170 Quant
Math Subject GRE: Haven't taken but have got 60th and 70th percentile on two practice tests I have taken.
Research Experience: None
Letters of Rec:
I have several professors who I think would write me a great letter of rec. They all know that I've overcome some personal struggles and I think they could convey in a letter that my performance in undergrad isn't reflective of my mathematical ability.