AM61

Undergrad Institution: Large Public State Flagship Major(s): Mathematics (conc. in Math Stat) Minor(s): Applied Stats, Political Science History GPA: 4.0 Type of Student: Female Domestic (LGBT but no potential diversity points for that, since I did not mention it on applications) GRE General Test: Q: 168 (93%) V: 170 (99%) W: 5.0 (92%) GRE Subject Test in Mathematics: M: NA TOEFL Score: NA Grad Institution: NA Programs Applying: Statistics (Ph.D. and Masters) Research Experience: Worked with SAS in a biology lab as a freshman. Involved in a computational topology project with a group of graduate students in my math department during my senior year. No real stats research. Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Phi Beta Kappa (inducted as a sophomore), Phi Kappa Phi, college and department awards, 7 semesters in a row on Dean's list, National Merit, Female State AP Scholar (that's a HS award but I listed it on my apps anyway) Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Math tutor since high school, volunteered to lead a chapter of Mu Alpha Theta at local high school, math club officer Letters of Recommendation: Very good recs (I imagine) from professors (2 math, 1 stats) who had a lot of confidence in me and said I was one of their best students. Math/Statistics Grades: Stats: Intro Stats: A+ Statistical Analysis II: A+ Sampling Methods: A Statistical Theory: A+ R and Data Mining: A+ Math: Calc III: A+ Linear Algebra: A Probability: A+ Advanced Calculus (Real Analysis): A+ Mathematical Statistics: A+ Elementary Stoch: A+ Vector Spaces: A+ Comp Sci: Intro to C++ Programming (IP) SAS Programming (IP) Any Miscellaneous Points that Might Help: Three of the stats classes listed above were graduate-level courses (though obviously open to undergrads) from my school's MSP program I've heard that SOPs don't matter that much, but I think that mine was very professional and well-written and helped me quite a lot. One of the program coordinators I spoke with actually told me that they were impressed by what I had described in my SOP. I used it to highlight my topology research, since it wasn't featured anywhere else on my apps. Applying to Where: PhD: UNC - Stats Ph.D. / Admitted on 1/23/2020 with funding / Royster Fellowship offer on 3/6/2020 UT Austin - Stats Ph.D. / Admitted on 2/10/2020 with funding / Fellowship offer on 2/28/2020 Texas A&M - Stats Ph.D. / Admitted on 2/7/2020 with funding / Fellowship offer on 2/7/2020 Virginia Tech - Stats Ph.D. / Admitted on 2/12/2020 (ghosted about funding) University of Florida - Stats Ph.D. / Admitted on 2/10/2020 (I declined before funding offer) Carnegie Mellon - Stats Ph.D. (and Public Policy) / Rejected on 2/24/2020 MS: Duke - MSS / Admitted on 2/18/2020 with partial funding NCSU - MS / Admitted on 3/6/2020 Overall, I'm extremely pleased with where I got in and where I am attending (with great funding!). I went into the process hoping to get into 3 or 4 schools but got into every program except for my highest reach (CMU). I also was worried about getting stuck at a master's program with no funding and having to take out loans, but at the moment it looks like I'll be able to go through grad school debt free! Applying to several safeties and MS programs made me feel a lot better about the application process, even though I ended up being able to attend what probably turned out to be my top choice.

Based on my visit and interviews with professors, I would think it's a pretty good place to be if you're interested in time series or Bayesian stats. It seems like there would be less opportunities to do applied probability, since that side of the department is rather small (from the impression Dr. Cline gave me). The students there seemed very happy and relaxed, so it seems like a good place to be. It's also a very well-established and renowned department, so I don't think you would have any issues if you are interested in academia. (I'm certainly no expert, but those are my thoughts.)

Don't get me wrong, having health insurance provided in grad school? Great. Finding out that hearing aids may not be covered at all by the plan of the program I'm looking at? Extremely not great. I'm just now learning how messed up hearing aid coverage is in most states, something my parents have had to deal with for years. Also, figuring out health insurance in general seems like a huge pain. Just one more worry on top of a whole pile of decision worries!

I know that internal fellowships tend not to matter much beyond the period of time in which you have them. I've been offered two rather different fellowships, however, and I'm trying to determine if the difference between them is substantive or not. The first is UNC's Royster Fellowship, which comes with about a $6,000 stipend increase. It seems rather prestigious and selective, with the fancy name, university-wide competition, and inclusion into the "Royster Society of Fellows," with lots of different networking and professional development opportunities. My guess is that all of this apparent prestige will only matter while I'm at that particular university, if at all. So, Question 1: Do people outside of UNC (in academia or industry) know about (or be impressed by) this so-called "Society of Fellows," or is it just fancy window dressing on a (more competitive) funding award? The above fellowship also includes two years without duties--one during my first year of intense coursework and the other in my fifth year during my dissertation work. (So from years 2-4 I would work as a TA/RA, but with a guarantee of the same level of funding as in years 1 and 5.) Question 2: As someone going into a STEM field, how much help is a fifth year fellowship? Everyone else in the program is already guaranteed TA/RA funding for 5 years. Would not having work duties be instrumental to finishing up my research in my fifth year, or just a convenience? (I'm sure that this will depend on the progress of my research and how early I start, but any input would still be appreciated.) Finally, my other big offer is a rather bland-sounding college-level "Dean's Fellowship" which comes with a larger funding increase--around $13,000 more than my initial offer from that department. Only the first year has no teaching duties, however--for years 2-5 I'll have to work as a TA/RA but for the same increased stipend level guaranteed. While both departments are undoubtedly trying to recruit me, my gut feeling based on the fellowships is that I would be more valued at UNC. It seems as though their STOR department has had only one other Royster fellow in the past five years, whereas I get the sense that the other department's fellowship is much more common and less of a "big deal". Question 3: Is this thinking completely illogical? Does the difference between the level of fellowships each department nominated me for give any signal as to how valued I would be by the faculty and department? Does getting a more competitive fellowship inherently mean I would be a "bigger fish" in that program, or should I just take things at face value? (Admittedly, trying to gauge how desirable I am as a candidate after I've been accepted might be a bit of a waste of time, but I'm self-aware enough to know that feeling valued by a given department is important for my productivity, self-esteem, and long-term academic success.) I would greatly appreciate anyone's thoughts on any of these questions. (Or people to tell me to quit being silly and obsessing over trivial differences, if it turns out that the answers don't really matter.)

@Cavalerius Wow, that's extremely helpful. Thank you very much for the link! It's good to see that others have struggled with the same questions and made it through the process (alive!). Your past threads seem to touch on a lot of my current concerns, actually, so thank you for unknowingly laying some groundwork for my decision process! @Stat PhD Now Postdoc Thank you--Dr. Scott is actually one of several people I am interested in working with, and that helps give me some useful context.

I'm in a similar situation at the moment, so thank you to all above for the helpful advice. I might submit my own thread on my personal predicament soon, but since I think it's very related to the topic here: does anyone have an opinion or knowledge about the gap between UNC's STOR dept. and UT Austin's SDS dept.? UNC seems large, very established, and highly ranked, while UT is smaller, newer, and more specialized but I'm just as (and perhaps more) interested in the research areas at UT. How significant is the difference between the two? I am looking to go into government/policy research (areas in which I think UT has some specific connections) but I want to keep the door open to both industry and academia as well. There are some other important factors in my decision (UT offered me a generic fellowship with more funding, while UNC STOR offered me a longer "Royster" fellowship with more professional development and other perks), but the differences in department ranking and interest is what I'm most concerned about at the moment.

My UT letter referenced "over 150 applicants and an incoming cohort of approximately 5 students," so take that as you may. Visit day is next week, so after that (early March?) I imagine they might send out more final decisions. Considering their small size, my guess is that they won't send out many more offers, if any. ? (That's just speculation on my part, though, based on past posts.)

Yeah, I actually just got my decision notification today.

UNC STOR has definitely sent out their first round of acceptances. There's a visit day in about a week, so I imagine after that they might get more final responses from students and maybe send out more acceptances if they have any open spots left. From what I can tell, their department doesn't really tend to send out rejections until late March/early April. Hope that helps. (And sorry about the decision purgatory you might be in at the moment. Not fun.)

Based on historical posts, I'm pretty sure that CMU sends out pretty much all of their acceptances at once, before putting some people on their wait list and sending out (a lot) of rejections a week or two later. I didn't get anything from CMU either, so I'm betting on a rejection. C'est la vie. ?

I got an offer letter from UNC STOR this morning, so I guess they've started their first wave of admissions, too. (Good luck to anyone else who's been waiting anxiously!)