PointProcess

Undergrad Institution: Small state school (>200 USNews) Major(s): Data Science Minor(s): Mathematics, Economics GPA: 4.0 Type of Student: Domestic white male GRE General Test: Q: 166 (87%) V: 169 (99%) W: 5.0 (92%) Programs Applying: Statistics, Biostatistics Research Experience: Research assistant in public policy 2019-2020 [3 non-peer reviewed client papers published, 1 small undergraduate research grant] Several miscellaneous research projects in coursework Two summer REUs (2020 & 2021) in applied math & statistics [1 poster presentation] Research assistant in data science & computational statistics 2020-present [3 first-author peer-reviewed journal/conference publications, 1 non-first-author peer-reviewed journal publication, 1 conference speed talk] Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Honors college member at my university Full tuition undergraduate scholarship Won “Best Visualization” at local DataFest competition Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Resident assistant at my university Teaching assistant for machine learning course Letters of Recommendation: Three strong letters from professors in mathematics and computer science who know me personally (including research advisor), all from my university Math/Statistics Classes: Calculus III, Discrete Math, Linear Algebra, Advanced Linear Algebra, Real Analysis I & II, Numerical Analysis, Numerical Optimization [grad level], Math Modeling, Elementary Statistics, Probability, Mathematical Statistics [grad level] (all As) CS/DS Classes: Intro to Data Science, Data Analysis & Visualization, Objected-Oriented Programming, Software Design, Algorithms & Data Structures, Database Design, Computer Graphics, Machine Learning, Wireless Communications [grad level], High-Performance Scientific Computing [grad level] (all As) Any Miscellaneous Points that Might Help: President of data science organization at my university, lots of service to my department (speaking at Open Houses, etc.) Applying to Where: Harvard - Biostatistics - Interview / Accepted / Attending! Carnegie Mellon - Statistics & Public Policy - Rejected Yale - Statistics & Data Science - Rejected U of Michigan - Statistics - Ghosted UCLA - Statistics - Interview / Ghosted Penn State - Statistics - Accepted Colorado State - Statistics - Accepted Comments: GradCafe users advised me to apply to Biostatistics PhD programs, stating that given my background and interests in applied stats, they would be a much better fit. At first, I was highly skeptical, and since I did not have the resources to apply to lots of programs, I decided on just one top biostat program (Harvard) in case their advice really was true. Based on my results and experiences during interviews, this turned out to be the best decision I ever made in my life. My advice: if you are a domestic student applying to stats PhDs, consider a few Biostatistics programs as well. And thank you, frequent users of this forum - I am incredibly grateful for the wonderful advice posted here!

I also received the same email (even though they asked to specify in the SOP).

Hi everyone, New GradCafe member here. I am currently a rising junior undergraduate who will potentially begin applying for Statistics PhD or related programs next year (applying for programs that start in Fall 2022). Although this is still a ways away, I am posting my profile here in order to get some advice about what sort of graduate program I should look for and how I can improve my profile for a better chance at admission before I apply. I am pursuing a PhD because my main goal is to become a professional researcher. I have several questions, so I will include these at the end. Undergrad Institution: State university (under top 200) Major: Data Science Minors: Mathematics, Economics Current GPA: 4.0 Type of student: Domestic white male GRE: (have not taken yet) Relevant Courses (current GPA is 4.0 so all either A or A+) Math / Stats: Calculus III, Discrete Math (proof-based), Linear Algebra, Scientific Computing, Probability, Math Modeling, Exploratory Data Analysis, Mathematical Statistics [graduate-level] **Taking this year: Advanced Calculus I, II (aka Real Analysis), Numerical Analysis I, Matrix Methods for Data Analysis (aka Advanced Linear Algebra), High-Performance Scientific Computing [graduate-level], and at least one more graduate course CS: Object-Oriented Programming II, Data Analysis and Visualization, Software Design, Algorithms and Data Structures, Machine Learning **Taking this year: Databases, possibly another graduate course Economics: Principles of Micro, Macro **Taking this year: Intermediate Micro, Econometrics I also plan to take a few more economics and math classes before graduating in order to complete my minors. Recommendations: I am confident that I will be able to get reasonably strong recommendations from math and CS professors Research: -Worked for about 18 months on various public policy projects as a research assistant. These were client projects, so not published unless client made the report publicly available. I also won an undergraduate research grant from my university to work on one such project doing a workforce gap analysis. -Completed a first-author paper in collaboration with CS department with applications to mathematics and epidemiology, which was accepted at an IEEE conference (If all goes to plan, I will be presenting virtually). -Currently working on mathematical ecology research through an REU, which hopefully should be published before I graduate. -A semester-long research project related to spatial statistics and political science in my math modeling class (not published) **Now that I have more experience, I plan to submit at least one more first-author paper for publication before graduating. Geographic Preference: Northeast or Midwest, possibly West coast Program Interests: I would really like to focus on applied statistics – that is, using or developing statistical or mathematical methods to solve practical problems in other fields, especially in economics and public policy. In terms of specific areas, I am interested in spatial as well as computational statistics. Other topics I have mildly considered include real-time machine learning, game theory, and dynamical systems (though these are not necessarily all statistical in nature). My Questions: 1] With this profile, would I be able to get into top PhD programs? Or at least, programs that are fully funded and reasonably well-regarded? I am planning to go straight from undergrad to PhD since master’s programs are typically not funded, to my understanding. My main concerns are the prestige of my undergraduate institution and the interdisciplinary nature of my coursework and research. 2] Given my profile and interests, what sort of programs should I be considering? For applied stats, should I focus on programs that have faculty members from other departments? For example, I noticed that the Stats department at Cornell has a number of faculty members in the economics department also listed on the “Faculty” page. Or, should I apply to other graduate programs such as CS, OR, economics, or “interdisciplinary” programs like many of those offered at CMU (assuming I could get in)? 3] What should I do to improve my profile? My university has few statistics professors and courses (the data science major is run jointly by math and CS), and the math department is mostly focused on numerical methods (applied math). Should I try to organize a directed study of a certain subject, or should I take some graduate courses in my department’s specialty or in another department such as public policy or CS? Do I need to publish a more statistics-oriented paper? Should I wait a year to apply in order to get my senior thesis published? Please let me know what you guys think. Thank you!