[Profile Eval - From BA to biostats PhD, School Recommendation?]

Hi all,

I am currently considering doing a PhD in biostatistics. I have been doing a lot of research on PhD programs, but I am still having a difficult time knowing what schools are my reach/target.

Target PhD: Wharton, Yale, Cornell (social statistics), UW-Madison, UCLA(social statistics), Brown... Overreaching?

Undergraduate Institution: Top 20 private liberal art college (Think Oberlin, Colgate, Macalester...)

Major: Economics and Statistics

GPA: 3.97

Type of Student: International Asian

Graduate Institution: N/A

GRE Score: 
158 Verbal 168 Q, 5 W    -  first try, might retake it to get 170 on Q

Relevant Classes:

The grades in my intro classes are terrible, but I did better in upper-level math classes. My college does not offer as many stats courses compared to other schools.

Cal II (A), Linear Algebra (A), Number Theory (B+), Real Analysis (A), Abstract Algebra (A), Probability and Statistics 1 (A), Probability and Statistics 2 (A)

Introductory data science (A-), Statistical Modeling (A), Experimental Design (A), Econometrics (A), Causal Inference (A), Machine Learning (A)

Research Experience: 

None.

I have a senior thesis in which I applied causal inference technique.

I also have another independent research project in which I examined different machine learning techniques and applied them to a real problem.

Work Experience: 

At school: I served as TA in many statistics classes.

After graduation, I am working at a consulting firm where I can work with professional statisticians and use a lot of statistical techniques.

Letters: 

Average - Above Average?

I will get two from my school, one being my advisor and the other being my independent research project professor. Both graduated from top PhD programs.

I will likely get another one from my job, who also will have a biostatistics PhD credential from a reputable university.

 

Now that I have written out these, I feel like my schools are even less reachable mainly because I don't have as much research experience, nor do I have a Master degree. I hope I can use my 2 years working experience at my consulting firm to offset that.

Thank you very much everyone!