RaoBlackwell

I really appreciate your suggestion. Now I can calibrate the suitable range of schools. Alright, things became more lucid. Thank you so much for your objective assessment & considerate suggestion!

Thank you so much for your answer! So helpful for me. Not only did your comment encourage me a lot, it also made me think in different way. Initially, due to lack of theoretic research experience and depth in pure math, I thought that I will get slightly a bit more chance to get in biostat phd program than stat phd program. I also thought that my work in public health area (a poster and some papers) would fit more to biostat program (actually, should I choose one domain field where statistics comes into play, I would definitely choose biomedical science/public health). However, you pointed out some important things. So, according to your viewpoint, (1) it is easier to get in statistics phd program than biostat, as an international student for whom funding is indispensable; (2) one can always find a biostat-specialized advisor in statistics faculty. That sounds really reasonable. It changed my mind a lot. I have two more questions here: 1. so for stat phd program application (not biostat), can I stress my (interdisciplinary) research experience in preventive medicine (especially in CV and SOP)? Will it work? 2. For a few biostat program application, similar range (rank between 15~40) would be proper like the case of statistics program? Again, thanks a lot for your considerate advice!

Hi, I am a graduate student from South Korea. Majoring statistics, I am yearning to pursue a PhD in the States. Thing is, the more profiles from international students I search, the more frustrated I am. After worries and worries, I decided to share my profile and beg any advice. Hope your forthright assessment of my potentiality to get in...! Type of Student: International Asian Undergrad and : Top 3 university in South Korea (Korea or Yonsei) Major: Applied Statistics Overall GPA: 3.81/4.00 Math & Upper division Stat GPA: 3.92/4.00 Math & Upper division stat classes: Calculus (A+,a semester but with multivariate calculus); Linear Algebra (A); Mathematical Statistics (1)&(2) (A & A+); Regression Analysis (A+); Time Series Analysis (B+); Statistical Model for General Insurance (A+); Bayesian Statistics (A); Survival Analysis (A+); Stochastic Process (A+); Statistical Data Analysis (A+); Statistical Computing (A); Experimental Design (A); Exploratory Data Analysis (A+); Multivariate Analysis (A+) Data Mining (B+); Data Science (A+); Analysis (A-, I took it as a graduate student) grad Institution : Same as undergrad Major: Applied Statistics GPA: 3.97/4.00 GRE General Test: 151 V/ 170 Q/ 3.0 AWA Toefl: 100 overall (and I am planning to submit the case of 99 due to some subsection-score threshold) Programs Applying: Statistics/ Biostatistics PhD Research Experience: 1. A year of work as a statistical researcher in a lab of preventive medicine (recent) what I did: reproducible analysis for governmental system to detect critical point (using R & SAS); Poster Presentation at APHA using some statistical analysis (with SAS); submitted two papers about preventive medicine (in review, not published yet). 2. REU at population genetics Lab for basic Bayesian modelling and basic computation tasks (using Perl and Unix) Teaching experience: one year of TA, a semeseter of Tutoring program (Mathematical Statistics) Awards/Honors/Recognitions: several times of Honors. Letters of Recommendation: Two from faculty in statistics, one from research adviser (in preventive medicine lab) Programming/ Software skills: R, SAS, Python, Perl Research Interest: Statistical Computing, Bayesian Statistics, Measurement Error Note: not impressive scores in GRE and TOEFL(though not planning to retake), limited research experience (in theoretical aspect of statistics) What makes me so frustrated is that nowadays competition among international students is really intense. Recently, I am even dubious about whether I am eligible for applying... Craving for several years, however, I still want to apply to some schools. So I beg your any advice for my questions. It would be so precious for me. 1. Do members in admission committee know well about the reputation of Korean Top Univ? (Apparently, skimming other domestic profiles, I could catch that overall reputation of the undergrad school is quite important. So I am curious about the international case.) 2. What is your recommendation for my application (stat or biostat)? I cannot calibrate the suitable range of good/fair shot for my case. Beg your suggestion.. 3. Any advice to strengthen my profile at this point? Thank you!