dirichletprior

Congrats!!

I just got the email

Just got the email, awarded!

Just got award email and portal update.

Does anyone have the 2nd round update message disappear but no Start button?

Undergrad Institution: Top 150 US News, R1 Research Public University (Unranked Stats Program)
Major(s): Statistics
Minor(s): 
GPA: 4.00 Type of Student: Domestic White Male

GRE General Test:
Q: 166 (84%)
V: 152 (52%) (lol...)
W: 4.5 (79%)
  Programs Applying:  Statistics MS + Statistics PhD   Research Experience:  2 years of University Sponsored REU in Bayesian Statistics. 1 year of research during gap year with well known organization in Spatial Statistics. Two University Sponsored projects involving regression analysis Published one first-author paper at a relatively unknown conference. Second paper in writing. Did a poster presentation at local conference.
Awards/Honors/Recognitions:  Valedictorian + Summa Cum Laude Outstanding Research Award + Extra Funding Math Honor Society
Pertinent Activities or Jobs:  Tutored + Organized various study groups for one of my LOR writers   Letters of Recommendation:  1 Very Strong - From my research advisor. Known very well in the engineering field. 3+ years 1 Good - Professor I took two classes with and organized study groups for.  1 Decent - Professor I took Mathematical Statistics II with and received a 100% in the course. Also was aware of my extenuating circumstances.   Math/Statistics Courses (All A's):   Calculus Sequence, Diff EQ, Linear Algebra, Statistical Theory I and II, Bayesian Statistics, Nonparametric Statistics, Categorical Data Analysis, Biostatistical Analysis, Statistical Machine Learning. Did not take real analysis. 
Any Miscellaneous Points that Might Help:  Had extenuating circumstances during my Junior/Senior year that helped me write my SOP. I worked very hard on it, and the professors I showed both told me it was one of the best they'd ever read. I tweaked my SOP for every university I applied to. 

Applying to Where: 
NC State PhD - Admitted + Fellowship - Matriculated! Texas A&M PhD - Admitted  UMich PhD - Rejected Wisconsin PhD - Rejected   University of Chicago MS - Admitted + 25% Scholarship Duke University MS - Admitted  Yale University MS - Admitted  University of Washington MS - Admitted  Wake Forest University MS - Admitted  Stanford University MS - Rejected UNC Chapel Hill MS - Ghosted? As of 4/4   Reflection: My cycle went very well, to my shock. I don't know if I underestimated my application, or if I was very lucky, but I can safely say I'm very satisfied with the results.   In hindsight, it's hard to justify applying to more (high-ranked) PhD programs, since I didn't think I would get into any at all. I manically checked this site and reddit to get a good idea of where to apply. I thought I was doomed for a shot at any of the T10 and even T20 PhD programs without real analysis or a stronger mathematics background. The plan for me was to apply to mostly top Master's programs, get rigorous training in mathematics, then later apply to Top 10 PhD programs.   Not too sure if people still consider NCSU a top 10 program (ranked 11th on USNews and tied for 3rd on the NRC rankings) but I am beyond excited to be attending! North Carolina was where I wanted to end up(climate wise and opportunity wise) so it was perfect for me. I am so grateful for all the guiding posts on this sub and all the information available online which helped me through the process. Best of luck to everyone else.

My best guess is that they have to go through some process of reviewing the reviews before releasing them. Last year there were multiple instances where reviewers left rude/nasty comments....

Reminder for all of us that may not have gotten the award or HM: this award does not define your worth as a scientist. You can still be a successful scientist without be recognized as 'exceptional' early in your academic career. Plenty of successful scientists did not receive this award during their early career, yet that did not stop them. 
Additionally, all that time you spend on writing that grant does not go to waste! Now you have more experience writing and that will make your next application a little easier. Let this motivate you to keep trying and striving toward your goals, even with a bump in the road. 

Congratulations to everyone that applied and made it to the other end of this stressful process 

Due to scheduled maintenance, Research.gov will be unavailable Friday, March 24th from 10:00 PM to 8:00 AM ET on Saturday, March 25th. 
 
HEAR YE HEAR YE THE TIME IS UPON US

As someone who applied this cycle, I would encourage you to take as much math (specifically analysis) as possible.
I think that, in general, applicants to Statistics PhD programs are coming in with more and more math background every year. Since the GRE/Math GRE are being phased out of admissions, the only way the committee can assess your math background is via your previous coursework. In fact, one of the professors on the admissions committee of a school to which I was admitted told me that every year, they are looking to admit students with stronger and stronger math backgrounds. 
And admissions aside, taking more analysis will ease the transition from undergrad to PhD.

@coughcoughcoffee NSF plans to give (up to) 250 more awards this year. The solicitation from last year said 2,500 awards, and this one states 2,750.

After the SME review I am pretty sure they send the top 30% of applicants to the DoD review panel and then from there proposals get selected for funding. Someone correct me if I am wrong. 

I received the same email even though I also received an email saying "Your application has been submitted" last night

Honestly, I would be very surprised if you did not get into any of the programs you listed. But if you're looking for more programs to apply to to be on the safe side, literally just go down the ranking list and see which ones you like. I think below the tier you're looking at right now, admissions should be pretty safe for you.

Just a fellow applicant here, but your math background is what dreams are made of (seriously, I'm jealous). I am sure you have a great shot at all those schools you listed and will almost surely get into one. Also, I don't think not having a super strong third letter of recommendation will diminish your already stellar profile. Big congratulations.

Just a fellow applicant here, but your math background is what dreams are made of (seriously, I'm jealous). I am sure you have a great shot at all those schools you listed and will almost surely get into one. Also, I don't think not having a super strong third letter of recommendation will diminish your already stellar profile. Big congratulations.

I applied to 14 schools. It definitely can be done without stretching yourself thin, but it does require some money and careful documentation of your applications (I had an excel spreadsheet).
My reasons were a combination of being international (so lower admission odds), wanting to get into a top school, and fear of getting in nowhere, mostly by seeing discussions here.
I ended up getting into one of my top choices, so looking back I'd drop a few schools, admission in general is a bit easier than it's made out to be here.
Best of luck!

I applied to an "excessive" number of schools (>20) because I was only aiming for the top programs. It did get a bit expensive, but fee waivers were easier to get than I expected. 
If I had only applied to 6, I would likely not have included the program that I am attending or others that ended up on my short list. However, I understand sending fewer applications if you are mainly interested in a few programs that you are confident will admit you.

13-15 is on the higher end but absolutely within the range of normal.  Most people limit their applications due to financial constraints (since it's ~$100 per school).  I'd recommend most people apply to at least 6 or 7 programs unless they have very strict geographic constraints (for instance, you have to stay in one city due to family).  20+ is excessive.

My impression is that the GRE can hurt you if your score is low (not applicable to you), but it isn't going to make you stand out. Things like rec letters, transcripts, interviews, and research are far more important. With a 169Q, I would stop thinking about the GRE altogether and move on to other parts of the application.
If you're going to have to dedicate large amounts of time studying for the math subject test, it probably isn't worth it.

You already have plenty, but the most helpful thing beyond what you have would be an optimization class probably, and maybe some more statistics classes like linear models even.

Definitely not an issue. 

Given your academic performance and your pedigree, your profile looks very strong. Even if you didn't get additional research experience, I would anticipate that you would be able to get into some very good PhD programs -- you have a great shot at programs in the top 15. With great letters of recommendation, you should be in very good shape.
Re: research. Adcoms probably won't expect most undergrads to have research in theoretical statistics (it happens occasionally, but is quite rare). However, your research experience with the Department of Communication at a peer university is definitely a plus. The main benefit of research experience is getting good letters of recommendation. Therefore, it might be beneficial for you to get involved in some applied statistics research or interdisciplinary research in related fields, e.g. epidemiology, public health, etc. That way, you can obtain a good letter of recommendation from a research supervisor. If you can get a good letter from a professor who supervised your work on applications of ML and statistics to political science, then you might not need to do other research.