Stat01243

Undergrad Institution: Asia QS rank around 150 Major: Humanities GPA: 3.61 Grad Institution in the same school MA in Economics GPA: 3.9 Type of Student: International Male GRE General Test: Q: 169 V: 155 W: 3.5 GRE Subject Test in Mathematics: X TOEFL Score: (R28/28/S21/W22) but most programs waived the condition. Grad Institution: MS Statistics in US (Ranked 16~25) Concentration: GPA: 3.78 Programs Applying: (Statistics PhD only) Research Experience: Research experience in labor economics. I worked for a year, did a presentation but did not published the paper. Also I did a small project in a graduate statistics course. Pertinent Activities or Jobs: (TA job in the previous program in Asia) Letters of Recommendation: One from Economics professor I worked with for my research and I did TA for him for two years. Two from Statistics Professors, and the last one was from the professor who taught me Honor Analysis 1. Math/Statistics Grades: 1) I did not took calculus sequence officially, but I learned them through courses like Mathematics in Economics and self-study . 2) Advanced mathematics for Engineers(Linear Algebra), A, previous program in Asia. 3)Real Analysis(measure theory), B- , previous program in Asia. 4)Functional Analysis A, previous program in Asia. (Do you see something strange?, I took measure theory and a functional analysis without a solid background in undergrad level analysis, and now I am pretty sure I have to study again those subjects since I feel my background in analysis is much more solid then before) . 5) Advanced Calculus 1, A, US, almost the first course I seriously started to study real analysis. 6) Honor Analysis 1, B-> A-(I retook it, in the back then I didn't want to quit so did not choose the option "W", US. 7) Currently, I am taking Honor Analysis 2, US. ?Casella Burger Theory of probability and Statistics sequence(A,A), US. Also, I took bunch of courses here and there such as Statistics in Economics(graduate) A, Asia, Econometrics(graduate), A, Asia, Micro-Econometrics(graduate),A, Asia, Regression course(graduate) A-,US, Design of experiments(graduate), A-, US. Undergrad courses or master level courses in US: Intro to Machine learning(P), Time Series(A-), Multivariate Analysis(A), Statistical Computing(A), Regression Course(A), , Undergrad Probability theory(A), and maybe some more in the previous program. Applying to Where: PhD Statistics programs only I applied to 17 Statistics programs ranked 20~55 in USnews. Rest of the programs beside the three below, I got rejected. School - University of Iowa / Admitted/ 2.28 / Accepted (But they put me on the waitlist for funding maybe because I was not very enthusiastic responding to their program.) School - Colorado State University / Admitted/ 4.13 / Accepted School - Rutgers University / Admitted/ 4.12 / Accepted I am still hesitating about posting which could be easily recognized by people but I am indebted to people in here, so I am posting mine out of the responsibility and in a hope to improve information asymmetry between applicants and schools. I wish my profile and the results can give hope to future applicants especially those who plan to change their fields. Firstly, I want to stress that if you start late with a weak mathematical background, you should never be hasty. Otherwise, you might end up spending much more time to study those prerequisite courses. Take a step by step, there is a reason why curriculums were constructed as the way they are. For applicants who do not have a super strong profile, I suggest try to secure more than three letters. One reason is that, in my opinion, you should not be so sure about which professor would write a best letter for you especially when you are not the #1 in your department. I saw many people saying they've secured the best letters, but seeing their application results, I doubt it. On the other hand, even if you submit different combination of letters, they will probably have about the same power because a strong letter comes from a strong reason why they should recommend you. Still, I would suggest to secure more than three letters because you do not know which schools have a connection with your recommenders and this may important than you think. For the international students, when you plan to go master program in U.S. hoping for an opportunity, think twice. If you get admitted into top master program, I guess the risk becomes smaller but if you are not, then the risk becomes exponentially larger. If you were not competitive in your own country, think twice which factors would make you a different person after a year or two in U.S. Also, be aware that you may not have many opportunities for RA or TA even comparing to undergrad students because they have different sources which are only available to undergrad students and the resources for grad students go to PhD Students. So, ambitious international students who have already proved your competitiveness in your country but lacking strong letters are encouraged to apply for master program in U.S. If it is not the case, you should know about the risk before starting your journey, I have no intention to discourage anyone. This is more like I would have wanted to hear before I start this process. Actually similar stories apply to domestic applicants as well. Lastly, apply to as many schools as you are allowed to. The margin cost of applying to extra one program gets smaller by each iteration. So do not think about the cost of applications, think about the real cost that you have payed including your youth. I will not list names, but I really appreciate people who shared their knowledge and experiences in this forum.