Oatsey
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Hello. I am seeking honest opinions about my profile. If you have to be blunt, then feel free to send a private message if you are not comfortable posting it here. I would really appreciate even the toughest criticism. I had a previous post, but some circumstances changed so I changed some information accordingly. Some deadlines have passed already, but I am still trying to get one last read for what is or is not achievable. I simply do not want to overestimate or underestimate myself.Undergrad Institution: California public university (Cal. State)
Major(s): Math with statistics emphasis
Minor(s): None
GPA: 3.4 (3.1 without grade forgiveness)Master's Institution: The same as undergradProgram: Pure mathGPA: 3.9Type of Student: Domestic Hispanic/Latino Male
GRE General Test:Q: 169V: 161W: 5Relevant* coursework and grades(Math/Stat/Comp Sci):- Undergraduate Lower Division: Calculus 1(C), Calculus 2/3(A), Linear Algebra and Differential Equations(B), Discrete Math 1(B), Discrete Math 2(A), Introduction to Programming in C++(B), Introduction to Statistics(A), Pure/Applied Math Seminar(A)
- Undergraduate Upper Division: Undergraduate Analysis 1/2(A), Introduction to Probability Theory(A), Introductory Numerical Analysis(A), Intermediate Numerical Analysis/Numerical Linear Algebra(A), Survey Sampling(A), SAS Programming(A), Mathematical Statistics(A), Multivariable Real Analysis(A), Advanced Linear Algebra(A), Regression Analysis(A), Multivariate Statistical Analysis(A), Data Structures and Algorithms(B), Mathematical/Convex Optimization(A)
- Master's: Real Analysis/Measure Theory 1/2(A), Stochastic Calculus(A), Introduction to Functional Analysis(A), Theory of Computation(A), Analysis of Algorithms(A), Partial Differential Equations(A), Random Matrix Theory Seminar(Officially Audited)
*Various pure and applied math courses left out, but As in all but one.
Research Experience: No undergraduate research experience. 1 full-time paid summer graduate RA position for an operator theory project. 1 reading course in modal logic to understand a logic used to describe a supervised learning game.Research Interests:Methodological interests: Precision medicine and causal inference, clinical trials, missing data analysis, high-dimensional data analysis, computational statistics.Collaborative interests: Animal science/medicine, environmental science, infectious diseases, cancer, aging, and diabetes.Future Coursework(Spring 2022): Spanish and C++ courses for practical reasons. Algebraic geometry for fun and potential background knowledge for algebraic statistics.Letters of Recommendation:
- One good one from a pure math professor who was my research mentor.
- One good one from a pure math professor who I took two courses with, one of which involved a research-lite course project.
- One strong one from a computer science professor ( math PhD ) who I took several courses and a reading class with, and graded for.
Teaching experience: 6 semester of calculus.How much of a reach would the following institutions be? I have labelled what I think the achievability is. What do you think they actually are?- UC Davis - Target
- Ohio State University - Target
- University of Alabama - Birmingham - "Safety"
- University of Florida - Target
- UC San Diego - Target
- Drexel - Reach
Also, how would you describe a W a senior thesis class that wasn't required to begin with? Is it even worth addressing? With the possibility that I do not get in anywhere this cycle, what do you suggest I do in my off time to prepare for the next one? I appreciate your thoughts. Have a great day, everyone. Sorry for the blank post a few weeks ago.
Best wishes,
Oatsey
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Undergrad Institution: California public university (Cal. State)
Major(s): Math with statistics emphasis
Minor(s): None
GPA: 3.414Grad/Master's Institution: The same as undergradProgram: Pure mathGPA: 3.944Type of Student: Domestic Hispanic/Latino Male
GRE General Test: Have not taken yet.GRE Math Subject Test: Have not taken yet. Should I take this?
Coursework and grades(Math/Stat/Comp Sci):- Undergraduate Lower Division: Calculus 1(C), Calculus 2/3(A), Linear Algebra and Differential Equations(B), Discrete Math 1(B), Discrete Math 2(A), Introduction to Programming in C++(B), Introduction to Statistics(A), Pure/Applied Math Seminar(A)
- Undergraduate Upper Division: Undergraduate Analysis 1/2(A), Introduction to Probability Theory(A), Introductory Numerical Analysis(A), Intermediate Numerical Analysis/Numerical Linear Algebra(A), Survey Sampling(A), SAS Programming(A), Ordinary Differential Equations 1(A), Mathematical Statistics(A), Multivariable Real Analysis(A), Advanced Linear Algebra(A), Regression Analysis(A), Multivariate Statistical Analysis(A), Data Structures and Algorithms(B), Abstract Algebra(A), Mathematical/Convex Optimization(A)
- Master's/Graduate: Point-set Topology(A), Introduction to Knot Theory(A), Introduction to Algebraic Topology(A), Real Analysis/Measure Theory 1/2(A), Stochastic Calculus(A), Introduction to Functional Analysis(A), Theory of Computation(A), Abstract Algebra 1(B), Abstract Algebra 2(A), Complex Analysis(A), Introduction to Riemann Surfaces(A), Modal Logic Independent Study(A), Extremal Combinatorics Independent Study(A), Analysis of Algorithms(A), Partial Differential Equations(A), Sobolev Spaces Seminar(A), Random Matrix Theory Seminar(Officially Audited)
Research Experience: No undergraduate research experience. Currently working as a summer research assistant in area of functional analysis/operator theory. Planning to do a poster presentation on it in a few months. I'm not sure if this counts, but several courses in my graduate program had projects that were meant to give us a taste of research. They often required us to read several papers and summarize results in 5-10 pages.Research Interests: Spatial statistics, time series analysis, missing data, statistical learning, statistics education, but really anything that allows for collaborative statistics. I would love to engage in collaborative research that allows statistics/biostatistics students to work with people specializing in one or more of animal science, environmental science, plant science, epidemiology, and research on human aging. In particular, working on anything that has to do with marine ecosystems would be ideal.Future Coursework(Fall 2021/Spring 2022): I need help making a decision. I notice that a lot of biostatistics programs often recommend taking life science courses(biology, environmental science, agriculture, etc). As a result of having only focused on math/stats/cs courses and my interests changing just in the past year, I have not taken many life science coursework. I have one more semester, or two more if the second semester would count, to take any of them. I have only taken an introductory biology course over 10 years ago(B). As such, I'm returning to the community college that I transferred from and I am considering one or more of the following courses, all of which are lower-division. Which do you think would be the most helpful in my case?- General Chemistry 1(Standard first course in college chemistry)
- Applied Botany
- Biology(Either Human, Environmental, Organismal, or General Ecology)
- Oceanography
- Climate Science
I'm afraid of these courses not having much of an impact on the application since they are not upper-division or graduate level classes. Is this concern warranted? Would I be better off reading research papers I am interested in and picking up knowledge along the way?Letters of Recommendation: My research mentor who I am working with now expects to write me a letter of recommendation. I hope it is a good one. I have never taken any courses with her, and this summer project is the only setting I've interacted with her.The second letter is from a computer science professor holding a Ph.D in mathematics. I've taken several courses with him, and graded for his graduate algorithms course. He wrote his willingness to write me a letter of recommendation for Ph.D applications without me bringing it up, and he even vouched for me to become a lower-division computer science lecturer(which I can't take because I am still a student) with a strong recommendation which resulted in me landing a CS TA job. I imagine the letter for Ph.D applications from him will be pretty strong.The third letter is up in the air but I have two people who I can ask. One is a knot theory researcher who I have taken a couple of courses with, and I imagine he will gladly write a good letter of recommendation. The other is a PDE/ML researcher who I have taken convex optimization, stochastic calculus, PDE, Sobolev Spaces, and Random Matrix Theory with. The knot theorist could potentially comment on my knot theory course project as some exposure to light research level work, whereas the PDE/ML professor really only has good course performance to go off of with the exception of one 20 minute presentation on a topic of my interest. I get along well with both of them though, but have a slightly better relationship with the knot theory professor. Which would you recommend me asking?Teaching experience: TA for 2.5 years of business calculus in the math department. Upcoming TA assignment in the computer science department for a discrete math 2/linear algebra course, and an introductory numerical methods course, both of which will have programming assignments in Python.Concerns:
- Having no statistics professor letter writer. All my letter writers are pure or applied mathematicians.
- Having no statistics research experience. With the exception of some statistics projects in my undergrad, and some pure math projects in my master's classes, my only true research experience is in functional analysis/operator theory as a summer research assistant.
- Having almost no life science coursework.
- Poor undergraduate GPA and poor lower-division math/cs grades.
Notes: I am an older than average student. Early 30s. I had a very rocky start in my early 20s which resulted in many Ws at my first community college, with a couple Ws in my graduate courses due to outside circumstances and pandemic magnified issues.Applying:I would like help figuring out what programs to apply to that align with my research interests, but programs that I would have some chance of getting into based on my profile. I have no idea how competitive I am, and so any constructive feedback would be superb and highly appreciated. I am willing to move anywhere in the US, but would be willing to go to Australia or somewhere in the EU. It doesn't matter whether it is a biostatistics program or a statistics program, as long as there are opportunities for collaborative research in one or more of the areas I mentioned above. My dream school is U.C. Davis, but I am considering applying for the University of Florida and University of Nebraska-Lincoln. I would greatly appreciate recommendations, as well as thoughts on what schools any of you think I honestly have a chance of getting into. Thank you very much for reading.Best regards and sincere thanks,Oatsey
2022 Applicant Profiles and Admission Results for Statistics/Biostatistics
in Mathematics and Statistics
Posted · Edited by Oatsey
Adding a bit more.
Major(s): Mathematics - Option in Statistics
Minor(s): None
GPA: 3.41 (3.14 without grade forgiveness)
GRE General Test*:
Q: 161 (74%)
V: 150 (44%)
W: 4.0 (54%)
GRE Subject Test in Mathematics:
Not taken.
Grad Institution: California State University - Long Beach
GPA: 3.95
Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Undergraduate Departmental Honors for the class of 2018
Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Tutoring during undergraduate years and some during the master's. Teaching associate during the master's.
Letters of Recommendation: Two letters of recommendation from pure math professors; one of which was my research mentor and the other a graduate instructor who could speak of my potential. One strong letter of recommendation from a computer science professor.
Any Miscellaneous Points that Might Help: I was a Math Alliance Scholar in the F-GAP program. https://mathalliance.org/fgap-information-for-students/. I also didn't think I had much of a shot anywhere, so I undersold myself and applied to a LOT of programs with a LOT of "safeties". A higher ranked theoretical program could have been possible, but hindsight is 20/20. I highly recommend any future applicants to aim high if you can afford it and if your LORs are willing, but still apply to a good breadth of tiers. Give yourself more credit.
Applying to Where: ** General GRE Required
Duke University - Mathematics - Interview - Rejected
U. Iowa - Applied Mathematics and Computational Sciences - Pending on 3/25 - Withdrew Application
U. Delaware - Mathematics - Pending on 3/1 - Withdrew Application
Drexel University - Biostatistics - Interview - Waitlisted - Withdrew Application
UC Davis - Biostatistics - Admitted - Declined
UC San Diego** - Biostatistics - Rejected
U. Alabama at Birmingham** - Biostatistics - Withdrew Application
Chapman University** - Computational and Data Sciences - Admitted with tuition funding (with no stipend) - Declined
U. Nebraska-Lincoln- Statistics - Informal Interview - Admitted - Declined
Colorado State** - Statistics - Rejected
North Carolina State - Statistics - Waitlisted - Withdrew application
UC Santa Barbara - Statistics and Applied Probability - Pending on 3/25
UC Irvine - Statistics - Interview - Waitlisted - Withdrew application