j_li

You should go Harvard MS only if 1. you are not into Bayesian at all; 2. you want to work under some famous faculty like Susan Murphy and you belive that you can be in the Harvard PhD program after you MS degree. or 3. Harvard MS provides full fnding and you are not into PhD program right now. Duke prgram is one of the best Bayesian programs in US, if not in the world. Maybe CMU is better if you consider ML with Bayesian. If you are not in Bayesian, I saw that you have applied couple of good statistics programs like UMich, UCLA and Rutger. Those programs are not rank as high as Duke, but you may find some very interesting areas and outstanding advisors you can work under. For academic career, your PhD advisor is far more important than the school brand name.

I don't think that you need retake the GRE. A couple of points won't make much different in the MS application. A lot of programs don't even consider GRE now. Your profile is very strong if you get good recommandations. Are you applying 2023 MS programs? I think it is too late to apply those programs this year.

Biostatistics programs are more likely to conduct interviews then Statistics programs. However I doubt that anyone has a full list of programs doing admission with interviews. For Biostatistics programs, UW, Harvard and JHU are top three which normally invite their candidates to interview before admission; for Statistics program, Berkeley occasionally conduct interview before admission. For perticullar program, you can also check the result pages and it shows that which program historically conduct interviews before admission.

You should already get invited to interview with top biostatistics program like UW, Harvard, and JHU. If your thesis advisor really likes you, it pretty much guaranteed for you to get UChicago's offer. I am little surprised, as you indicated your interest in statistical genetics, but Michigan (the power house of statistical genetics) isn't in your application list. Good luck with your application.

Operations Research Phd application is eaier than Statistics Phd application. There are still some programs open (Dec 15th or Januaray), so you can have a shot if you can act ASAP. Normally Fortune 100 company can offer part time degree program with some colleges, so you will be better off if you can find a fit there. Your GRE score is perfect, while you GPA with no degree courses, at the other hand, will prompt some questions about your academic preparation: After a decade from the academic program, will you still be able to handle the Phd qualification exams and thesis research? You may need your real analysis professor to write a strong letter for those elite Phd programs. Good luck with your application.

It is kind of late to apply some elite programs like stanford or UCB, I think you could add Chicago and Wharton, which will fit your major perfectly. As for target, OSU, Minnesota are also good fit. Good luck with your applications.

GRE 180 verbal is impossible while 3.5 writing is a little bit low. Good stats for any master program, a bit of tricky for top Phd programs like Univ. of Washington. Maybe you can add some 50+ rank Phd programs in your list if you really want to push to a Phd program.