rubotomy

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.