Undergrad Institution: Grand Valley State University (public school in Michigan)
Major(s): Double Major in Statistics and Pure mathematics
Minor(s): None
GPA: 3.99/4.00
Type of Student: White male
GRE General Test:
Not planning on taking as many schools that I am looking at no longer accept these scores. Though I absolutely will consider.
TOEFL Score: N/A
Programs Applying: Statistics and Biostatistics PhD's
Research Experience: One funded summer research internship in environmental statistics (no publications), next fall I am doing combinatoric research with the math department at my school (hopefully a publication!), the following winter I am hoping to do research into mathematical biology also with the math department (not entirely sure if I will actually be able to do this), and in that same winter semester I will be doing a statistical consulting project.
Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Math dept scholar, Honors college, Mu Sigma Rho member, and Pi Mu Epsilon member.
Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Tutor since the winter of 2022 in both mathematics and statistics and TA for statistics next year.
Letters of Recommendation: Planning on having a letter of recommendation from two math professors, one being my research mentor and the other being a professor I have had as my advisor and for a few classes (Linear algebra 1 and 2), and a letter of recommendation from a statistics professor I had for probability and statistical theory (2 semester sequence). Additionally, I have started a bayesian statistics independent study with this statistics professor.
Math/Statistics Grades: Note: my school does not give out A+'s : Calc 1-3 (A's), Real analysis 1 (A), Linear algebra Intro (A), Linear algebra applications (A), Linear Algebra theory (A-), Probability theory (A), Mathematical Statistics (stats theory) (A), Intro to Proofs (A), Nonparametric statistics (A), 2 courses in statistical computing (R/SAS) (A's), 4 applied statistics courses (A's), and I am going to take diffeq, numerical analysis, mathematical modeling, real analysis 2, and abstract algebra next year (hopefully A's!).
Any Miscellaneous Points that Might Help: I am studying abroad and taking diffeq. I have been teaching myself python for ML and statistics.
Applying to Where: I still have yet to apply, as I will be a Fall 2025 applicant. However, the schools I am currently looking at for stats and biostats are: UNC, JHU, UW-Madison, UCB, UCSB, UCR, Duke, NCSU, Cornell, University of New Hampshire, Michigan, and Northwestern. I would love to hear feedback on how to refine my application further to increase my chances for these schools or on anything else.
Questions:
1. Is it recommended to take the GRE? I know a lot of schools have moved away from it but is it expected to come back or will more schools continue to not require it?
2. Which of the schools listed above are reasonable for me to get into or more of reaches?
3. I am interested in non-parametric statistics and survival analysis, are there any schools that are known for either of these?
Thank you!