statnewbie1

Hello everyone! I have been a lurker on gradcafe for a while, but I'm still confused where I stand in terms of application pool and if I should apply to less competitive programs, since I'm not a conventional applicant, as I transitioned from Physics to Stat, so my math is on the weaker side, unfortunately, since I got interested in it later. My Stats: Undergrad Institution: Ivy Major(s): Statistics Minor(s): Math GPA: 3.99 Type of Student: International, White Male GRE General Test: Will take over the summer Programs Applying: Statistics/OR Research Experience: A year at Biostat lab my freshman year, which culminated in a poster presentation at university-wide conference. Led an industry research project with EEG data resulting in a white paper. Honors thesis. JASA co-author, JMM poster presentation (did a prestigious applied math REU), a few pre-prints planned. Awards/Honors/Recognitions: A bunch of Honors programs since freshman year, but nothing spectacular. Won a few national Physics competitions in my country, known for Physics and Math. Pertinent Activities or Jobs: TA for undergrad and graduate Stochastic Processes, volunteering as the head of education for Statistics education club at my school. Summer REU and funded research through grants (this summer) Letters of Recommendation: Two Stanford Stat professors, and the head of the Stat department - one I TAed for, another conducted research for two years, and with the third one I took two courses with. Math/Statistics Grades: Calc III, Applied Linear Algebra, PDEs, Proof-based linear Algebra (A+), MS Analysis I/II (A+), PhD Functional Analysis (A+), MS Topology/Differential Geometry, Mathematical Stat (A+), Stat Inference, Probability, MS Stochastic Processes, MS Measure-theoretic Probability, MS Convex Optimization, PhD Linear Optimization, PhD GLM theory, MS Data Mining, PhD Seminar in Statistics - A's if not stated otherwise, the level of the course is mentioned (U/MS/PhD) Planned at the time of application: PhD Math Stat, PhD Complex Analysis, PhD Probability Miscellaneous - Honors E&M, Honors Thermo, Honors Micro-Macro Economics, Intermediate Micro, Corporate Finance Any Miscellaneous Points that Might Help: I go to a place which is REALLY well-known for finance and its business curriculum (to the point when people confuse the entire university with one of its schools), so not sure whether I should lean towards OR. I'm interested in development of Statistical theory guided by applications (Conformal Inference, HMMs), so no pure probability. Applying to Where: Reach: Stanford MS&E, Berkeley Stat (person similar to me got in this year, so I might shoot my shot), Princeton ORFE, MIT ORC, CMU Stat Target: UMich Stat, Penn State (Astrostatistics), Duke Stat, Yale Stat and Operations, Current Institution Safeties: Not sure, whether any programs could be considered as such What should be on my school list instead?