illu

Here's the thing. First of all I am Canadian. I got accepted by a PhD program in the U.S. I got I-20, SEVIS paid, etc. (I don't think I need to go to a consul for F-1 interview because I am Canadian). Furthermore I was invited to attend a workshop in summer, which ends in early July. Since school doesn't actually start until late September, I looked around and secured myself an RA position. I booked flight, found housing, and that was all OK. Essentially I wanted to start a few month early. To my greatest horror I discovered a problem. My I-20 says I have to report to the school by mid-September at the latest. What the I-20 did not say (nevertheless found on the fineprint) is that the earliest time I can arrive is one month before that the deadline to report, or mid-August, which is way too late. I know I can go to U.S. as a visitor as a Canadian citizen, but I highly doubt that kind of status will allow me to be paid in the U.S. for RA work. Does anyone know how to deal with this problem? The workshop is a fantastic opportunity, but I really don't want to support myself during the gap between the workshop and start of school.

I wonder the same thing. I heard nothing back from them.

Nope. Not on Chicago's website.

I've seen this in some other schools too. Basically they have accepted you, but some technical paperwork still needs to be done.

I am in the same situation. Screw them. I don't really want to go there anymore.

Are you sure? I don't think Chicago sent any rejections yet.

Well UofT has a professor that graduated from UC Davis. His recommendation may land you there, but I honestly don't think he (or anyone) is willing to write you a reference with your GPA right now. Anyways, if you are perm resident or Canadian, UofT biostats might be possible, but you have to work hard. Also you have to be prepared that it does not give fundings (~7k per year tuition) You can also consider going to York - it's always overlooked by UofT students but it's actually very decent. My best suggestion is to reduce your course load (take only 3-4 per semester) and improve your GPA. This may cause you to take one more year to graduate, but I think having a good grasp of the fundamentals will be worth it. I wouldn't worry too much about MAT137 if you can do well on MAT357, for example.

That is what I heard. I was not there so I can't say for sure, however.

Columbia's master program is not funded. I heard anyone can get in that program provided that you can afford the ~50k per year tuition for two years.

First of all, do you even like statistics? Why do you like it? Here's, in my opinion, the set of courses you should have for PhD: 1. Multi-variable calculus (vector calculus is not important, but you probably want to take it for the heck of it), and linear algebra 2. Introduction to mathematical statistics (on the level of Hogg and Craig is good; Wackerley et al. is a bit too weak, in my opinion) 3. Introduction to regression analysis (at the level of Kutner's book is good) 4. Measure theory (on the level of Stein & Shakarchi, Royden, Folland, Pugh, etc.; they are about the same) Don't bother with differential equation. It's useless for statistics.

Does any of these programs give you funding? To me, Chicago and CMU are ideal. If you PM me I can tell you one bad thing I heard from one of the schools you listed.

I agree with this. Also, depends on which school you got in, funding may not be a big problem as your lucrative wage as a TA can easily make up for it... well, at least if you went to the school I went to.

Congrats.

I don't think it's that great in terms of ranking (as you probably know already). But ranking is not important in graduate school. The important thing is your adviser. Slightly off-topic: not sure if you are aware of this.

I heard someone applied for statistics phd a few years back. Got accepted by Stanford, got rejected by Ohio State. Don't quote me on this, however.