Portmanteaujam

Hey all! I'm not an incoming student, but as a current first-year graduate student who used these forums last year, I just wanted to welcome those of you who've settled on Northwestern. I also wanted to alert those of you concerned about finding a place to live to the fact that there's a very active places4students page for the Northwestern community. I found roommates on the site early on (maybe April/May?) and we did some apartment hunting online. Fortunately, one roommate was in Chicago one weekend a month, so he was able to tour our prospects and give reviews via email. I can't remember if you need your @u.northwestern.edu email for the site or not, but you should get it shortly after you accept electronically. For a little perspective on the moving timeline, we were able to sign a lease in July for September 1 move-in. Good luck! It sucks to have to uproot and move cross-country, but Evanston's not a bad place to have to go.

Undergrad Institution: Top master's-level private university Major(s): Mathematics, Computer Science Minor(s): GPA: 3.62 Type of Student: DWM GRE Revised General Test: Q: 164 V: 164 W: 5.0 GRE Subject Test in Mathematics: M: N/A Program Applying: PhD Statistics Research Experience: 2 REUs in mathematical criminology, 1 research fellowship in statistics and social sciences, 1 published paper Awards/Honours/Recognitions: MAA presentation awards, departmental awards and scholarships, etc. Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Civil engineering teaching assistant, NASA intern, currently working as a data scientist Applying to Where: University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill - INSTORE PhD - Rejected University of Texas, Austin - Statistics PhD - Rejected University of California, Los Angeles - Statistics PhD - Rejected University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign - Statistics PhD - Accepted Rice - Statistics PhD - Accepted Northwestern - Statistics PhD - Accepted + Attending!

Likewise -- probably late August - early September. I was really hoping to be there for the NW'ern-Stanford football game on September 5th. I absolutely can't wait to leave the Bay Area. How are you going about finding housing? Wanna take offline and talk via PM?

Sweet! When are you moving?

Just turned down offers at UIUC and Rice -- hope this helps one of you fine folks on this forum

Visiting the department today, and likely making final decision sometime this week. Did you visit? What do you think? (PM if you would rather.)

Might be a bit premature, but does anyone know for sure where they're going yet?

Don't know yet -- at the moment, it's there or Rice. I'm visiting the departments this weekend and next. Will probably decide after that.

I have -- received formal notification of admission middle of last week.

Hey Ryan -- you mean which other programs am I considering?

Nice to e-meet you! I'm accepted into the Statistics PhD program and heavily considering going. Are you settled on NW'ern, then?

To be fair, Haverford is hardly random But it's good to know about the currency of these outcomes if you want to teach at a major research university! For equity's sake: http://www.pol.illinois.edu/graduates/placements/

I think you can just do the following (for an arbitrary number of URL endings): Sociology "Santa Cruz" site:.net OR site:.edu -site:ucsc.edu That seems to produce the expected result.

Yeah, I was pretty surprised myself! Did you interview?

I didn't really ever have an interview -- just received unofficial notification of admission to the Statistics PhD program over the phone a couple of days ago. I haven't received a formal offer yet, and I don't believe anyone has.

Same for me -- application submitted.

I applied last year and was in the same position -- waitlisted and eventually rejected on April 16th. I would bet you (and I, since I also haven't heard anything yet this cycle) are on their waitlist this year. I wouldn't hold your breath, but there's always hope!

I can't speak specifically to analytics programs, but I do work in data science in the Bay Area, so maybe I can contribute some information that will clear things up a bit for you. I would probably start by considering something you haven't yet mentioned: program cost. Is cost important to you? How much is tuition for the duration of each program? Consider also that San Francisco is *wicked* expensive if you want to live close to USF. (Although I suspect Austin probably isn't super cheap either.) I would next consider what you really intend to do once the program's over. It sounds like USF's program is more technical, so in my mind, that's a significant advantage if you want to work in analytics. Given you're changing careers, stronger familiarity with statistical/ML techniques and data manipulation software and technologies will be a more visible feather in your cap than program prestige (at least in this case). The final consideration is where you'd like to live. USF grads seem to have no problem finding employment in the Bay Area, with a locally strong alumni network and the ability to interview for and obtain career-relevant employment right in their backyard. Not that I think a UT degree would hinder you in the Bay Area -- I just think you might be at an advantage from a career-building perspective if you were a student at USF. Just some things to think about -- the decision definitely isn't obvious. I would search for (or ask each program to provide) alumni outcomes to see if they line up with your expectations, since analytics programs are still fairly fresh. Good luck!

Did anyone here get one of the N'Western interviews on the results search? If so, did you get any sense of whether it's a precondition for admission?

Looks like there's some activity now. Best wishes!

I don't see this thread yet, so it's time to start it! Any of you fine folks going to be attending a grad program at Rice this fall?

I turned down my offer of admission on the 15th; I would imagine they're probably pulling from those applications without an answer yet to fill their quota.

Thanks for letting me know! And to you too, wherever you land. Is it Florida or Rice at this point?

That's a good point about informing the professors -- I'll get on that. I asked the GVC for some information regarding the waitlist structure and got totally stonewalled, so I am quite confident they aren't going to look at it until April 16. It's a dangerous game they're playing down there. I'll probably ask my current first choice for a short extension.

Out of curiosity, did you get any sense of whether there is a reasonable likelihood the department will have to accept off the waitlist at all? Or of how long the waitlist is? If last year's GC results are any indication, then the answer is "probably", it would seem.