Biostat_Assistant_Prof

I'm a second year biostats PhD student, that had a similar background. I had a big turn around, in that, my GPA my freshman year was 2.9 and I had raised it to over a 3.6 overall by the time I graduated (last 80 hours or so of courses, I had a GPA of 3.85ish). I was a biology major and on the lighter side for a math background too, having had a few stats classes, programming class, and calculus through multivariate (but no real analysis). I made A's in my calculus, linear algebra, stats, and programming classes. 
 
My GRE scores were similar too. My quant (which I honestly can't even remember the exact score of) was either 162 or 163 and my verbal was right around 158-160.... With that said, your quant score shouldn't hinder you too much. Really anything over 160 is pretty solid, but given your background, if you could pull out a 164+ on a re-take, it could be beneficial
 
Cyberwulf has been giving great advice on here for years, literally, and in my experience it's been pretty accurate. 
 
With all that said, you could probably land in a decent (ranks 3-10) MS Biostat program, but it's extremely unlikely you'll have any funding. I'd say the "best" school you have a MS shot at would be Michigan, which accepts a large number of students, but that's far from a sure thing.
 
PhD is trickier, a spot in the top 10 is a long shot. Maybe throw apps at 1 or 2 top 10's, but I wouldn't waste any more money than that. I'd skip sending PhD apps to Harvard, Hopkins, U Washington, Minnesota, or Michigan... to be brutally honest, you'll be wasting money. Schools outside the top 10 would be more likely, but I wouldn't say you're a sure thing at any of them. 
 
Just to give you an idea, here are the list of ranked schools with Biostats programs outside the top 10 (pulled from another thread):
 
Yale, Emory, Brown, Iowa, Rochester, Pittsburgh, Boston University, Medical College of Wisconsin, UIllinois-Chicago, UTexas-Houston, Case Western, Medical College of South Carolina, SUNY Albany, Alabama, SUNY Buffalo, South Carolina, Virginia Commonwealth
 
This is not all inclusive, there are plenty of schools with Biostat programs not even in the rankings. With the exception of Yale, Emory and Brown, the difference between them academically is probably much smaller than comparisons made between programs withing the top 10. The education you'll get at one of these schools won't necessarily be bad, but the number of "high quality" faculty is limited relative to the top 10. If you're given a choice between the lower ranked schools, the choice should be much more heavily based on specific faculty members who you'd like to be your advised by, rather than general academic perception. Your mentor/advisor is the most important aspect of your grad school experience, and a fantastic, well-respected, advisor from a smaller school is arguably better than a poor advisor at a highly ranked school..... With that said, it would be very important for you to talk the departments and faculty beforehand to make sure the person you want to work with will actually be available to take you as a student. 
 
With regards to comparing schools specifically, I won't get into that publicly for the sake of remaining unbiased/neutral... but I'll be happy to give more detailed information in a PM if you'd like. 

If you're interested in biostat, why are you applying to a bunch of places that don't have biostat departments (NCSU, Penn State, VaTech)?  That being said, NC State is so big that there are plenty of biostat-oriented folks there.
 
It's a little hard to "chance" you in biostat since dramatic academic turnarounds such as yours are pretty unusual. I would guess you're still reaching for the top 8-10 biostat departments; median overall GPAs at these places are usually in the 3.8+ range, so admitting a 3.2, even one who has been much better recently, could be viewed as an unnecessary gamble. You might have more success in the low teens (Florida, Pitt, Boston U, Iowa, Ohio State, etc.)

Calculus, calculus, and calculus. Oh, and did I mention calculus? In all seriousness, you need to have differential and integral calculus down cold so that you can focus on learning the statistical concepts. It also wouldn't hurt to review some basic linear algebra (mostly vectors and matrices). Fortunately, there are tons of online and offline resources for reviewing this material.

We are the Math. We will add your biological and intellectual distinctiveness to our own. Your research will adapt to service us. Resistance is futile.

What I like to do is throw a large batch of food into a crock-pot (slow cooker) for 5-8 hours and then eat the leftovers for 5 days.... It can take a good bit of initial prep work depending on what you make, but it's well worth it if you make 8-10 meals... I make chili, jambalaya, roasted chicken, turkey, sausages, stew, goulash, and much more. You can vary up sauces, marinades and "mix-ins" to change things up.

A few specific and simple example recipes I use:

1) large chicken breast, marinade, mini red potatoes, carrots, broccoli onions,, and whatever spices I feel like throwing in (cayenne, garlic, basil, paprika, etc.) - combine it all together and let sit it sit on low for 6-8 hours and then save leftovers

2) 3 lbs of sausage, 2.5 pounds of saurkraut, 24 oz of beer, minced garlic, cup of onions, 2 chopped apples... Mix and let sit for 6-8 hours and then you have your next 8-10 meals.

I'm sorry but you really do not deserve to go to Harvard.

I don't think there is any clear it system, but these tiers are just kind of arbitrarily defined and accepted by the (Stat/Biostat) academic community; there is room for argument about specific programs, but the bulk of it is a pretty good guideline. Just from what I gather having been reading this forum over the past year, I think they are mainly based off off things like faculty research/recognition and student placement in academia after they earn their PhDs..... I remember reading a few months ago a post Cyberwulf made bout biostat Tiers; I'll repeat what I can from memory.... Good grads from Tier 1 departments will find positions at other Tier 1s, Tier 2s, and so on. Excellent grads from Tier 2 departments may find jobs at Tier 1s, but are most are more likely to find jobs in tier 2s, tier 3s and less. Outstanding grads from Tier 3s may find positions at tier 2s, but more likely tier 3s and less. Tier4/everyone else will rarely find academic positions in 1-3 tier department, and will usually have positions at other un-tiered schools...... For industry, it matters less.
....I've spent way too much time on these forums this past year, lol

Wrong type of forum

I don't know your background. I guess everyone is different. I come from a family where no one has ever went to college, so no one would really care about a low GPA in college. The only way to disappoint my family where I would be at the brink of suicide would be if like I was a serial rapist/pedophile. I understand a 2.55 GPA in college is not that impressive (it's also not that bad unless you're considering applying to top notch PhD programs). I know it's not nice to tell someone their problems are overexaggerated, but there are people in way worse shape than a 2.55 GPA. You really need to lighten up. You have the benefit of living in a city like NYC (where I happen to be from... well, Brooklyn), so you have a lot of opportunities. NYC is very competitive, but there are also a lot of opportunities to live an eventful life. I imagine your family has money since you're able to live there without a college degree or career. At least you're not dead broke in the projects. Also, at least you're not one of these people stranded in some backwoods hillbilly town with nothing to see but horse sex. You really need to evaluate your situation and get a nice dose of reality. 

annanyc, please get help in dealing with the depression that you'e feeling and with the suicidal thoughts. You should not deal with it alone--seek out a therapist or a support group, perhaps through your school. I'm sure that there are programs that are meant for people who are similar situations to your, and they can help you see your way through the difficulties. 
 
Graduating with a low GPA is NOT the end of the world. It might make your life somewhat harder than if you had a perfect 4.0, but that's all it is. You will still have opportunities and you can still have many successes in your life. You could get into a Masters program by following the advice in mewtoo's post above. Or you may want to get a job first, and that can help in a few ways - beside the obvious making money, it'll give you some perspective to help you make sure what career you'd want to have in the future. Having more distance between your undergrad and your grad school experiences will also make your grades less important than other aspects of your portfolio. I understand that you're currently doing well in your program -- that too will help; many people struggle at first but the upward trend in grades will prove that you are able to be successful in school. Maybe you can find an internship with a museum or other group that is relevant to what you want to study and do later in life. There are many options out there and it's just not true that they're all closed off because of this one blemish. 
 
Whatever you do, and before you figure out a job or grad school, please--get help dealing with your feelings. Everything will be some much easier and clearer once you do that. 

What the fuck...

No offense, but this isn't that type of forum.

No offense, but this isn't that type of forum.

What I like to do is throw a large batch of food into a crock-pot (slow cooker) for 5-8 hours and then eat the leftovers for 5 days.... It can take a good bit of initial prep work depending on what you make, but it's well worth it if you make 8-10 meals... I make chili, jambalaya, roasted chicken, turkey, sausages, stew, goulash, and much more. You can vary up sauces, marinades and "mix-ins" to change things up.

A few specific and simple example recipes I use:

1) large chicken breast, marinade, mini red potatoes, carrots, broccoli onions,, and whatever spices I feel like throwing in (cayenne, garlic, basil, paprika, etc.) - combine it all together and let sit it sit on low for 6-8 hours and then save leftovers

2) 3 lbs of sausage, 2.5 pounds of saurkraut, 24 oz of beer, minced garlic, cup of onions, 2 chopped apples... Mix and let sit for 6-8 hours and then you have your next 8-10 meals.

I don't move until August and the emotions I'm feeling are a weird mix of excitement, nervousness, anxiousness, and sadness. 
 
I'm very excited to get started with what will be my lifelong career, to get settled in and explore my new city before grad school life becomes hectic, to meet new people and make new friends... But I'm also really starting to feel some sadness about leaving my home. I'm really going to miss my hometown, my family, and my best friend of 17 years. 
 
Overall, I know what I'm doing is the right thing for me, but as the time nears, it's actually starting to feel real!

Do what you can to minimize the temptation to reinvent the wheel.
Do your level best to learn from those who have gone before you and have asked similar questions.
Consider the utility of incorporating your questions into ongoing discussions.
When assessing the guidance you've received, consider the background, the expertise and the experience of the person who offered it.







If I sound snarky it is because this BB is going through a phase in which newer members are repeating questions that have been addressed many, many times. While this trend provides opportunities to get great guidance from experienced graduate students such as jullietmercredi, it also provides opportunities to miss equally sound guidance from experienced graduate students such as jullietmercredi.

IMO, this trend represents a "lost opportunity" for many of you to start the transition from being undergraduates to being graduate students. As graduate students, you will often encounter an implicit expectation that you are doing the leg work to find the answers to your own questions, and from there generating additional questions and answers. (In some quarters, this leg work is called "research".)

Additionally, some of you who are in your twenties may be walking into a buzzsaw as new graduate students. Your cohort is developing a reputation for having attitudes of entitlement and self-absorption. (Consider how members of the generation of 1965 talk about the OWS and Tea Party movements) Regardless of the accuracy of this perception (Christopher Lasch had the same complaints back in 1978), perception is reality.

While it is your choice as to what questions you want to ask and how you want to ask them, do not be surprised if those who are most capable of helping you decide to tune you out. If you think this can't happen to you, ask yourself why you're asking strangers on the internet for guidance rather than going into a professor's office and getting mentored?

My $0.02.

I don't move until August and the emotions I'm feeling are a weird mix of excitement, nervousness, anxiousness, and sadness. 
 
I'm very excited to get started with what will be my lifelong career, to get settled in and explore my new city before grad school life becomes hectic, to meet new people and make new friends... But I'm also really starting to feel some sadness about leaving my home. I'm really going to miss my hometown, my family, and my best friend of 17 years. 
 
Overall, I know what I'm doing is the right thing for me, but as the time nears, it's actually starting to feel real!

Every admissions season, many students applying to statistics and biostatistics programs are intimidated by the task of writing personal or research statements. Indeed, there is an entire sub-forum on GC dedicated to SoPs (Statements of Purpose) where there is much hand-wringing over how to craft the perfect text.   But while I can't speak for disciplines outside of the statistical sciences, I can confidently say that in stat and biostat, the evidence strongly suggests that personal statements have little impact on admissions.   I've written several posts about this in the past; here's a summary of why you should stop worrying so much about a 1-2 page essay:   1. Mathematical ability is best assessed through academic records and test scores (and to a lesser extent, letters), so it is generally quite easy to order students on this important trait.The pool of students applying to statistics and biostatistics departments isn't particularly deep, so that a major concern of even excellent departments is whether applicants can handle the requisite mathematical coursework and exams.

2. Very, very few applicants have meaningful statistical research experience before starting graduate school. As a result, many students end up working on dissertations in areas entirely different than they were initially interested in... and this is totally OK!

3. Funding in most (but not all) U.S. stat/biostat programs is allocated at the department level to the strongest incoming students, so applicants aren't typically "matched" to potential advisors who agree to fund them*. Rather, the department projects the total number of positions available and then tries to recruit up to that number of students. Once the students are on campus, they are then either assigned to a position or (ideally) have some choices available to them.   Given points 2 and 3, declarations in the personal statement such as "I am very interested in studying [X] with Professors [u,V,W]" usually carry little weight. They typically translate to: "[X] is a hot topic which I know very little about but sounds interesting, and I see on your website that Professors [u,V,W] list [X] as a research area." Which, again, is JUST FINE, since that's essentially all most people can credibly write.

4. Research potential *is* important, but the best source of information on this trait is letters of recommendation, not a one-page essay. In some fields, part of showing research potential is demonstrating that you have already thought of a reasonable project that will turn into a dissertation. Since (virtually) no one applying to stat/biostat has a "shovel-ready" dissertation idea, research potential is generally assessed using some combination of mathematical ability, creativity, and perhaps some exposure to lower-level research, all of which are best evaluated using other parts of the application.   I don't mean to denigrate the personal statement too much. There are a few key things to avoid (eg. rampant grammatical errors, aimless rambling, saying you have no intention of pursuing an academic career if you are applying to a PhD program) and of course there will be exceptions to every rule, but in general, as long as the PS is competent it probably won't affect your chances of admission significantly.   

Undergraduate Institution: Large state university -- >20,000 undergrads, regionally ranked by USNWR (not in the national rankings)
Major: Biology
GPA: 3.50 Cumulative, but ~3.8 last 70 hours (after 2.8 freshman year)
GRE: Verbal 159, Quant 162, AW 4.5
Citizenship: Natural norn U.S. Citizen 
Graduate Institution: N/A
Important Classes: Calc 1 (B, took my freshman year), Calc 2 (A, last semester), Linear Algebra (A, last semester), Biostatistics (applied statistics course for Bio majors -  A), Computer Statistics (prograaming class in R and SAS - A), Calc 3 (In progress), and Probability Theory (In Progress)
Research Experience: Not statistics related, but biology research that consisted of some programming experience in R
Publications: none so far, but manuscript had been submitted at time of applications
Grants: None
Teaching experience: None
LORs: Having not read them myself, these are assumptions based off the communication I had with my writers. 1 great one from the professor I've done research with (but he is a newer, less established professor), 1 good one from another Biology professor, and 1 good one from my Biostatistics professor 
 
Applied: UW, UNC, Minnesota, Michigan, Emory, Brown, Yale, Pitt, Boston U, Medical U of South Carolina (MUSC), Vanderbilt
 
Accepted: Michigan (MS/PhD fastrack), Emory (MS), Brown (MS), Boston U (PhD), MUSC (PhD)
Rejected: UW, UNC, Minnesota, Yale, Pitt
Other: Waitlisted by Vanderbilt and I had them take my name off the list before a decision was ever made. 
 
 
Comments: Obviously, I have less stellar credentials than most applicants have on these forums. I wasn't all that surprised by the rejections I got, although I'd be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed. I think my low ranked undergrad university and my lesser math background (given that I'm currently taking Calc III and lack any deeper math classes like Real Analysis) was cause for concern about my ability to handle the rigor of the more theoretical stat courses, and is therefore the reason I was admitted to the MS program rather than PhD program for 3 of the 5 programs I was accepted by. I was offered funding at BU and MUSC, partial tuition remission at Brown and Emory, and no funding at Michigan. A big part of my decision was obviously funding, so as much as I would have liked to attend Michigan, I had to turn down there offer because I couldn't rationalize the debt for an MS when I had funded PhD offers elsewhere (albeit, at lower ranked institutions). I also turned down Emory and Browns offers for the same reason... Now, if my career goals were strictly to remain in academia for theoretical/methodological research at a top ranked institution, I would have given more serious consideration to taking out loans and making UMich work. Ultimately I made my decision after campus visits, speaking with faculty, comparing research interests, etc..... For anonymity reasons, I'd like to leave it at that and simply say that I chose one of the two schools - Boston U or MUSC. 

Undergraduate Institution: Top 50 Public
Major: Mathematics
GPA: 3.74 Cumulative, 3.81 Major (approximate)
GRE: Verbal 161, Quant 170, AW 4.5
Citizenship: Permanent Resident Asian
Graduate Institution: N/A
Important Classes: Just the standard pure math schedule with a decent number of applied electives.
Research Experience: Next to none
Publications: None
Grants: None
Teaching experience: None
LORs: I'd guess that these were above average for a student coming out of a huge public school without much relevant research experience. One of the recommenders is pretty well known in the Stats/Biostats field and said he wrote me a "good" recommendation, and the other two aren't as well known but wrote me "good" or "great" recommendations.
Additional Information: My time to degree was only about 2.5 years, but really less than that since I was only one class short of graduating after my 2nd year. I also have a gap of about 4 years after undergrad in which I worked in some not-too-related fields.

Applied:

Biostats PhD: UWashington, Johns Hopkins, UNC Chapel Hill, UMichigan, UMinnesota, UCLA, Yale, UPenn, Brown, Emory, UFlorida, UPittsburgh, USC
Stats PhD: UWisconsin
Biostats MS: Harvard, Berkeley, Columbia, Duke, WashU, Stanford (MS Stats)

Accepted: UWashington, UNC Chapel Hill, UMichigan (MS/PhD), UMinnesota, UCLA, USC (MS/PhD), Harvard (MS), Columbia (MS), Duke (MS), WashU(MS)
Rejected: Johns Hopkins, Yale, UPenn, Brown, Emory, UFlorida, UPittsburgh, UWisconsin, Stanford, Berkeley (Brown and Emory sent me MS offers)
Attending: UWashington

Comments: I do find it weird I didn't get into a lot of my safeties while I got into a decent number of programs where I thought I was a reach/reasonable. It might be because of the respective department sizes and while some big departments were willing to take a chance on me, other smaller departments filtered me out because of things like lack of research experience and gap in academic education. I probably should have applied to less schools, but really had no idea what my chances were going in. My recommendation for future applicants who aren't sure and feel a bit shaky on their credentials is to not apply to too many smaller departments, and find a right balance of reach/reasonable/safety schools to apply to.

Most of the PhD offers were fully funded, and most of the MS offers were partially funded.

Undergraduate Institution: Top 10 UK university, top 3 department Major: 4 year BSc integrated Masters programme in Statistics GPA: Overall 66%, 4th year 69% GRE: Verbal 164, Quant 169, AW 4.5 Citizenship: Non-American international student Graduate Institution: N/A Important Classes: Measure Theory, Probability Theory, Stochastic Processes, Biostatistics and Medical Statistics modules Research Experience: Summer attachment in my undergraduate institution, summer attachment at a research institute in my home country, Fourth year dissertation on multiple testing, currently doing a 6 month attachment in machine learning at the same research institute in my home country Publications: First author publication in peer-reviewed undergraduate research journal (from summer attachment in my UG school), second author in conference paper (from second summer attachment) Grants: None Teaching experience: None LORs: 1 from my personal tutor (well-known professor) who pretty much knew what I was doing both in and out of the classroom in those 4 years. 1 from my dissertation supervisor/first summer attachment supervisor (relatively young American PI) who liked the work I did under him. 1 from my current supervisor who was my co-author on the conference paper.   Applied: Boston (Biostatistics), Berkeley (Statistics), Carnegie Mellon (Statistics), Duke (Statistics), Minnesota(Statistics), Michigan (Biostatistics), Stanford (Statistics), UBC (Statistics), UCLA (Biostatistics), UW  (Statistics and Biostatistics), Warwick (Statistics).   Accepted: None Waitlisted: Michigan (have been told they are full already though) Rejected: The rest Attending: None, obviously!   Comments: I was pretty upset after being told by Michigan that they are full, as I was told previously that I was high up on the waitlist.    I'm not sure which part of my application I should focus on improving. My first 2 LORs should be pretty good, as they both have experience of writing LORs and know me well. My third letter writer is pretty junior, and isn't familiar with the US system at all, but knows me well enough as well. I'm also unsure what to do with the extra year now - current supervisor suggests that I should try for an RA position in one of my target schools, but I'm pessimistic wrt visa issues etc. Another friend working in the local health ministry has suggested the possibility of a statistician type position, and would be happy to help me to secure one.   And obviously, relook at my choice of schools to apply to for next year.

Undergraduate Institution: Large state university -- >20,000 undergrads, regionally ranked by USNWR (not in the national rankings)
Major: Biology
GPA: 3.50 Cumulative, but ~3.8 last 70 hours (after 2.8 freshman year)
GRE: Verbal 159, Quant 162, AW 4.5
Citizenship: Natural norn U.S. Citizen 
Graduate Institution: N/A
Important Classes: Calc 1 (B, took my freshman year), Calc 2 (A, last semester), Linear Algebra (A, last semester), Biostatistics (applied statistics course for Bio majors -  A), Computer Statistics (prograaming class in R and SAS - A), Calc 3 (In progress), and Probability Theory (In Progress)
Research Experience: Not statistics related, but biology research that consisted of some programming experience in R
Publications: none so far, but manuscript had been submitted at time of applications
Grants: None
Teaching experience: None
LORs: Having not read them myself, these are assumptions based off the communication I had with my writers. 1 great one from the professor I've done research with (but he is a newer, less established professor), 1 good one from another Biology professor, and 1 good one from my Biostatistics professor 
 
Applied: UW, UNC, Minnesota, Michigan, Emory, Brown, Yale, Pitt, Boston U, Medical U of South Carolina (MUSC), Vanderbilt
 
Accepted: Michigan (MS/PhD fastrack), Emory (MS), Brown (MS), Boston U (PhD), MUSC (PhD)
Rejected: UW, UNC, Minnesota, Yale, Pitt
Other: Waitlisted by Vanderbilt and I had them take my name off the list before a decision was ever made. 
 
 
Comments: Obviously, I have less stellar credentials than most applicants have on these forums. I wasn't all that surprised by the rejections I got, although I'd be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed. I think my low ranked undergrad university and my lesser math background (given that I'm currently taking Calc III and lack any deeper math classes like Real Analysis) was cause for concern about my ability to handle the rigor of the more theoretical stat courses, and is therefore the reason I was admitted to the MS program rather than PhD program for 3 of the 5 programs I was accepted by. I was offered funding at BU and MUSC, partial tuition remission at Brown and Emory, and no funding at Michigan. A big part of my decision was obviously funding, so as much as I would have liked to attend Michigan, I had to turn down there offer because I couldn't rationalize the debt for an MS when I had funded PhD offers elsewhere (albeit, at lower ranked institutions). I also turned down Emory and Browns offers for the same reason... Now, if my career goals were strictly to remain in academia for theoretical/methodological research at a top ranked institution, I would have given more serious consideration to taking out loans and making UMich work. Ultimately I made my decision after campus visits, speaking with faculty, comparing research interests, etc..... For anonymity reasons, I'd like to leave it at that and simply say that I chose one of the two schools - Boston U or MUSC. 

Undergraduate Institution: Mid-sized, low-ranking State University in the Midwest
Major: Math, Economics, BA
GPA: 3.54 Cumulative, 3.87 Major
GRE: Verbal 167, Quant 167, AW 4.5
Graduate Institution: Large, mid-ranking State University in the South
Grad Major: Economics (PhD program, dropped out after 2nd year and received an MS)
Grad GPA: 3.3
Important Classes: (Undergrad) Mathematical Statistics, Computational Statistics, Real Analysis, Elem. Point Set Topology, Differential Equations, Linear Algebra, Matrix Theory, Econometrics, (Grad) Survival Analysis, Panel Data, Limited Dependent Variables, Econometrics, Time Series
Research Experience: 1 year working for an Econ professor
Publications: One empirical paper in a decent peer-reviewed economic journal, another empirical paper published by the Joint Economic Committee of Congress.  
Grants: None
Teaching experience: Principles of Microeconomics at my Graduate School, Econometrics at my Alma Mater.
LORs: 1 Econometrics Prof (Grad), 1 Stats Prog (UGrad), 1 Econometrics Prof (UGrad).  I don't think any are particularly well known.
 
Applied: Ohio State (PhD), UC-Davis (PhD), Bowling Green (PhD), UCLA (Masters), Stanford (Masters), University of Washington (Masters), Chicago (Masters), UNC-Chapel Hill (Masters), Johns Hopkins (Masters), Columbia (Masters), Carnegie Mellon (Masters).  All Statistics
 
Accepted: Bowling Green, UCLA, Johns Hopkins,
Rejected: Ohio State, UC-Davis, Stanford, Carnegie Mellon
Waitlisted: Chicago, Washington (implied), UNC-Chapel Hill (implied), Columbia (Implied)
Attending: UCLA

Comments:  I've been working as an economist for the past 4 years.  Also, I had a number of classes in grad school that show up as "expired incomplete" and then again with course grades (interestingly enough, all incomplete courses eventually became As.)  

Undergraduate Institution: Large state university, I'm sure its (lack of) reputation did not help me.
Major: Biochemistry, BS
GPA: 3.55 Cumulative undergrad; 3.8 Major undergrad; 3.8 Math undergrad; 3.8 Biostat MS
GRE: Verbal 165, Quant 170, AW 4.5
MCAT (7/2011) (submitted to SOPHAS and JHU): 12 Physical, 13 Biology, 13 Verbal, Q Essay, 98.4-99.0 overall percentile
Citizenship: US
Graduate Institution: Currently second year MS in biostatistics, relatively new (unranked) small program affiliated with medical school
Important Classes: Calculus I-IV (through vector calc), differential equations, applied biostatistics sequence, survival analysis, clinical trials, SAS, design and analysis of surveys, 2 bioinformatics courses including algorithms and statistical methods, currently taking probability/Casella & Berger math stat sequence and linear algebra so this was not on my transcript.  
Research Experience: One biostatistics lab course and master's thesis, both focused on microarray data analysis methods, working with the same advisor for both, use of R/Bioconductor packages
Publications: None
Grants: None
Teaching experience: 7+ years math science tutor for elementary through undergraduate level, currently TA for year-long applied biostatistics sequence for MPH, biostatistics, and bioinformatics graduate students
Work experience: Two years as an electronic medical records tutor and one year as emergency department scribe/scribe trainer, working in hospitals with physicians
LORs: 1 from thesis advisor/biostat professor, 1 biostat linear regression professor, 1 bioinformatics professor, 1 philosophy of science professor (for schools that would allow more than 3). I think I probably had the strongest recs from my advisor and the philosophy prof, whom I have visited with extensively.  Others are probably average, I preformed very well in their courses but did not know them incredibly well. Also I asked my employer (an emergency room physician) to send an extra letter to JHU because it was my top choice, maybe this was in February or March. I asked her to send a 'glowing' letter. She gave me a copy; it seemed nice enough but I think they would be more impressed with straight A's in a real analysis sequence .  
 
Applied: All Biostat PhD -- UW, Berkeley, UCLA, Harvard, JHU, UNC, Emory, Boston University, Columbia, Pitt
 
Accepted: Pitt (full funding with TA/RA position)
Rejected: Everywhere else 
Attending: Pitt

Comments: I believe I was immediately disqualified at UW and Boston U for no linear algebra (probably should have checked with the departments before applying), if not more, and other schools for lack of higher level math courses (and perhaps other reasons). I was originally planning to do medical school, hence the biochemistry undergrad, the MCAT, and the medical related jobs.  Also I worked many random jobs after high school and did not really apply myself to undergrad studies until I became focused on pre-medical preparation, so my undergrad transcript stretches over 10 years with most work concentrated in the last 4 years. My advice to future applicants: take a lot of math courses (if you are not already a math or stats major)! Maybe I should note that Columbia asked if I wanted to be considered for DrPH in biostatistics, which I declined as I would like to continue learning more statistical theory and I would prefer the PhD degree. Very happy with how things turned out, regardless of all the rejection, which was kind of depressing, but motivating as well, I suppose. Now I am glad to be able to stop worrying about all this rankings nonsense and focus on becoming the best (bio)statistician I can possibly be.