APOCooter

I cross posted this in the city thread too, hoping more eyes will get me an answer. Does anyone know if UB has any sort of public transportation discount? On the NFTA website, they talk about Buff State, Cannesius and a couple other schools offering unlimited bus services throughout the city. I checked out UB's student transportation fee and it seems like all that money goes toward Stampede and intra campus transportation, which I couldn't care less about. I'm asking because I'm going to be living on main street about two and a half miles from campus. Since I'm right on a bus line, I figured I'd take the bus a lot. But not if the fares are more expensive than driving.

Does anyone know if UB has any sort of public transportation discount? On the NFTA website, they talk about Buff State, Cannesius and a couple other schools offering unlimited bus services throughout the city. I checked out UB's student transportation fee and it seems like all that money goes toward Stampede and intra campus transportation, which I couldn't care less about. I'm asking because I'm going to be living on main street about two and a half miles from campus. Since I'm right on a bus line, I figured I'd take the bus a lot. But not if the fares are more expensive than driving.

This. I'm an active combat athlete who gets... antsy... when I go too long without training. I like to play cards, too. Basically, I refuse to give up a few hours of "me time" a week and I wonder how that's going to impact my success.

Yeah, but despite how nice they look, i'm still skeptical. I'll be driving out to Buffalo near the end of may for some showings. I have no experience with craigslist, which is why I'm going to make a weekend out of it. Go out, check out a bunch of apartments as well as some extracurriculars (gyms and stuff). Hopefully I'll be able to find something nice; I'd rather find a place I can stay for two years instead of having to move again in a year. Yeah, I think most if not all of my classes will be on South Campus. I'm going to have a car, but I'm planning on doing public transportation as much as possible; I think it'll just be easier that way. I've heard the bus from South to North is pretty constant (multiple times per hour), so it shouldn't be too much of a hassle for you. And hey, it'll give you more time to do reading.

I'll be pursuing a masters in biostatistics. I've been skimming craigslist for a few weeks. It seems like finding housing won't be too terrible; there are literally hundreds of postings every day for all areas. I'm a little worried, though, because I want to live in Elmwood Village/Allentown/Downtown, and according to apartmentratings.com, most of the property management companies are terrible. I'm hoping I can luck out and snag a decent place that isn't owned by one of the companies.

I wasn't freaked out until yesterday. I had been skimming craigslist and kept seeing a fair amount of postings for the neighborhood I wanted to live in, so I figured I was fine waiting until June/July to find a place. Then I started digging deeper and checking out apartmentratings.com and most of the properties/management companies are terrible. Now I'm afraid I won't be able to find a nice place in that neighborhood. I'm sure it'll be fine, but the shock of having multiple possibilities dwindle to just a couple was kind of shocking.

Oh man, I wish I had known about the plushies before I bought all my cards and gifts. Those are awesome! I think it's adorable how the person makes Chi-squared and other distributions too.

I'll be attending the University at Buffalo this coming fall semester. I plan on moving out there in July (possibly as early as June). I don't know anyone in Buffalo, so having potential new friends lined up would be awesome!

On more question (since I can't seem to edit my last post): how much money do I need to live. Is 20k enough for rent, healthy food, and reasonable extracurriculars?

So I'm going to SUNY Buffalo this August. I've kinda sorta started looking for a place to live. I'm looking at living in Elmwood Village or Allentown; is it going to be impossible for me to find a decent and affordable 1 bedroom apartment available July 1st? The impression I get is that those two neighborhoods have plenty of non-students that live there too, so I can't tell if the availability on Craigslist right now is normal turnover, or if it's all the landlords lining up tenants for next year. Also, what's actual downtown Buffalo like? I've seen a couple of nice apartments listed there, but if all the good bars/restaurants are in Elmwood Village/Allentown, maybe it's not worth it? I dunno, there's a lot of appeal in living in a walkable neighborhood with lots of park like areas, which is the sense I get that Elmwood/Allentown are.

Main Street Armory has live bands, and back when I was willing to travel more than an hour for a show (I live in Syracuse), I saw a few shows at the Water Street Music Hall. You might want to check out the websites for those two places; maybe you can get a feel for what the music scene is like.

The first two years of the UMich PhD involves taking the same classes as the Masters students.

I don't go to SU, but I've lived in Syracuse my whole life. There are two (and a half) bar scenes in the city. The first is Armory Square in downtown Syracuse. There's a collection of 20 or so bars/restaurants in a three or four block radius. They range from more "clubby" places (Daisy Dukes, Fuel, PJ Dorsey's, Mulley's) to more laid back lounge/bars (Empire Brewing Co, Blue Tusk, Al's Wine and Whiskey Lounge). There's also SU hill, up near the university, though I honestly couldn't tell you much about it since I never go there. There's also a smaller scene on Tipp Hill; fewer but more well known bars like Blarney Stone and Rosie O'Grady's. The city is fine; some places more safer than others, obviously. It gets cold in the winter, and lake effect snow can be a pain; but the summers are really nice. There's enough stuff to do if you're willing to look a little bit. The zoo is nice. Onondaga Lake Park is a good place for picnics or jogging; they also do canoe/boat rentals. I'm a big fan of the MOST (museum of science and technology), but I'm also a nerd. There's also the Everson museum, plus a couple of theaters that get the occasional big acts/shows (Wicked and The Lion King came through here in the past year). If you're more of a big city kind of person, NYC is about 4 hours away. Any other questions, feel free to ask.

I didn't get any response in the general forum, and I didn't want to start a new thread here. I've been invited to attend the University of Michigan Biostatistics department open house. Since I haven't been to the campus yet (I live about 8 hours away), I figured now might be a good time to check it out. I have a few questions about what to expect, though. Do students in the masters degree program often attend these sorts of things, or am I going to be surrounded by PhD admits? What's appropriate dress? I'm obviously not going to be wearing jeans and a t-shirt, but slacks and a tucked in dress shirt seems a little much, too. Would jeans and a button down shirt be too casual? Additionally, I have a full sleeve tattoo; is this something I should consider trying to completely cover up? Also, I plan on asking the following questions: Are there any obvious questions that I'm forgetting? Should I not ask any of those questions because they'll make me look like an idiot? Thanks for the help!

I've been accepted to the University of Michigan masters in biostatistics program. I've been invited to attend the department open house. Since I haven't been to the campus yet (I live about 8 hours away), I figured now might be a good time to check it out. I have a few questions about what to expect, though. Do students in the masters degree program often attend these sorts of things, or am I going to be surrounded by PhD admits? What's appropriate dress? I'm obviously not going to be wearing jeans and a t-shirt, but slacks and a tucked in dress shirt seems a little much, too. Would jeans and a button down shirt be too casual? Additionally, I have a full sleeve tattoo; is this something I should consider trying to completely cover up? Also, I plan on asking the following questions: Are there any obvious questions that I'm forgetting? Should I not ask any of those questions because they'll make me look like an idiot? Thanks for the help!

I'm stuck with a decision. And it's a pretty big one. I'll take advice from just about anyone, including strangers on the internet. I applied to the masters program in biostatistics at the University of Michigan. It was a reach school. I wasn't really expecting to get in. And then I did. I really want to go. It's really expensive. Some background information: at this point, I'm really only interested in pursuing an MA and then finding a job in industry. I'm not ruling out an eventual PhD, but I have no interest in academia. I've also been accepted to a much less well known program (SUNY at Buffalo[and possibly Pitt, but SOPHAS is being dumb, so not likely]) that would be significantly cheaper (I would get in state tuition there). So here are my thoughts: if I go to UM, I'm going to end up getting somewhere around $80,000 in additional student loan debt. However, I'll have a degree from a top 10 biostats program. If I go to Buffalo, I'll have significantly less debt. However, I won't have a degree from a top 10 program. How important is the institution of a masters level degree in industry? Will it significantly affect possible starting salaries? Most biostatistician job postings I've seen say something along the lines of “PhD required, or Masters + X years experience.” Will only having a Masters significantly hinder my job search upon graduation? Or hinder me enough so that going to UM isn't worth it? There are other, more qualitative reasons I want to go: I've only ever attended a small state school; I've never lived in a large city (I guess Ann Arbor isn't that large, but Detroit is); I've heard that Ann Arbor is just an amazing place to live. But ultimately, it's the financial side that gets the most weight. I'm trying very hard to convince myself that it's worth it, but man, that's a lot of money. A tangentally related question: how transferable are statistics skills across fields? Say I get a masters in biostatistics and for whatever reason, biostatistics just doesn't work out. Would I still be a reasonable candidate for jobs that require experience in “statistics or related fields?” Are there other considerations that I'm forgetting? Any other pros/cons? Seriously, any sort of advice is appreciated.

I just met with one of my professors to ask about a letter of recommendation, and he asked which schools to which I am applying. I gave him my list, and he started giving me the really hard sell for the University of Rochester (it's a very good program "one of the best", it's closer to home, cheaper because I'm an in state resident, easier to get into because students from my school already have a good track record there, etc). I knew that had a program, but I didn't know if it was any good. I just did a quick rankings search, and I see it as a top 50 program at best. Am I missing something? If it turns out that it's a decent school, I'd definitely consider it, since what he mentioned are all appealing (cost, location, etc), but it doesn't seem like it's a top tier school, even by my (becoming) more modest standards.

Go through one of the prep guides and do the practice problems. Just because you know the material doesn't mean you know how to answer the questions quickly. I took an intro chemistry course a few semesters ago; I'm confident that I could do well enough on a test of the material, but not necessarily very fast. On a lot of the problems I'd be like, "Do I do it this way? No, that answer doesn't make sense. It's probably this way. *thinks for a few minutes* aha! I remember now!"

I have a couple questions about getting letters of recommendation. I plan on applying to five to seven masters degree programs in biostatistics. First, I'm not sure who my third letter should come from. I'll be getting one from a professor that I had for two classes, and the second will come from my supervisor at an internship. I have two choices for my third. The first choice is from one of my professors from community college. I had him for calc I, calc II, and differential equations and I'm confident that he'd give me a strong letter. The downside being that it's from a community college professor (which shouldn't matter, in my opinion, because it's not like differential calculus is any different at MIT than a community college, but sometimes it does). Additionally, my last class with him was Summer '11, so it's been a while. But again, I feel like he would write me a strong letter. My other option would be a professor at my current 4 year school. Since I went to a community college before, I haven't had as much time to develop relationships with the faculty. I've only had one class with this professor (a second semester introductory statistics course). However, I do have him for another, more advanced, statistics class this semester. Would it be worth going to him and asking if there's anything I can do between now and November that would earn me a strong letter, and use him instead? Finally, my current school offers a service where the alumni office acts as a central hub for reference letters. Basically, I can have all reference letters sent there and then they send out copies where I direct them. Reading this forum, I'm seeing people who are handing letter writers tables with various due dates and different instructions for submission (and sometimes even different instructions for writing each one!). This seems like quite the imposition, especially with applying to multiple schools. Is using this service worthwhile, or should I really be like, “Can you write me a letter? Oh, by the way, I need you to send it to these seven places.” Thanks in advance for the advice.

I've decided that it would probably be better for me overall to pursue an MS for now with the possibility of a PhD later. With that being said, you mentioned in another post that it would be better to try and get into a top 5 biostat MS program. Obviously, three of the top 5 are Johns Hopkins, Harvard, and the University of Washington. Are there schools (preferably) on the east coast/midwest that could reasonably be considered in that list that I haven't yet mentioned? Also, would the University of Washington be too much of a stretch for their MS program? I ruled it out for myself after this past semester (C+ in real analysis and C in numerical), but if University of Wishconsin, Boston College and University of Michigan are reasonable for MS, maybe Washington is too?

A few months ago I started a thread about where I should be thinking about going. Well, now that it's summer and I'll be starting applications soon, I just wanted to get some final thoughts and opinions on different schools and plans. First, about me: I'm a white male attending a small state school in New York. I currently have a degree in English (not particularly relevant, but just to give you an idea of the 180 in terms of material I've been studying; also, to explain some of the weaker grades I have) and will be finishing a degree in applied mathematics with a minor in applied statistics in the fall. I currently have a 3.32 GPA and have received the following grades: Intro Stats A and B: A Calc I: B+ Calc II: A- Calc III: B- (I am retaking this class this coming semester. I'm very confident that I'll get, at minimum, a B+) Linear Algebra: A- Discrete Math: A Linear & Integer Programming: A- Mathematical Statistics (two semester sequence): B+/B Real Analysis: C+ Numerical Analysis: C Additionally, I am currently working at an internship doing data mining and statistical analysis at a local hospital. I expect to have three good, if not strong, letters of reference. I have not taken my GRE yet, but if it's at all like the other standardized tests I've taken, I'll end up somewhere in the 90th percentile (let's be safe and say 85th); I don't know exactly where that is in terms of GRE scoring, but it should be a good ballpark. These are the schools that are currently on my list to apply (not in any particular order): University of Michigan UNC University of Wisconsin University of Minnesota Boston College Pittsburgh Florida State Given my grades, are any of these a big stretch? Are there any notable schools that I have a decent shot (greater than 50%) gaining admission? Is this list long enough? Should I have more safety schools? Also, a tangentally related question: Boston College has as a requirement 4 credit hours of linear algebra. None of the schools I've attended have four credit hours worth of linear alebra (even as lower and upper level courses), however, I've had classes that use elements of linear algebra. Will I be okay applying there, or should I just scratch them off the list? I'm also undecided whether to apply for Masters programs, or directly to PhD programs. For what it's worth, I have no desire to teach (as a career). Assuming I can get in to either PhD Pros: I can be funded, thus getting it for free/cheap. Better job opporunities down the road. I can make people address me as Dr. APOCooter. Cons: I'm going to be almost 29 when I finish this bachelor's degree. Assuming everything goes smoothly, I would be 34 when I'm awarded my PhD. I've already given up nearly a decade's worth of earning potential; I don't know if I can do it for another three years (especially if I'm paying full price tution for those three years). I also don't know if I'm smart enough to get a PhD. Masters Pros: Less time, possibly less money spent in/on school. Could always go back for a PhD after. Cons: It's likely that I wouldn't be funded or receive RA/TA position. My career opportunities could be limited (who is more likely to get a promotion, 10 years experience and an MA, or 5 years experience and a PhD?). I think that's everything. Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Well, I'm confident that I'll get a better grade taking it again (and in an actual class instead of online). What I'm really worried about are my grades in Real and Numerical Analysis. I have no interest (or ability) to retake those.

Well, I guess that settles it, then. Thanks again for the help.

I didn't want to make another thread for such a simple question, so I'm hoping this will still be seen and answered. Last summer I took Multivariable Calculus as a summer course. It was an online course (and I was also taking a partial differential equations course) and I didn't do as well as I was hoping; I got a B-. My plan was to retake it at the 4 year school that I transferred to. Some difficulties have come up; the credit hours of the course won't count towards my total and I won't be considered a full time student unless I add another course. If I do this, I'll have an essentially 18 credit hour semester, which I would much rather not do. So, my question is this: would I be better off taking the 18 credit hour semester and getting a better grade in multivariable calc, or taking a statistics class called Environmental Statistics with the following description: "Statistical techniques are applied to the analysis and solution of environmental problems, with appropriate technology. The course deals with the bio-assay designs, toxicology, wildlife movement, and sampling in the context of environmental studies."

I hate to create another thread about Biostatistics, but I also didn't want to hijack someone else's thread. I've been doing some research, and I'm wondering what kind of program I can get into, or if I should temper my expectations. I'm a student at a state school in New York pursuing a bachelors in applied mathematics with a minor in applied statistics. My GPA is currently above a 3.5, but some of my math grades have been shaky, in my opinion. I received a B+ in Calc I and a B in Calc III (for what it's worth, it was an online class and I know I would've done better in a traditional class), I also received a B+ in my first mathematical statistics class. I'm currently taking real analysis and numerical analysis; they're challenging, but I'm fairly confident I'll be getting at least a B+/A- in both. Additionally, when I started this degree (this will be my second bachelors degree), I had plans to pursue a post graduate degree in a biomath field, so I'm also taking bio and chem courses. This is my last semester of heavy math courses; next year I'll be taking genetics and organic chem, along with a couple of statistics courses. So that's my background. Should I both attempting to apply to a program like the University of Washington or another top tier school? Or should I scale back and look at top 50 schools instead of top 10? Also, since I wouldn't be starting grad school until the fall of 2013, in an effort to pad my resume, I was going to try and do research with professors at my school. The problem is, none of it is directly related to biostatistics. Is it worth doing, just to say that I have research experience? There's also a possibility that I could get an internship at a local hospital. Should I make a serious effort to pursue those, or would I be better off with a biostatistics related independent study? I'm not sure if I'll be pursuing a PhD or if it will just be a master's degree. I'd like to get a PhD, but I'm not sure if it will be feasible. I won't be seriously hamstringing myself if I just get a master's degree, will I? My apologies that this post is kind of all over the place. I'm on spring break, and grad school research is on my to-do list for the week, and I guess I started to freak out. Any help or advice is greatly appreciated. Also, any suggestions on schools to look into would be appreciated (I'm from the United States, but I'm not against becoming an international student).