2019 MSc Statistics Profile Eval

[theduckster]

Undergrad Institution: Top 50 University (Top 20 Public) 
Major: Electrical Engineering
GPA: 3.6/4.0

Major GPA: 3.0/4.0

 

 

Type of Student: Domestic Male

Relevant Courses: Calculus I-III (A), Linear Algebra (A), Intro to Differential Equations (A), Intro to Probability Theory - calculus based (A), Advanced Calculus (A), Real Analysis I (A), Real Analysis II (A-), Topology (A), Measure Theory - graduate (A-)

 

 

GRE: Pending, believe it or not (assume an average score)

 

Programs Applying:  Statistics M.S.

 

 

Research Experience: 

- Two quarters of independent research in computational neuroscience my second year. No publications or presentations, just an informal paper I wrote to my lab. Worked mostly with a postdoc

-Two quarters of (ongoing) statistics research with a distinguished statistics professor at my university. No publications as of yet

 

 

Recommendation Letters: Three; one from above statistics professor (at least average, hard to say for sure whether it will be GREAT), and one from a math professor who specializes in machine learning (should be strong)

 

 

Coding Experience: R, Java

 

Applying to: Stanford, Berkeley, Harvard, UCLA, UC Davis, Purdue, UWisc Madison, UColorado Boulder (Applied math - data track), UMich (applied statistics), Ohio State, .... any more suggestions??

 

Disclaimer: I have one F in an engineering class that I retook for an A-, and another F that I haven't retaken as of yet (contributing to my low 3.0). I dealt with documented health problems my last year which caused me to get university approval to go part time after that second F and played a major role in that second F. That being said, I think my strong math record is directly tied to my deep passion for statistics. In hindsight I might have majored in statistics with a minor in computer science, but engineering has served me well in its own right.

Edited August 10, 2018 by theduckster

[theduckster]

Going to bump this just once so that it isn't permanently buried :P

[cyclooxygenase]

Your fairly strong grades in Real Analysis I & II, plus Topology and Measure Theory, make me think you'd be able to get into most any master's program, provided you have reasonable GRE scores.  Since apparently schools actually care about GRE scores, I'd recommend studying real hard for them so that an admissions committee can at least point at good GRE scores to contrast with your major GPA (and maybe your overall GPA, although obviously that's less of an issue).  Without strong GRE scores, I would assume some good places would take a chance on your due to your aforementioned math background, but the very top places (and some lower down) might write you off for your major GPA.

 

Reasonably useful questions:  1.  What is your major GPA without the F?  2. Did you take the GRE via computer, and if so, what were the predicted scores?  They aren't likely to change much, if at all.

[statfan]

I doubt they would care about your major gpa since your major is unrelated to statistics. You have more than enough background for masters and with this profile you should be competitive almost everywhere. 

[theduckster]

Thanks cyclooxygenase and statfan for the insights.

My major GPA will almost definitely be an issue for some highly competitive schools, though I might have wildcard odds at some of them. Thank you for your optimism nonetheless! You may very well know much more than me about this.

And I will hopefully get back to you with upgraded GRE scores soon.

Moreover, does anyone know any "target" schools I should look into for an MS program in statistics, given my profile? That would be a great help

[statfan]

10 hours ago, theduckster said:

Thanks cyclooxygenase and statfan for the insights.

My major GPA will almost definitely be an issue for some highly competitive schools, though I might have wildcard odds at some of them. Thank you for your optimism nonetheless! You may very well know much more than me about this.

And I will hopefully get back to you with upgraded GRE scores soon.

Moreover, does anyone know any "target" schools I should look into for an MS program in statistics, given my profile? That would be a great help

GRE is a filter and unless you bomb it, it won't matter much. Your official transcript should not show your GPAs since different universities have different rules of calculating GPAs. The admission committees will mainly focus on grades in individual courses that are relevant and you did well in all of them. That being said, you are competitive for any masters program so maybe remove some lower ranked schools like Ohio state and Colorado, and I feel that with this profile you are even competitive for top 20 phd progams.

Edited August 13, 2018 by statfan

[theduckster]

Thanks again statfan!

Do you (or anyone else) know how my math grades would stack up against someone who has much more of an academic background in statistics than me (say, a stats major with As in several mathematical statistics classes but no analysis/measure theory)? I was under the impression that the latter would be preferred, but the way I hear people talk about real analysis being a prerequisite for PhD programs I'm not so sure if this is the case, even for an MS...

[cyclooxygenase]

Your background in real analysis, measure theory, and to a certain extent topology is definitely preferred.  You already took probability and did well, with your theoretical math background I doubt anyone would be too concerned about your ability to learn statistical inference.  I could see the very top places be concerned with A-minuses, but in general you've done about everything mathematically a program would want, at least from what the forums here seem to say.  I'd generally agree with statfan about being competitive for decent Ph.D. programs -- it's a little hard for me to judge difficulty of admissions in Stat vs. my aspirant Biostat, but you've got a substantially stronger math background than I do with similar research, you should be OK regardless of what applications you choose to put out.

[statfan]

16 minutes ago, theduckster said:

Thanks again statfan!

Do you (or anyone else) know how my math grades would stack up against someone who has much more of an academic background in statistics than me (say, a stats major with As in several mathematical statistics classes but no analysis/measure theory)? I was under the impression that the latter would be preferred, but the way I hear people talk about real analysis being a prerequisite for PhD programs I'm not so sure if this is the case, even for an MS...

Real analysis is very useful for statistics at the phd level and people seldom get into statistics phd without having taken real analysis. Probability and mathematical statistics are important as well but this background can be made up during phd. For MS calculus 3 and linear algebra are more than enough.

Edited August 13, 2018 by statfan

[theduckster]

21 hours ago, statfan said:

 For MS calculus 3 and linear algebra are more than enough.

Could you elaborate more on this? Apparently some M.S. programs (like UNC and UChicago) require a year of statistics and/or specific statistics classes, though I'm not sure whether this is a hard prerequisite or one that is more flexible for mathematically-mature applicants.