2019 Stat/Biostat Phd Profile

[statfan]

Hey I will be applying to statistics/biostatistics phd this fall and I'd like to know where I stand among other applicants. Any evaluation/advice is greatly appreciated. Here is my profile:

Undergrad Institution: One of the big Math/Statistics schools in Canada (one of U of T, U of Waterloo, UBC)
Major(s): Statistics and Actuarial Science
GPA:  We do percentage grading. Roughly convert to 3.7, higher in math/stat courses

 

Grad Institution: Same school

Major: Statistics

GPA: 3.9+

Type of Student: Asian Male

 

Relevant Courses:

Calculus 1-3 (A+, A+, A+). Linear Algebra 1-2 (A+, A+). Introduction to Differential Equations (A+). Introductory real analysis (A-). Real Analysis (A-). Lebesgue Integration and Fourier Analysis (A+).  Mathematical Statistics (a la Bain/Engelhardt, A+). Estimation and Testing (A+). Graduate Statistical Inference (A+). Applied Probability (A+). Stochastic Processes (A+). Applied Linear Models (A-). Generalized Linear Models (A). Simulations (A). Time Series (A). Sampling and Experimental Design (A+). Experimental Design 2 (A+). Survival Analysis (A). Biostat Topic: Missing Data and Causal Inference (A+).  

GRE General Test: 
Q: 170
V: 153
W: 3.5

Should I retake due to the low verbal and writing scores?

GRE Math Test: Taking in September

Research Experience:  One part time RA with a Statistics professor during undergrad. Graduate RA under the supervision of a biostat associate prof and now I'm working towards my master's thesis. I will finish my thesis by the end of this year. If things go well, this will result in several publishable papers next year.
Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Something related to high grades, nothing major.

Letters of Recommendation: One from my current master supervisor (associate prof), one from an associated prof who I took grad stat inference and experimental design with. I am not quite certain about the last one yet but it will be either from a pure math lecturer who taught me lebesgue integration that I did very well, or a well-known biostat prof who taught me survival analysis. 
Any Miscellaneous Points that Might Help: Although I did well in most math/stat courses, I received some low grades (B's and two C's) in actuarial science courses and electives. How will this negatively impact my chances? Should I address this in my SOP?

Applying to Where: This is my tentative list and it is subject to change depending on my GRE math results.

Statistics: Stanford, Berkeley, Chicago, Penn, Wisconsin

Biostatistics: Washington, Johns Hopkins, Michigan, Columbia

 

Thanks for your help!

Edited August 22, 2018 by statfan

[theDKster]

You have a fantastic math background (as well was quant GRE) from a good school. As for your research background, it is hard to gauge without any publications (though the fact that you have publications on the way means that you can link your working paper with the application for review). To make up for this, I would try to assess the likelihood of strong LOR's from your research supervisors/teachers. Do you personally think they will be strong?

Overall, your background is extremely solid but your Statistics list is very top-heavy, making it likely you may not get in anywhere. You seem like a strong bet for 10-20 ranked programs so I would apply to a couple more in that range just to be safe. I'm not super sure about Biostatistics so I won't comment on that.

...And I am interested to learn how to deal with bad grades as well. I am an engineering major and have poor grades (worse than yours) in some of those courses, but like you have a strong math background (3.97 math GPA, but no stats classes).

Edited August 23, 2018 by theDKster

[statfan]

On 8/22/2018 at 8:11 PM, theDKster said:

You have a fantastic math background (as well was quant GRE) from a good school. As for your research background, it is hard to gauge without any publications (though the fact that you have publications on the way means that you can link your working paper with the application for review). To make up for this, I would try to assess the likelihood of strong LOR's from your research supervisors/teachers. Do you personally think they will be strong?

Overall, your background is extremely solid but your Statistics list is very top-heavy, making it likely you may not get in anywhere. You seem like a strong bet for 10-20 ranked programs so I would apply to a couple more in that range just to be safe. I'm not super sure about Biostatistics so I won't comment on that.

...And I am interested to learn how to deal with bad grades as well. I am an engineering major and have poor grades (worse than yours) in some of those courses, but like you have a strong math background (3.97 math GPA, but no stats classes).

Thanks for your input. The first two letters should be fairly strong since they are very familiar with my work but I am not sure whether I should get my third letter from a pure math lecturer or a well-known biostatistican. The pure math lecturer knows me very well but I'm wondering if a letter from a lecturer (he has a phd though) would end up not helping me. I feel a letter from the well-known biostatistican is likely to be generic.

Edited August 24, 2018 by statfan

[Bayesian1701]

I second that you have a chance at a top tier program but you might want to add some safer options.  You could alternate your third rec letter depending on the program, but I don't think it matters much either way.   I doubt the couple of Bs/Cs would stand out given your other grades, and I wouldn't bring attention to them in your SOP.  Your GRE verbal and writing scores are low but I think their function in stats programs is to gauge your general english abilities since you aren't going to write a lot of 30-minute essays or take vocabulary tests in graduate school.  If english is your native language, I don't think those scores really matter that much.  If you think you could easily increase your scores then its maybe worth retaking. 

[cyberwulf]

I'd echo what others have said; you might have a shot at a top school, but I wouldn't bank on getting into one of Stanford/Berkeley/Chicago/Penn or UW/Hopkins. I think your chances are better at Wisconsin, Michigan, and Columbia, but I would classify those more as reasonable targets than safeties. If I were you, I'd probably be mostly targeting programs ranked between ~10 and 30 in the combined stat/biostat US News rankings.

[statfan]

10 hours ago, cyberwulf said:

I'd echo what others have said; you might have a shot at a top school, but I wouldn't bank on getting into one of Stanford/Berkeley/Chicago/Penn or UW/Hopkins. I think your chances are better at Wisconsin, Michigan, and Columbia, but I would classify those more as reasonable targets than safeties. If I were you, I'd probably be mostly targeting programs ranked between ~10 and 30 in the combined stat/biostat US News rankings.

Thanks for you advice. Do you think there is a way to improve my profile so that I have a better shot at these schools as of now?

[Gauss2017]

I think you have good chances at some of the schools but I think you should definitely try to improve your GRE W and V scores for a better shot

[miserablefunction]

As someone who had a similar background with you(while you have more courseworks), I cannot help emphasizing enough to apply for more safety schools. All the schools on your list are very difficult to get in and most of them have openings less than 10 spots out of 300 applicants. I strongly recommend applying for NCSU, ISU, PSU and some good UC schools. No offense but, these schools are by no means easy to get in even with your background nowadays, but definitely more in between safety and reach, given the fact that competition between international students are getting fiercer these days.

[statfan]

6 hours ago, miserablefunction said:

As someone who had a similar background with you(while you have more courseworks), I cannot help emphasizing enough to apply for more safety schools. All the schools on your list are very difficult to get in and most of them have openings less than 10 spots out of 300 applicants. I strongly recommend applying for NCSU, ISU, PSU and some good UC schools. No offense but, these schools are by no means easy to get in even with your background nowadays, but definitely more in between safety and reach, given the fact that competition between international students are getting fiercer these days.

Thanks for your comments. There are still many international students that I know who got into top tier programs nowadays. What do you think is the weakest part in my profile?

[miserablefunction]

On 8/27/2018 at 10:34 PM, statfan said:

Thanks for your comments. There are still many international students that I know who got into top tier programs nowadays. What do you think is the weakest part in my profile?

You could boost your GRE scores, but it won't be a big issue. And make sure you get "strong" letters from famous professors. What I learned from this year is that funding situtation of the programs, your ethnicity background(international male always gets the most fiercer competition), your undergraduate/master institution(especially if there are many applicants from your institute, they would only admit two at most, no matter how strong you are), admission committee's research interest that year, and all sorts of idiosyncratic stuffs come in role. Another reason for applying so-called safety schools is that, if you check the number of admitted PhD students of past 5 years of any school, you will see that the openings have slightly dwindled recently, this may due to the Donald Trump's administration. In addition, many programs you listed actually do prefer their own master's student. This is what I have heard from several guys doing PhD in the programs you listed. 

[statfan]

A quick update: I got 760 on the Math subject GRE test, which is the 72th percentile. I don't know anything about abstract algebra, complex analysis and graph theory, so I consider it an ok but not great score. I already submitted to Stanford and UPenn, and I am wondering if I should submit it to schools that highly recommend the score like Chicago and Washington. When they assess my score, would they take what I have learnt into account?