How High to Aim "Another One" Statistics/Biostatistics 2019

[cyberwolf]

Undergraduate Institution: Relatively medium sized state university in South, nationally unranked

Major: Mathematics Minor: Statistics and Economics

Cumulative GPA: 3.95   Major GPA: 3.92

Student Type: International, South Asian

GRE General Test: 164Q, 151V,  3.5AW

Classes: Calculus I,II,III (A,A,A),Vector Calculus (A),Differential Equation (A) Linear Algebra (B) Intro to Adv. Maths (A),Real Analysis I,II (A,A), Abstract Algebra I (A) ,Discrete Mathematics (A),Numerical Analysis (A) Graph Theory (A) Introductory Statistics(A),Statistical Computation and Analysis(A), Mathematical Statistics I (A)Experimental Design (A),Regression Analysis (A), Econometrics(A),Independent guided study (B):it was a single credit course

In progress: Complex Analysis,Topology (Expected A in both)   Courses last semester : Mathematical Statistics II &Abstract Algebra II (will talk about this in SOP)

Programming Experience: R, C++,(Took a class for both, have very preliminary knowledge)

Research Experience: One summer REU at one of the top 5 (USnews) stat PhD University this summer.Worked on applied math project.Produced a paper and submitted to journal for publication but have not heard anything yet.

Worked with an oncologist on a paper about "ROLE OF STATE LEVEL AND NATIONAL LEVEL CANCER DATABASES IN LEUKEMIA RESEARCH".Poster presentation was done in a conference in Hawaii.

Apart from those, I have worked on some little math projects with my professors and presented them twice at national conference and thrice in university conference.I am in touch with another oncologist who is working on precision medicine, so if everything goes well, I will start working on a paper with him from coming January.

Research Interests: I have figured out fields like Clinical Trials Design and Analysis, Precision Medicine, Imaging,High Dimensional Data Analysis,Statistical genetics, Biostatistics theory,Survival    Analysis,Environmental and Spatial Statistics in biostatistics.I don't know in depth about any of these. I want to work on applied field.Please suggest me a good one which is less explored.

Also, In statistics I have figured out fields like Bayesian Statistics, Multivariate and Time series Analysis, Robust Statistics, Regression Modeling.Please add some more you know and suggest me an applied research field.

Recommendations:First one is from my Math Chair and should be a really good one.Second from my statistics professor, do not know how  that is going to be but he knows me really well and I have A in all his classes.Third one is from my research advisor at REU.Hope that would be a pretty good one.

Awards/Achievement:Nothing much but Calculus competition Winner,Inducted to Pi Mu epsilon honor society,Math Club President.

I am planning to apply 15-20 universities.Please suggest me  at least 7/8 for both (statistics and biostatistics)

 

 

[cyberwolf]

23 minutes ago, cyberwolf said:

It's been a year that I have been following this forum. @cyberwulf , @bayessays,@ Stat Phd Now Postdoc, @bayessays , @jmillar, @bayessays,@bayessays,@bayessays,

 

[cyberwolf]

@cyberwulf @bayessays @jmillar @Stat PhD Now Postdoc @GoPackGo89 @statguy123 @Epi5tat @statphd @StatsG0d @mrsplitter @Gauss2017  @Biostat_Assistant_Prof @statfan You all are prominent people in this forum.Please spare some time to read my profile and drop some suggestions.

 

Edited October 9, 2018 by cyberwolf

[statfan]

You have an excellent math background. However, if your school does not have track records of sending students to top phd programs, it would still be difficult for you to get in. If that is the case, you should apply very broadly. Your chances depend a lot on the quality of your references and if your referees are well known, that will help you a lot and you may get into a couple of the top 20's. You should definitely apply to the school where you did REU at. 

[Stat Assistant Professor]

You sound like a strong candidate, but I agree with the above: the fact that you are an international student at an unranked university will make admissions much more difficult for you.  However, since you wrote a paper at your REU and submitted it to a journal, that may help. Undergraduates submitting research papers to journals seems to be quite rare. The reference letters in this case will be crucial.

Based on the info you've provided, I would say that NCSU is a good "reach" school to try. You could also try one or two other reaches. The most appropriate range of schools to target is probably those between TAMU and Virginia Tech. If your interests at in Bayesian/applied stats, I would recommend Ohio State, Missouri, and  Baylor.

I would also strongly recommend that you apply to some Masters programs at well-regarded Statistics institutions (e.g. UWisc, Rutgers, etc.). Having a Masters seems to improve a lot of students in your situation's chances. However, I do realize that it may be costly.

Edited October 9, 2018 by Stat PhD Now Postdoc

[jmillar]

9 hours ago, cyberwolf said:

@cyberwulf @bayessays @jmillar @Stat PhD Now Postdoc @GoPackGo89 @statguy123 @Epi5tat @statphd @StatsG0d @mrsplitter @Gauss2017  @Biostat_Assistant_Prof @statfan You all are prominent people in this forum.Please spare some time to read my profile and drop some suggestions.

 

I only did a MS in Statistics before going into a Bioinformatics PhD, which is why I don't comment much on PhD applications for Statistics. You have a great math background, but since your program is unranked, you might have luck if you start contacting potential advisors. I interviewed with many Bio/statisticians over Skype (that were affiliated with umbrella programs) and once I was able to explain what we had covered in my classes (as my program was unranked) and research, they were then much more eager to work with me. I ended up choosing an applied mathematician as we clicked so well.

I would also echo @Stat PhD Now Postdoc in applying to the university you did your REU with. I did one of those and I was told they are often more competitive that graduate applications (though not always the case). Some programs also hold spots open for previous REU students if they did well in their program.

[Gauss2017]

I agree pretty much completely with Statfan.  They gave you great advice

[StatsG0d]

I would focus more on statistics than biostatistics. The funding for international students in biostatistics is scarce.

[cyberwolf]

On 10/9/2018 at 8:04 AM, statfan said:

You have an excellent math background. However, if your school does not have track records of sending students to top phd programs, it would still be difficult for you to get in. If that is the case, you should apply very broadly. Your chances depend a lot on the quality of your references and if your referees are well known, that will help you a lot and you may get into a couple of the top 20's. You should definitely apply to the school where you did REU at. 

Thank you for the reply.My school is nationally unranked as per US news report and falls around (500-600) in Forbes ranking.Regarding track records, for PhD classes starting fall 2018, we had one guy who got admitted to UNC Chapel Hill for biostatistics, however, he had perfect GRE scores and overall incredible profile, another math major got into University of South California for quantitative psychology and so far I know another friend got into Baylor for mathematics but everyone were American.

I will take your suggestions and apply broadly.I am pretty worried about my recommendation from statistics professor.He is an international guy and doesn't know stuffs like REU and all.I had to explain him about Putnam competition I participated, but he knows me well.Do you think I must include one stat professor's recommendation?Also, unfortunately all my referees are not well known.I will surely apply my REU institution.

What universities would you suggest me?

[cyberwolf]

On 10/9/2018 at 10:37 AM, Gauss2017 said:

I agree pretty much completely with Statfan.  They gave you great advice

Thank you for the response.Do you have some universities in mind that you encourage me to apply?

 

[cyberwolf]

6 hours ago, StatsG0d said:

I would focus more on statistics than biostatistics. The funding for international students in biostatistics is scarce.

Thanks for the response.definitely I will apply more statistics programs.It would be really great if you could suggest some more universities.

[cyberwolf]

On 10/9/2018 at 9:51 AM, Stat PhD Now Postdoc said:

You sound like a strong candidate, but I agree with the above: the fact that you are an international student at an unranked university will make admissions much more difficult for you.  However, since you wrote a paper at your REU and submitted it to a journal, that may help. Undergraduates submitting research papers to journals seems to be quite rare. The reference letters in this case will be crucial.

Based on the info you've provided, I would say that NCSU is a good "reach" school to try. You could also try one or two other reaches. The most appropriate range of schools to target is probably those between TAMU and Virginia Tech. If your interests at in Bayesian/applied stats, I would recommend Ohio State, Missouri, and  Baylor.

I would also strongly recommend that you apply to some Masters programs at well-regarded Statistics institutions (e.g. UWisc, Rutgers, etc.). Having a Masters seems to improve a lot of students in your situation's chances. However, I do realize that it may be costly.

Thank you so much for the comprehensive response.Though you pointed me as a strong candidate, I feel the other way and think that I have very low chance for top 50 institutions because of the stiff competition from other international counterparts like Chinese,Korean,Indians.

I have mentioned about track record of my institution in another comment.Those results encourage me to apply top schools though I get discouraged sometimes. 

I will definitely apply to the universities you suggested.Masters programs are costly and out of my budget ,however, I will try to consider them. My research interest area is applied field.Could you suggest some hot applied research areas from the topics I mentioned above in "Research Interests" or know any other you know. Also, what do you think about applying lower ranked but reputed schools like Vandy, Boston U, UT Austin, Northwestern,Rochester,Brown.But going through http://ww2.amstat.org/misc/BiostatsPhD2003-MostRecent.pdf and http://ww2.amstat.org/misc/statsPhD2003-MostRecent.pdf It seems those lower ranked elite schools accepts very few people.

[statfan]

On 10/10/2018 at 2:54 PM, cyberwolf said:

Thank you for the reply.My school is nationally unranked as per US news report and falls around (500-600) in Forbes ranking.Regarding track records, for PhD classes starting fall 2018, we had one guy who got admitted to UNC Chapel Hill for biostatistics, however, he had perfect GRE scores and overall incredible profile, another math major got into University of South California for quantitative psychology and so far I know another friend got into Baylor for mathematics but everyone were American.

I will take your suggestions and apply broadly.I am pretty worried about my recommendation from statistics professor.He is an international guy and doesn't know stuffs like REU and all.I had to explain him about Putnam competition I participated, but he knows me well.Do you think I must include one stat professor's recommendation?Also, unfortunately all my referees are not well known.I will surely apply my REU institution.

What universities would you suggest me?

I would get letters from statistics/math professors who can attest to your math skills and research potentials. If you score well on the Putnam, it may help alleviate the concern of coming from an unknown school so definitely put it into your cv. The general GRE scores are pretty much useless unless you really bomb it.

[cyberwolf]

On 10/13/2018 at 10:28 AM, statfan said:

I would get letters from statistics/math professors who can attest to your math skills and research potentials. If you score well on the Putnam, it may help alleviate the concern of coming from an unknown school so definitely put it into your cv. The general GRE scores are pretty much useless unless you really bomb it.

I appreciate your input.Thanks a lot.