Fall 2019 Statistics MS/Phd Profile Eval & Help (!)

[bluecicada]

Hi everybody,

I'm in desperate need of help deciding which grad programs to apply to. I'm interested in computational statistics and machine learning.

Undergrad Institution: State flagship in the south, sub-50 US News ranking in stats. Our stats program is very small. I know one woman from here who got her phd at Ohio State. Our math dept. has sent some students to pretty good schools in the past few years though.

GPA: 4.00

GRE: 168 V / 166 Q / 3.5 W

Major: Math

Minors: Computer Science, Statistics

Type of Student: Female, Domestic, White

Relevant Courses: I've taken Real Analysis  1&2, Linear Alg, Numerical Methods, a ton of cs courses, Machine Learning, Operations Research, Probability, 3-4 or so applied stats grad classes like Applied Regression, Design of Experiments. Next semester I'm planning on taking Stochastic Processes, Statistical Inference, and Applied Multivariate Analysis. I also have a W in a pure Linear algebra class.

Programming Experience: C++, Python, Java, PHP, SQL, SAS, R, familiar with working in Linux environment

Research: None

Teaching Experience: I've worked as math study group instructor for three years

Work Experience: This past summer I was an intern at a small company. I did mostly web programming.

Letters: I'm not expecting amazing letters. I think I'll have two average ones and one pretty good one.

I originally intended to only apply to MS programs, to give me a better shot of getting into a PhD program. However, I talked to some professors who told me to just apply to Phd programs, but I definitely can't afford to not have anything lined up for next fall. I would be eternally grateful to anyone that could take a look at my chances and maybe even recommend some programs for me

Some schools I'm looking at: SDSU,  UC-Riverside, UT-Austin, UC-Irvine, University of Connecticut, University of Illinois-Chicago

I have residency in Ohio, so I'll probably apply to the masters program at OSU and some other Ohio schools

Thank you so much!

 

[Bayesian1701]

Domestic Female students tend to have pretty good chances compared to other demographic groups, and your profile is definitely good enough to get into a Ph.D. program.   I know Texas A&M has some machine learning people but that is probably a reach but if they do a free application again this year I would definitely apply because it's free and a good fit.  I don't know much about which programs have professors in computational statistics / machine learning,  but I am going to list some places that might be good starting points.  UT Austin is going to be tough since their program is tiny.  I would not recommend getting a masters if a Ph.D. is what you really want unless you have a way to fund it.  The places that do funded masters are also places you could get into their Ph.D. program if they had one.  Standalone master programs are also possibilities but they probably aren't going to help you much when you apply for Ph.D. programs.  I think if you applied to 8-10 programs with most of them falling in the 20-50 range you will get an offer.  

[bluecicada]

Hey thank you so much for your response! I really appreciate it, especially giving me a general tier of schools to apply to. I'll probably apply to some lower ranked schools and masters just in case