Profile evaluation and a few questions

[Doobstats]

Hi guys, I'm in my final undergraduate year and plan to apply for stats PhD in 2020. I have a good exam ranking but I haven't published any paper yet and don't know if this will be a serious problem for my application. What would you recommend me to do in the following year to better prepare for my application?

Undergrad Institution: Top 2 (1?) in the UK

Subject of Study: Mathematics

Courses: Mainly in analysis and probability theory and a few stats courses 

Ranking: Top 2 in my year (1%)

GRE General Test: Q: 170 V: 164 W: 4.0

GRE Math Subject Test: Plan to take next September and I hope to get 90%-95%

Research Experience: I did a summer project with a probability professor in my university last summer, though some progress was made I didn't get a very solid mathematical result to publish a paper. I'm now applying for a few stats summer research opportunities for next summer

References: Plan to get one from my undergrad tutor, one from the probability prof I worked with last summer and one from my research supervisor next summer

Programs planning to apply for: Harvard, Berkeley, Stanford, Columbia and Duke (all PhD in statistics).

Another concern is that I will have only taken 2-3 stats courses in my undergraduate degree (but I really enjoyed these courses) though I do plan to take mainly stats options in my fourth year (which corresponds to a masters degree in UK).  Will it be a serious disadvantage for me during my application next year? Thanks!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 7, 2018 by Doobstats

[Stat Assistant Professor]

If you studied math at the #1 or #2 university in the UK (and thus, also one of the top universities in the world) and finished in the top 2 of your class, then you should be able to get into some of those PhD programs on your list. I would honestly be shocked if you did not get admitted to one of those on your list.

For these programs, math preparation is much more important than coursework in statistics, and the math curriculum in the top UK schools is known to be very rigorous (i.e. the advanced undergrad classes there are at about the same level as the first-year PhD level classes in U.S. math departments). Publications are a plus, but not essential.

 

Edited December 7, 2018 by Stat PhD Now Postdoc

[Doobstats]

8 minutes ago, Stat PhD Now Postdoc said:

If you studied math at the #1 or #2 university in the UK (and thus, also one of the top universities in the world) and finished in the top 2 of your class, then you should be able to get into some of those PhD programs on your list. I would honestly be shocked if you did not get admitted to one of those on your list.

For these programs, math preparation is much more important than coursework in statistics, and the math curriculum in the top UK schools is known to be very rigorous (i.e. the advanced undergrad classes there are at about the same level as the first-year PhD level classes in U.S. math departments). Publications are a plus, but not essential.

 

Thanks for your reply! I was trying to generalise my supervisor's idea to solve a problem and didn't really succeed last summer and I found it hard to have some original work, but now I'm feeling better.

[Stat Assistant Professor]

2 minutes ago, Doobstats said:

Thanks for your reply! I was trying to generalise my supervisor's idea to solve a problem and didn't really succeed last summer and I found it hard to have some original work, but now I'm feeling better.

From your description, it sounds like you did make some progress on your project though, so it might still be a good idea to ask this supervisor for a letter of recommendation. PhD programs aren't looking for already "successful" students per se (that's what the PhD program is for! To train you to conduct research and publish at a professional level). They really want to recruit those who are a) mathematically advanced, and b) who can *learn* to do research and successfully publish.

It sounds like you already have a very good idea of what research is all about -- that is, trying to make extensions to existing work, playing around with a problem, attacking it from multiple angles to see what works, and possibly failing along the way. And that is a definite plus.

Good luck!

[Doobstats]

I think I did leave a good impression on my supervisor during the research so will ask for a reference. Thank you very much for your advice