Fall 2019 Statistics Applicant Thread

[cyberwolf]

Did Brown send out its decision to biostat applicants?

 

[whiterabbit]

1 hour ago, cyberwolf said:

Did Brown send out its decision to biostat applicants?

 

Don't think so, I haven't heard back yet and there's nothing on the results page either.

[Geococcyx]

I guess not.  At the Brown interview day, they said they tried to get decisions out pretty fast.  However, previous years' decisions seem to come out the first week of March, which doesn't seem terribly fast when Brown epi and health promotion are/have already sent out decisions per the results page (FWIW, I asked about that discrepancy, they seemed to think people wouldn't report until the grad school had cleared them and everything).  I'm assuming my rejection because I heard on shorter notice than most people, so I figure I was only added once some preferred candidates couldn't come, but otherwise, if you were at the interview day and got invited on roughly Jan 12, then you can probably assume you're still in the running.

[bigdata]

Does anyone else find it strange that UMich biostat has (according to the results page) only sent out Master's acceptances and PhD rejections? Can't tell if it's a good or bad sign I haven't heard anything from them yet lol

[Robatum1030]

1 hour ago, bigdata said:

Does anyone else find it strange that UMich biostat has (according to the results page) only sent out Master's acceptances and PhD rejections? Can't tell if it's a good or bad sign I haven't heard anything from them yet lol

I was accepted to the fast-track MS to PhD biostats program at UMich, because I applied without a Master's. In my acceptance letter, they explicitly stated that their policy is to only accept students who apply with a Master's directly into their PhD program. There are very few exceptions, like if you have an extraordinary amount of research experience and publications, similar to the level of a Master's student. So, if you applied to their PhD program with a Master's, you'll probably hear from them soon.

[cyberwolf]

6 hours ago, Geococcyx said:

if you were at the interview day and got invited on roughly Jan 12, then you can probably assume you're still in the running.

I haven't heard anything from Brown yet. It seems I can safely assume I am rejected.

[Geococcyx]

@cyberwolf It may not totally be out of the question, but at the interview day they said they were looking for 5 (maybe 6) Ph.D. students, and there were 15 students at the interviews.  Good luck, sorry if you don't get in.  If it's some consolation, a good 70-80% of students seemed to be from Boston/the Northeast, and generally were from pretty prestigious private schools, so there's a chance Brown loses a lot of the interviewed candidates to Harvard/JHU/other Ivies later on.

For people who got accepted to Duke, how did you hear about financial aid/funding?  I apparently got accepted just now (which seems strange already), and it just says I should have a note on the Duke admissions portal about TA duties and RA opportunities (which isn't there yet, hence my asking y'all).  Maybe I'm just overly suspicious, but since I'm still trying to figure out if UNC biostat actually intends to offer me any funding or not, it seems better to compare notes.

[Bayes_Bros]

Has anybody heard anything from Vanderbilt? 

Invitations to their open house/interview day are supposed to go out by the end of this week (according to their website), but I’ve yet to see or hear of anybody getting an invite. 

[galois]

1 hour ago, Geococcyx said:

@cyberwolf It may not totally be out of the question, but at the interview day they said they were looking for 5 (maybe 6) Ph.D. students, and there were 15 students at the interviews.  Good luck, sorry if you don't get in.  If it's some consolation, a good 70-80% of students seemed to be from Boston/the Northeast, and generally were from pretty prestigious private schools, so there's a chance Brown loses a lot of the interviewed candidates to Harvard/JHU/other Ivies later on.

For people who got accepted to Duke, how did you hear about financial aid/funding?  I apparently got accepted just now (which seems strange already), and it just says I should have a note on the Duke admissions portal about TA duties and RA opportunities (which isn't there yet, hence my asking y'all).  Maybe I'm just overly suspicious, but since I'm still trying to figure out if UNC biostat actually intends to offer me any funding or not, it seems better to compare notes.

Well, congrats on Duke! Most importantly, hope is not lost for the rest of us desperate applicants! I suppose they are just pulling off the waitlist one by one as accepted students withdraw?

Is it acceptable to email and ask about the status of an application... or is it way too early for that?

[cyberwolf]

2 hours ago, Bayes_Bros said:

Has anybody heard anything from Vanderbilt? 

Invitations to their open house/interview day are supposed to go out by the end of this week (according to their website), but I’ve yet to see or hear of anybody getting an invite. 

1

I applied there as well. Haven't heard anything yet. In fact, I haven't heard anything from all the colleges I applied. Is this a real bad situation?

 

[Geococcyx]

@cyberwolfThere's plenty of time for admissions to come in -- quite a few schools don't even send out decisions until late February/early March.  It's not time to start worrying just yet!  

[updog99]

Has anyone heard back from Berkeley's Biostatistics MA program? 

[yukichi]

3 hours ago, Geococcyx said:

@cyberwolfThere's plenty of time for admissions to come in -- quite a few schools don't even send out decisions until late February/early March.  It's not time to start worrying just yet!  

Thank you so much for this post! I was starting to think myself into a dark corner because I haven't had decisions from any of my schools, so this really helps. I'll keep positive until late March, I suppose!

[Monte Carlo]

have anyone heard from Purdue or UPenn? Last year they sent out offers around this time.

[Stat Assistant Professor]

Goodness! IIRC, one of you guys went to Duke, took a bajillion graduate-level math and statistics classes and published several papers as an undergrad, yet only got waitlisted at Stanford? Another applicant that I've been messaging with personally on thegradcafe also went to Harvard and took graduate courses there, but got rejected from Stanford. They must really weigh the Mathematics Subject GRE more heavily than I had thought. Personally, I question the relevance of it for Statistics, but I guess when you have so many qualified applicants, it does serve as one method for paring down the list of applications.

[ducky500]

Has Yale already given offers for MA in Statistics? I saw an acceptance today. I thought I would have a decent chance for masters sigh. thanks.

[lazo]

8 hours ago, Stat PhD Now Postdoc said:

Goodness! IIRC, one of you guys went to Duke, took a bajillion graduate-level math and statistics classes and published several papers as an undergrad, yet only got waitlisted at Stanford? Another applicant that I've been messaging with personally on thegradcafe also went to Harvard and took graduate courses there, but got rejected from Stanford. They must really weigh the Mathematics Subject GRE more heavily than I had thought. Personally, I question the relevance of it for Statistics, but I guess when you have so many qualified applicants, it does serve as one method for paring down the list of applications.

Stanford's Admissions FAQ page has the question "What are the average GRE and TOEFL scores of recently admitted applicants?" with the response "Math Subject GRE score (percentile): 89%." Given that the average GRE subject score for admitted students is 89th percentile, which is a score of almost 900, I don't think it's surprising that the subject test score is important to them. That's a pretty high score even by Math Ph.D. program standards. They also state that they only accept 10-12 students a year, and in order to maintain an average subject test that high, they probably aren't accepting too many students with lower scores. It seems to me that they're mainly accepting students with a very strong mathematical background, which isn't too surprising, especially since they're a very mathematical department.

[Stat Assistant Professor]

5 minutes ago, lazo said:

Stanford's Admissions FAQ page has the question "What are the average GRE and TOEFL scores of recently admitted applicants?" with the response "Math Subject GRE score (percentile): 89%." Given that the average GRE subject score for admitted students is 89th percentile, which is a score of almost 900, I don't think it's surprising that the subject test score is important to them. That's a pretty high score even by Math Ph.D. program standards. They also state that they only accept 10-12 students a year, and in order to maintain an average subject test that high, they probably aren't accepting too many students with lower scores. It seems to me that they're mainly accepting students with a very strong mathematical background, which isn't too surprising, especially since they're a very mathematical department.

Any reputable Statistics PhD program is very mathematical, even those ranked in the mid to lower tier. I meant, there isn't much relevance of stuff like abstract algebra, number theory, complex analysis, or topology (subjects that are tested on the Subject GRE) to statistics research. In addition, graduate coursework in mathematics and high grades earned in those courses -- especially at a school like Harvard or Duke -- should be good enough evidence that one has the mathematical ability needed to succeed in a Statistics PhD program.

Just my opinion, of course. I of course think very highly of Stanford Statistics, but if I were on an admissions committee, I personally would not put too much stock in the math subject GRE if there is strong evidence of ability from advanced coursework.

[CherryBlossom_]

Did anyone apply for schools in the UK? I'm waiting for results there (Imperial College London and University College London) but it's taking them so long! =(

[Gauss2017]

Stanfords decision to rely heavily on a subject matter GRE has resulted in almost no women in their PhD program.  I dont think they have ever had an URM in their program.  IMO that is very wrong and possibly illegal.  

[MathStat]

Looks like the subject GRE did not matter that much for Berkeley, though, because I just got in today. I also got into UMichigan.

[MathMajor]

Can someone please share their understand of Michigan Biostat's MS to PhD fast-track program? From what I can tell it is equivalent to being accepted directly into a PhD program at other schools straight from undergrad since you are still required to take the MS classes during your 1st year at those schools.

Do you receive less funding as a MS to PhD fast track student than a traditional PhD student? Are you almost guaranteed to become a PhD student at UMich after completing the track?

Edited February 9, 2019 by MathMajor

[StuartLittle]

6 hours ago, ducky500 said:

Has Yale already given offers for MA in Statistics? I saw an acceptance today. I thought I would have a decent chance for masters sigh. thanks.

Yes they have. Some have even visited our department this past Thursday.

[StuartLittle]

I also saw a few acceptances to Harvard Biostats. I am starting to sweat XD

Past years looks like rejections are sent out right after acceptance. But then there also seems to be a short second wave of acceptance and rejections in early March.

[ducky500]

@StuartLittle Were the people who visited applying for MA in Statistics or was it mostly PhD? If I have not received anything does it mean most likely rejection?

 

Edited February 9, 2019 by ducky500