2019/2020 Statistics PhD Applicant Profile

[Liebre19]

Undergrad Institution: State School (USN Rank ~150, USN Math Department Rank ~50)

Major: Computer Science

GPA: 3.95

Relevant Courses: Calculus I (A), Calculus II (A), Linear Algebra (A), Probability (A), Statistical Analysis(A), Numerical Methods (Computer Science) (A), Discrete Mathematics (Computer Science) (A)

Thesis: Published paper at a small conference, won best honors college thesis.

 

Graduate Institution: Top 10 USN Computer Science Ranking

Degree: MS Computational Linguistics

GPA: 3.97

Relevant Courses: Advanced Statistics for Natural Language Processing (A), Artificial Intelligence (A-)

 

GRE: (Q/V/W) (167/169/5.0)

 

Relevant Work History:

Research Programmer (1 year) - Computer Science Department at Graduate Institution, third author on several publications in Natural Language Processing

Machine Learning Engineer (4 years) - Information Extraction Startup

 

Reference Letters:

Undergraduate Thesis Adivser

Supervisor in Research Lab at Graduate Institution

Undergraduate Probability Professor

 

I am only applying to UT Austin for this cycle. My concern is that I don't have Mathematical Statistics or Real Analysis grades. I will be taking those courses this spring and fall to prepare for 2020 application cycle if I don't get accepted. What are your thoughts on my chances this year? Will they be significantly improved with good recent grades in Mathematical Statistics and Real Analysis?

 

 

Edited January 6, 2019 by Liebre19

[Geococcyx]

We'd probably need some background on any sort of research you've done, plus whatever sort of theoretical math coursework you've taken (some of which might of come through Comp Sci, of course) and what grades you got in those classes.  GRE scores wouldn't hurt either.  You might be editing those in in a little bit, but just in case you were unfamiliar or forgot, those would all be useful.

 

EDIT:  Thank you!  I'm not really an evaluation expert, but the absence of Real Analysis would probably be the biggest issue.  At my school, Mathematical Statistics and Probability are the same thing, so I'm assuming you're referring to Statistical Inference, which is probably good to take but I'm not sure its absence is quite so problematic.  I seem to recall Texas being a smallish department(?), so you might have a bit of a hard time getting in this year, even though your GPA and GREs and whatnot non-Real Analysis are quite in order.  However, you'll probably do alright with a larger list of applications next year -- particularly if you take Real Analysis and maybe your school's Mathematical Statistics.  I'll leave the more fine-detail analysis to the people who actually know things.

Edited January 6, 2019 by Geococcyx
Response to OP edit