2020 Statistics PhD Applicant Profile

[Sergio.zz]

Undergrad Institution : University of Toronto

Major(s): Statistics
GPA: 3.99

Minor(s): Mathematics, Economics

 

Type of Student: International, Asian Male

Courses taken and taking: Calculus!(97/100), Advanced Calculus (100/100),  Probability & Stat I(100/100) , Probability & Stat II(97/100) , Linear Algebra I(100/100), Linear Algebra II(97/100), 

Chaos Fractals Dynamic system (100/100), Survey Sam & Observational Data (92/100),  Meth Data Analysis I&II(both 95/100), Applied Econometrics I(95/100), Forecasting Econometrics(94/100)

Stat Machine Learning I (88/100),  Statistical Computation(100/100), Meth Multivar Data(83/100), Methods Applied Stat(100/100), Probability I (90/100), Time Series Analysis(86/100), 

Stochastic Processes (99/100), Theory Statistics Practice(100/100), Intro Real Analysis(Is taking right now) etc
(Note: In my University, 90-100 means A+, 85-90 means A, and 80-85 means A-, where A+ and A are 4.0 but A- is 3.7. Most classes have averages C+/B- (around 2.7 to 3.0 approximately) )
GRE General Test:
Q: 169
V: 159
W: 4.0 

 

GRE subject test score: N/A

Grad Institution: N/A

 

Programs Applying: Statistics/Biostatistics PHD and a few Statistics/Biostatistics Master
Research Experience: Actually, not a lot, just some projects that I have done for my classes or for some data competition if they count:

1. Time series analysis on number of active firms in different Canadian Industry. (Submitted for a competition held by Stats Canada, haven't receive any response yet)

2. Using Principal Component analysis and Support Vector Machine Classifier to quantifying and modeling the fatigue level of Canada's soccer's women national team. (Submitted for 2019 ASA DataFest, which is a comparatively famous data analysis competition, won Honorable Mention)
plus some projects done during Stats courses
Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Don't have some real relevant working experience sadly...

Letters of Recommendation: Probably two from two Stats professors(from courses where I scored 100's or almost 100, know me reasonably well), and one from a math professor (also in a course where I scored 100, and I guess also know me reasonably well...) Hopefully that these recommendations letters will be strong as I frequently made appointments with these professors to discuss about my overall career plan and research interest. 

Research Interest: Bayesian Statistics/Machine Learning/Biostatistics/Times series analysis

Applying to where: 

MS (will only go if all PHD rejected) UofT-Biostatistics, Stanford, Harvard-Biostatistics

PhD: UCBerkeley, UWashington-Biostatistics, Havard, Carnegie Mellon, Yale, Duke, UMichigan-Biostats, UofT, UChicago

My main worry is that I don't have a lot of real statistics research experience nor relevant working experience, and looking at other applicants profiles, I felt that probably my list of programs are too far for me? Also, I am wondering is that true that comparatively Biostats PHD program has a higher admission rate than regular Stats PHD program? If my list is too hard for me, please give me some suggestions on how to adjust that! Thanks so much!

[Fancyfan10]

It seems you have got a strong profile for a decent stat PhD program. But there are some concerns & tips for you based on some successful cases in the past few years. 

1. I think you should take some more proof-based courses to show your strong ability of math for the  adcom. Courses like real-analysis, complex analysis, measure theory and functional analysis... will help a lot.

2. Lack of relevant research experience will not harm your application. A lot of applicants do not have much relevant experience , so don’t worry.

3. Make sure your recommendation letter will be strong. Although I assume you have these strong letters, your list of PhD programs is still to heavy. I think you can add some more safeties, like UNC,  UW-M or some programs ranking around 10-20. You may not need to apply for master programs because you have a quite good background.

wish you a good luck!

[Sergio.zz]

Got the first phd offer from UofT stats department!

Still waiting for the results from those US schools, but not received any invitation for interviews yet... so I guess most likely I will stay at uoft for my phd.

[Fancyfan10]

Cong！Nice to hear that good news! Please keep us posted. Good luck

 

[Sergio.zz]

Update today, just received offer from CMU Stats Department! So happy! It is a hard decision to make between cmu and uoft though... Any suggestion is welcomed plz! 

Admitted: CMU Stats PhD (full-tuition + 3.1k per month)

                  University of Toronto Stats PhD (full-tuition + 20k per year)

 

Rejected: University of Washington Biostatistics PhD

                  Harvard University Statistics PhD               

                  Upenn Biostatistics PhD