2020 Fall Statistics/Biostatistics PhD Application Evaluation

[Rebecca_JW]

Hello everyone,

I am a rising senior and planning to apply for PhD programs in Statistics and /or Biostatistics. I have listed my information below and hope that you could provide some advice about which schools I could apply for. 

Undergraduate Institution: UW-Madison

Majors: Mathematics (pure math) + Statistics (honors program)

Minor: CS

GPA: 3.94/4.0

Type of Student: International (Asian female)

Courses taken:

• Stat: Intro to SAS (A), Intro to Computational Statistics (A), Experimental Design (A), Intro to Time Series (A, Honors section), Advanced Data Analysis with R (A), Applied Regression Analysis (A), Intro to Prob & Math Stat I&II (A)
• Math: Intro to Stochastic Process (B), Analysis II (A), Analysis I (A, Honors section), Modern Algebra (A), Intro to Theory of Prob (A), Multi-Variable Calculus & Differential Equations (AB, Honors), Multi-Variable Calculus & Linear Algebra (A, Honors), Cal I & II (A)
• CS: Programming II (A)

Courses will take this fall: 

• Stat: Mathematical Statistics I (graduate level), Machine Learning
• Math: Real Analysis (graduate level), Numerical Analysis

GRE General Test: Q: 170 (96%); V: 157 (76%), W: 4.0 (57%) 

                                 May taken again in September

GRE Subject Math: will take this September and /or October

Research Experience: 

Biological Systems Engineering project under supervisor of a statistics professor (Honors Program);  Research intern at a lab in Educational Sciences department; Member in an Academic Entrepreneur Study at school of Business; Member in a Directed Reading Program in math department, supervised by PhD students

One presentation at the Undergraduate Symposium

Working Experience:

Tutor at Undergraduate Learning Center; Internship at SPD bank in China

Letters of Recommendation: Two from statistics professors, one from math professor (not sure how strong...)

Currently considering schools: UW-Madison, Minnesota, Ann Arbor, Columbia, Yale, UNC, Washington, JHU, Rutgers, OSU, PSU

Thank you in advance for your time and advice!

[BL250604]

Just a disclaimer: I have far less experience giving advice than some of the other frequent users do but hopefully I can be of some help here. 

Your academic record and grades are quite impressive. The statistics coursework you have taken so far is great- but even more helpful (to me), is your success in your mathematics coursework as well. Demonstrating you have a strong mathematical background is very important and will be a great help during your application process, for sure!

The schools you are looking at are quite competitive, and I think you do have a chance to crack a couple of them. However, I would love to see some schools in the 20-30 range on your list as well, such as Texas A&M, UCLA, and Emory. 

Like I said, I think you definitely have a shot at a school like Umich or PSU, and maybe even at Columbia or JHU.

 

Again, please don't take my word as law here, and hopefully others can add some insight, but I hope this helps!

[bayessays]

I wouldn't waste the money retaking the GRE and would spend that on more applications. Are you applying to biostat or stat at these schools?  If those are biostat programs (Michigan, Columbia, Yale, Minnesota) I'd say you are in extremely good shape and this list is very reasonable and you should even add some higher Biostatistics schools (I don't think any Biostatistics program would be a waste for you). If they are statistics programs, I would add a couple of safer options but I think you're on the right track for the schools you're targeting.

[Rebecca_JW]

On 7/5/2019 at 9:22 PM, BL250604 said:

Hello BL250604,

Thank you so much for your advice! I will definitely consider the schools you suggest. Thank you again for answering!

On 7/5/2019 at 9:22 PM, BL250604 said:

 

 

[Rebecca_JW]

Hello bayessays,

Thank you for your suggestion!

I would probably apply for 4/5 schools for biostats and 4/5 schools for stats. As you said, I may choose Michigan, Columbia, Yale, Minnesota for biostats and others for stats. 

Actually, I am also thinking about whether I should apply UMich for biostats or stats. 

Also, do you think is this a good idea to apply for UCB for biostats? I know it would be very competitive for me.

Thank you again for your patience! 

On 7/5/2019 at 9:52 PM, bayessays said:

I wouldn't waste the money retaking the GRE and would spend that on more applications. Are you applying to biostat or stat at these schools?  If those are biostat programs (Michigan, Columbia, Yale, Minnesota) I'd say you are in extremely good shape and this list is very reasonable and you should even add some higher Biostatistics schools (I don't think any Biostatistics program would be a waste for you). If they are statistics programs, I would add a couple of safer options but I think you're on the right track for the schools you're targeting.

 

[bayessays]

I think applying to Berkeley biostat would be reasonable.  I'm pretty sure Michigan allows you to submit multiple applications, so I would apply to both programs if you can't decide. The statistics program will be harder to get into.

[Rebecca_JW]

Thank you so much for your advice! I appreciate your help!

On 7/8/2019 at 12:03 PM, bayessays said:

I think applying to Berkeley biostat would be reasonable.  I'm pretty sure Michigan allows you to submit multiple applications, so I would apply to both programs if you can't decide. The statistics program will be harder to get into.