Fall 2020 Statistics PhD/Masters Application Evaluation

[balr41]

Hello, 

 I am going to be a senior undergraduate student this upcoming fall and am considering applying for my PhD in the US for fall 2020. One of my main concerns is that I am from what is likely an unknown university to big US universities.  I have yet to take the GRE but am confident I can score 167+ in my quantitative section, and would ideally like to score 170. Coming from a math undergraduate I am also confident about the math subject test. Any feedback is appreciated!

 

 Undergrad Institution: QS 701-750 Ranked Eastern Canadian University 

Major(s): Pure math and statistics (honours)

Minor(s): Did four economics courses, but no minor

GPA: 3.90/4.00 (95.7% average)

Type of Student: Canadian White Male

Relevant Math Courses: Calculus I, II, III (A+, A+, A+), Vector Calculus (A+), Linear Algebra I, II (A, A+), ODEs (A+), Real Analysis I, II (A, A+), Lebesgue Integration (B-), Complex Analysis (A), Combinatorics (A+)

Statistics Course: Mathematical Statisics (A+), Statistical Inference I, II (A+, ?), Survey Sampling(?), Computational Statistics(?), Regression(?)

Pure Math Courses: Abstract Algebra (A+), Set Theory (A), Topology (A+), Group Theory (B+)

The rest of my courses are from lower level pure math, economics and a couple others. The ? are for courses that I will complete this fall, and grades should be available come application time.  

Research Experience:

• Worked on a summer research grant with a math professor in graph theory. Co-authored a paper currently submitted for publication. 
• Worked on a summer research grant with a statistics professor in sampling. Co-authored a paper that will soon be submitted for publication. 
• Will complete my honours thesis on causal inference in survival analysis in the next two semesters. 

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Dean's list all three years of university, Book Prize for top of class two years ago (and possibly again last year), 4 or 5 scholarships while in university, 1 large entrance scholarship. 

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Competed for my university in math competition at an undergraduate math conference for 2 years (likely again this fall as well), tutored for 3 years, helped organize local high school math league, corrected provincial math challenges. 

Letters of Recommendation: One from each of my research supervisors which should be very strong, most likely the other will come from my real analysis/Lebesgue integration prof, who taught me all three courses and should also be solid. 

School List:

• PhD: CMU, University of Washington, Columbia, UCLA
• Masters: UBC, University of Toronto

One of my big issues is funding. I don't plan on applying to American masters programs as many schools don't seem to offer funding. I only plan to apply to top 25 schools for my PhD this time around as I believe if I'm not accepted, then doing my masters at a more well known Canadian university (with funding) will set me up with a better opportunity to get accepted later down the road. I have other masters programs in mind but one of my supervisors has told me I should not have a problem being accepted with funding to these. Thanks in advance!

[bayessays]

Coming from an unknown international university, your profile is going to be scrutinized extra hard because they won't know the rigor of your coursework - for instance, they might wonder if that B- in measure theory is more indicative of your ability than the other coursework. 

You have a pretty good profile though, but your list is all extreme reaches. I wouldn't be shocked if you got into UCLA, but it's by no means a guarantee, and I don't think you have much of a shot at the PhD  other schools.  I think getting a master's at a well known Canadian school makes sense for you.

[Lp_space]

Since you come from an unknown school, anything less than a near perfect gpa is going to be a concern. A B- in real analysis obtained from a top university like U of T or Chicago may be forgivable. However, your B- in lebesgue integration may raise admissions committee's concern about your ability to do math. With that said, it is unlikely that you will get accepted into the schools on your list except for maybe UCLA. You should either look into schools within the range of 30-50 or do a master's at a well-known Canadian school to strengthen your profile (think of U of T, Waterloo, Mcgill and UBC).

[omicrontrabb]

@bayessays @Lp_space Are Canadian and American universities really treated that differently in admissions? American universities ranked 701-750 by QS are places like Alabama, Clemson and Kansas State. It seems like students from those types of American schools with a math major, 3.95 gpa and high GRE scores would have a really solid chance of being admitted to a PhD at Ohio State, Iowa, Rutgers, etc.

 I’m not questioning your knowledge. I’m more curious.

[bayessays]

1 hour ago, omicrontrabb said:

@bayessays @Lp_space Are Canadian and American universities really treated that differently in admissions? American universities ranked 701-750 by QS are places like Alabama, Clemson and Kansas State. It seems like students from those types of American schools with a math major, 3.95 gpa and high GRE scores would have a really solid chance of being admitted to a PhD at Ohio State, Iowa, Rutgers, etc.

 I’m not questioning your knowledge. I’m more curious.

I agree with you, and I think this person probably would have a shot at schools like that, which are ranked much lower than the ones listed. That's actually the exact range of schools Lp_space cited.

I am by no means an expert on this, but I'd take the rankings with a grain of salt. Included in those rankings 701-750 is Smith College, the best LAC in the country - the top student at Smith is going to have a lot more success than the student from Universiti Utari Malaysia.  The point is that at the top 15ish schools, there are plenty of students who have been vetted by Ivy League-level coursework, and it's a huge risk to take someone from a school in Canada you've never heard of. I know people who have graduate degrees in math from unknown schools with 4.0s who struggled in first semester PhD courses, so my comment was more about the fact that his school is unknown, not that it is in Canada. I suspect candidates from UBC, Toronto, McGill, Cambridge, LSE etc are not treated much differently than Americans, except for some funding opportunities.

[Lp_space]

The OP definitely has a chance at OSU and Iowa. However, the admissions committee are much more interested in grades in individual courses than the overall GPA. Real analysis grades are really important, and a B- in graduate real analysis from an unknown school just doesn't look good. GRE is pretty useless because it is assumed you do well on the GRE Q. That being said, the GRE score can only hurt and anything less than a near perfect GRE Q could lead to an automatic rejection.