Fall 2020 Statistics Applicant Thread

[kingsdead]

Got an invitation to Washington's Visit Days in late February (PhD in biostatistics). Apparently they will do two informational interviews in the morning (which will be used to help the committee decide on admissions) and then give attendees more information about the program. They will decide about admission/wait-list by March 6.

I'm really surprised because I was under the impression that UW only invited admitted students, not prospective students. Are they changing things this year? Or I wonder if this means that they consider me a borderline candidate and they want to speak with me before accepting or waitlisting me, whereas top applicants will be admitted directly? Wonder if anyone has info on this.

Edited January 25, 2020 by kingsdead

[Conman315]

Out of curiosity, does anyone know when the Minnesota biostat visit day is?

[likewater]

@Conman315 Feb 18-19

[bayessays]

@kingsdead that's definitely new in the last 5 or so years.  I would assume they're interviewing everyone though, so I would not interpret it as a negative thing. I think Hopkins and Harvard (and some stats schools like Duke) have done this type of interview for a while so maybe more schools are adding it now. The only time I've heard of some students being interviewed and others not is when international students are interviewed to check their English skills.

[Jdriii]

Just got accepted to Rutgers PhD Statistics program. I must have been in the first round because there's no word from any other schools yet.

 

What are people's opinions of the program? I've heard that is is underrated in the rankings due to it's small size, but I don't know much.

Edited January 26, 2020 by Jdriii

[Geococcyx]

I'm not the person to give the full story, but they definitely have some quite strong professors -- look up Cun-Hui Zhang for an example (he does frequentist regression research, if memory serves).  You could do well there, although with lower ranked programs who you work with is usually a little more important than at higher ranked programs.  

[Jdriii]

@Geococcyx I likely would be working with Prof. Harry Crane if I attended. I'm almost certain he is the person who let me in, as we have talked in the past.

Edited January 26, 2020 by Jdriii

[bayessays]

Rutgers is solid and probably ranked appropriately.  Harry Crane has an awesome twitter and I'd go there just because of that. 

[shuggie]

I received an email from Florida State over a month ago saying my application was undergoing initial departmental review, and another this week saying the department review committee has it for official review. Hopeful to hear final decision before March! 

[Jasmine Ng]

I got my first offer in Biostats program at VCU. What are you guys thinking about this university?

[bayessays]

2 hours ago, Jasmine Ng said:

I got my first offer in Biostats program at VCU. What are you guys thinking about this university?

Look at their placements: https://biostatistics.vcu.edu/education/recent-career-placements/ If those are the careers you want, it looks like a pleasant department with good funding. But it is probably not going to be a place that will launch a career as a professor. Most of their faculty have degrees from unranked departments and do not publish in top journals. 

[cyberwulf]

On 1/24/2020 at 10:01 PM, kingsdead said:

Got an invitation to Washington's Visit Days in late February (PhD in biostatistics). Apparently they will do two informational interviews in the morning (which will be used to help the committee decide on admissions) and then give attendees more information about the program. They will decide about admission/wait-list by March 6.

I'm really surprised because I was under the impression that UW only invited admitted students, not prospective students. Are they changing things this year? 

This is the first time I've heard of UW doing in-person interviews during visit days. Could be a strategy to increase their waitlist yield: if you admit & invite 20 to visit and waitlist 10 more (no visit), your yield on those last 10 is likely to be lower than if you invite 30 to visit then admit 20 and waitlist 10.

[icantdoalgebra]

I received an offer from NCSU but it came with no information about funding; it is this normal or should I ask them about this?

Also they don't seem to mention providing funding for all PhD students, but does this usually turn out to be an issue?

[bayessays]

39 minutes ago, icantdoalgebra said:

I received an offer from NCSU but it came with no information about funding; it is this normal or should I ask them about this?

Also they don't seem to mention providing funding for all PhD students, but does this usually turn out to be an issue?

Definitely just ask. They might be doing it separately this year or something.  It's hard to believe a top department would admit a PhD student without funding, except in some bizarre specific circumstance.  I can't think of a top 40 department that does this, though some do in the 40-60 range. 

[mikstabio]

Has any international student heard from UNC Biostatistics yet?

[Dora the Destroyer]

On 1/24/2020 at 8:01 PM, kingsdead said:

Got an invitation to Washington's Visit Days in late February (PhD in biostatistics). Apparently they will do two informational interviews in the morning (which will be used to help the committee decide on admissions) and then give attendees more information about the program. They will decide about admission/wait-list by March 6.

I'm really surprised because I was under the impression that UW only invited admitted students, not prospective students. Are they changing things this year? Or I wonder if this means that they consider me a borderline candidate and they want to speak with me before accepting or waitlisting me, whereas top applicants will be admitted directly? Wonder if anyone has info on this.

yeah, new this year. interviews for all. apparently with the goal of increasing participation in events the department plans

Edited January 27, 2020 by Dora the Destroyer

[cyberwulf]

29 minutes ago, Dora the Destroyer said:

yeah, new this year. interviews for all. apparently with the goal of increasing participation in events the department plans

As in, they had people visiting in previous years who didn't show up to events during the recruiting visit? That's pretty crazy.

[bayessays]

29 minutes ago, cyberwulf said:

As in, they had people visiting in previous years who didn't show up to events during the recruiting visit? That's pretty crazy.

Maybe they meant get the professors more involved in the visit day by forcing them to show up to interview students anyways?

[stochasticworld]

I applied to NC State/ Ohio State/ UNC statistics programs and haven't heard back from them. Seems like all three schools have some results out. Anyone knows any information about visit days or chances to get in at this point? I have a pretty good background so I'm a little bit worried right now.

[bayessays]

@stochasticworld historically, Ohio State releases results over a long period of time - into February and even March or April for people on their "waitlist." I think they release some results early because they have to nominate people for fellowships early.  But they are a huge department so they keep releasing TA offers after that. I wouldn't be surprised if they release more offers in the next two weeks.

 

 

[JD009]

Hi. just got mail from university of Illinois regarding interview. Does anyone know what kind of questions they ask in this?

Thanks

[captivatingCA]

@icantdoalgebra I think all PhD students get funding at NC State, at least I haven't heard of anyone without funding in the first year. My acceptance email did mention funding though. 

[geekstats]

@captivatingCA did your email mention funding for all 4/5 years? I also have an admit but with TA support mentioned for the first year only.

Edited January 28, 2020 by geekstats

[bayessays]

5 hours ago, JD009 said:

Hi. just got mail from university of Illinois regarding interview. Does anyone know what kind of questions they ask in this?

Thanks

Most interviews ask about why you're interested in their department, why you want to go to grad school, research interests, career goals, etc.  I think Illinois only interviews international applicants, so I think they are probably interested in assessing your English.

[captivatingCA]

@geekstats No it only mentions funding for the first year. If it's any reassurance, I'm pretty sure students making satisfactory progress get funding, but it's probably allocated on a yearly basis.