application review

[nothing2see]

Hi! I’m a domestic male applying to stats PhD programs for fall 2021. I’m uncertain of what tier of schools I should apply to and what I could do to improve my chances of being accepted into a quality program. Below is a brief description of my resume.

 

Applied math at a large state school

UGPA: low 3.8

Master’s GPA: high 3.8

GRE: 

Q 168

V 165

W 4.5

Relevant grad courses 

time series (A), stochastic processes (A), bayesian stats (A), linear modeling(A), stats consulting (A), Numerics (B+,A-), spatial stats (A), Math stat (A), ML related CS classes (A,A-)

Relevant undergrad courses 

Diff Eq (A-), Linear Algebra (A), Analysis (A), complex analysis (A), Discrete Math (A-), PDEs (B), Numerics (B), Probability (A-), finished calc before college, standard CS classes for a minor (As).

Research during undergrad with a physics team and the stats consulting group on campus. Several posters and a coauthorship on a paper in an average physics journal. TA/undergrad course assistant for LA, calc and some low level math classes. 

 

Post graduation i’ve spent three years at a national lab as a statistician. Few coauthorships in conference proceedings, handful of talks at average stats conferences, two first author papers in average stats journals and my name on some student posters. 

LOR 

They said they would be strong. I’ve done research with two of them and have taken several grad courses with the third. 

I’m concerned primarily with what caliber of school I could expect to get into and what I can do to improve before applying. Please be constructive and forward. Thanks in advance!  

[Stat Assistant Professor]

Which large state school did you attend? Your chances at top schools could be very different depending on whether you went to University of Virginia vs. Oklahoma State. If you could let us know roughly where your university ranks (in USNWR), that would give a better gauge. 

That said, you do have some impressive research experience -- two first-author publications in statistics (even in "average" journals) is not very typical for most applicants to Stat PhD programs, not even at elite PhD programs. You also performed pretty well in both your ugrad and grad. So regardless of what your undergrad is, I wouldn't be surprised if you got into some top 20 PhD programs such as Minnesota or NCSU. 

Edited March 6, 2020 by Stat PhD Now Postdoc

[nothing2see]

Thanks for the timely response and for all your advice!

 

 It ranks right around 100 for US national universities and it is one of the 17 schools ranked by USNWR for applied math. Sorry but I am trying to keep some level of anonymity. 

The school I attended wasn’t impressive and I know I consistently performed poorly in numerics. Aside from that which other parts of my application will be scrutinized the most and is there anything I can do to fix that? Given my fixed items would be it realistic to get admittance into a top ten school, or am I best served shooting for something around that NCSU Minnesota range?  

 

 

[Stat Assistant Professor]

I would probably not count on being admitted to an Ivy League school, Stanford, UC Berkeley, or UChicago, but the thing that would stand out in your application from others is your first-author publications. This is exceptionally rare, especially for a domestic applicant. A few B's are not a big deal as long as you have consistently gotten A's in classes that are most relevant (e.g. mathematical statistics, linear algebra, and real analysis). The admissions process can be quite noisy at the top schools, so I would recommend applying to two or three "reach" schools like Carnegie Mellon or University of Washington, maybe UC Berkeley, and then applying a bit more broadly among the top 50 programs ranked for Statistics in USNWR. I think you have a good chance at a school like Minnesota or NCSU and you might get lucky with a top school as well. Make sure your letters of recommendation all highlight your research experience and your strong performance in most math/stat courses.

[nothing2see]

Thanks for the advice. I will coordinate with my letter writers to highlight my research experience and make sure to emphasize that in my SOPs.

 

How relevant is external funding during this whole process? The lab i’m at has a grant for funding graduate students during their PhDs and my group leader said they could arrange for me to get this grant if I want. Is using this funding source necessary or does funding not matter and it’s just about space for each program? 

[Stat Assistant Professor]

4 hours ago, nothing2see said:

Thanks for the advice. I will coordinate with my letter writers to highlight my research experience and make sure to emphasize that in my SOPs.

 

How relevant is external funding during this whole process? The lab i’m at has a grant for funding graduate students during their PhDs and my group leader said they could arrange for me to get this grant if I want. Is using this funding source necessary or does funding not matter and it’s just about space for each program? 

If you can obtain an external grant that would partially pay for your PhD studies, I think that would definitely boost your PhD application. I think you should have a good chance at some great programs. I would be surprised if you were not admitted to at least one of Minnesota or NCSU. You may have a chance at Duke or UW too.