Stat PhD Profile Eval + School Suggestions

[bjs]

Hi everyone,

I am looking to apply for either statistics or biostatistics PhD programs for fall 2021. I am hoping to do research in biostats, so I am leaning toward biostats programs but have my options open since it seems that most statistics programs have elective coursework and/or research in biostatistics.

Student Type: Domestic Male

Undergrad: Top 100 University (USNWR)

Major: Statistics

GPA: 3.86

Coursework: Linear Algebra (B+), Calc II (A), Fundamentals of Mathematics (B), Intro to Programming (A) and Data Structures (A). I'm taking Calc III this fall. My GPA for statistics courses is the same as my overall GPA. I see that most of the top schools recommend a course in real analysis, which I don't have. How much will that hurt my application?

GRE: V: 153, Q: 166, A: 4.0

Research: I did a semester of research in sports statistics during my sophomore year. Other than that, I don't have any research experience. I spent most of my undergraduate degree getting internship experiences as well as helping to create a stats programming course for the department. I wish I had dedicated more time to research in my undergrad program, but I only recently decided to pursue graduate school.

Letters of Recommendation:  I believe my letters of recommendation will be decent but am not sure if they will be as strong as others due to my lack of research experience.

Schools: I have a number of schools I am interested in but am struggling to identify schools to which I am capable of being admitted. Any thoughts or advice would be great appreciated! Here is my tentative idea of reach, target and safety schools. 

Reach: Boston University, NC State, University of Minnesota

Target: Rice, UC Irvine, UC Davis

Safety: Temple, SMU, UCSB

As I mentioned before, I am still relatively new to pursuing grad school, so please inform me if the programs don't align with each other or if I am way off in my projection of where I can get in. 

I have learned a lot from reading other profile evaluation posts. I welcome any suggestions for my profile and any thoughts on if my profile is too weak for a PhD program and if I should consider a Master's program instead. Thank you in advance for your help!

[bayessays]

Your math background is extremely limited and you probably won't even have your calc 3 grades on your transcript when you apply. I don't think any of those reach or target schools are achievable right now, and I think the safeties might not be either.  But your GPA and GRE are strong.  A MS might help you, but that's potentially a lot of money if it's not necessary. Is there any way you can take more math before graduating? Even if it's not real analysis, just getting some type of rigorous math classes on your transcript, perhaps taking a gap year, and then applying to some non top biostatistics programs might be a possible path. You really need to take a probability class too.

[bjs]

Thank you for your input! I actually just graduated and am going back to a local university to fulfill the calc III requirement. I'd rather not take another gap year to get more math courses, so the MS might be the path for me although not ideal like you said because of the amount of money. 

Do you mind listing some of the non top biostats programs? I thought my safety schools would be non top programs but maybe those are too high as well.

I have multiple statistics probability courses being a statistics major. The more advanced probability class was calculus-based so I have that background as well. Were you talking about a mathematical probability course?

[bayessays]

You did not list a calculus-based probability course so I assumed you didn't take one.  If you have significant math/stat coursework beyond what you listed, that will make a huge difference and you should include it, and that may totally change the assessment of your profile.  I didn't see that you were a statistics major because no probability and statistics coursework was listed.

With a limited math background, a more applied program is probably going to be easier to get into.  There isn't a whole lot of data on SMU/Temple/UCSB admissions on gradcafe because not a ton of people apply to them.  You might have a shot at such programs, but they are still statistics (as opposed to biostatistics programs) and will favor people with stronger math backgrounds.  Be sure to send updated transcripts after you complete your Calc3 class and that will help.

Some of the solid mid-range biostat programs are Iowa, Vanderbilt, Pitt - I think these schools have better reputations than your safeties and may be achievable.  There is a huge gap between your "target" schools, which are all fantastic programs, and your "safety" schools, which are not very well-known.

[bjs]

Thank you for that input. I’m sorry, I should have included all of my stats courses in my initial post. 

Stats courses: Intro to stats (A-), Intro to R and Applied R (A-, A-), Intro to SAS and applied SAS (A, A), ANOVA (A-), Intro to regression (A), Intro to Unix (A), Intro to Python (A), Probability and Inference 1&2 (A, A), Big Data Science 1&2 (B+, A), Intro to Bayesian Stats and Applied Bayesian (A, A-), SQL (A)

Thank you for listing some example mid-range biostats programs. I think I need to do more research to be able to identify the right programs since my initial list was evidently not on target. Are there other resources besides the US News rankings that you would suggest to help me identify biostat programs similar to the ones you mentioned (Iowa, Pitt, Vanderbilt)?

[bayessays]

Nope, US News is the best resource.

[StatsG0d]

I think if you get good grades (A- or better) in Calc 3 and at least Real Analysis I, your profile will be given a huge boost. Calc 3 is a prerequisite for any biostatistics / statistics program that is to be taken seriously, and Real Analysis just sends the message that you're ready to do serious math. With those, I think the biostats programs ranked 6-10 would be achievable (maybe still a little difficult), and biostats programs ranked 10+ would probably be good targets for you.

[bjs]

Thank you for the advice. I’ve looked into taking Real Analysis this fall, but I think I am too late to take it this semester. I believe I know the answer to this question, but would taking the course in the spring improve my profile at all?

[StatsG0d]

23 minutes ago, bjs said:

Thank you for the advice. I’ve looked into taking Real Analysis this fall, but I think I am too late to take it this semester. I believe I know the answer to this question, but would taking the course in the spring improve my profile at all?

I don't think so. You might have a program "conditionally admit" you, but I think that is rare. Your best bet is to probably take a gap year.