Stats Masters 2021: Profile Eval

[mangoes]

Student Type: Domestic White Male

Undergrad: Top 5 U.S Public School

Major: Statistics and a foreign language

GPA: 3.5 (Statistics major GPA is 3.3)

Math & stat classes: Calc I&II (high school), Calc III (B+), Differential Equations (B+), Linear Algebra (B), and a few more basic ones. I never got less than a B on any Stats or Math class, but I ended up with quite a few B+s. 

GRE: 167 Q, 161 V, 3.5 W

Research: Did an independent research project with a professor my senior year. Not published or anything. Also participated in SIBS and a few other research projects, but none other that are Stats related. 

Work Experience: Have worked in marketing for a start-up since graduating. It's a very small company, so I've been able to do projects that involve data analysis (such as forecasting revenue based on marketing spend per channel, and regression analyses to predict different metrics, and I've created Shiny apps in R to help my non-programming teammates with various projects)

Letters of Recommendation:  One from my current boss, one from the professor I did research with, and one from my workplace mentor (who gets feedback from everyone I work closely with)

Applications: I haven't narrowed down my list 100% yet, but I'm most interested in NC State, UW Madison, Emory, Washington, Minnesota, Michigan 

 

Looking at my application, I'm mainly worried about my low major GPA. I'm hoping that my decent GRE score, work experience and LOR will compensate for it. I know that MS programs are less competitive than PhD programs, but I'm not sure just how competitive I am. Any advice or insights would be highly appreciated!

[StatsG0d]

First, I don't think Emory really has a stats department. Perhaps you meant Emory biostats?

To be frank, I don't really think you have much of a chance at any of those programs unless your school is renowned for serious grade deflation. You also haven't taken real analysis, which will hurt your application. You might be able to get into some stats programs ranked 30 and below.

[bayessays]

22 minutes ago, StatsG0d said:

First, I don't think Emory really has a stats department. Perhaps you meant Emory biostats?

To be frank, I don't really think you have much of a chance at any of those programs unless your school is renowned for serious grade deflation. You also haven't taken real analysis, which will hurt your application. You might be able to get into some stats programs ranked 30 and below.

Do most MS programs care about real analysis?

[Casorati]

Your grades look fine if you apply for statistics masters. Wisconsin may be tough to get in as their master's and phd applications are reviewed together. Master's admissions are not super competitive in general and I can see you getting into a few programs you listed.

Edited August 28, 2020 by Casorati

[StatsG0d]

15 hours ago, bayessays said:

Do most MS programs care about real analysis?

Sorry--I thought this was for a PhD evaluation. OP: I would follow @bayessays advice above. Your profile is fine for master's.

[mangoes]

Thank y'all so much! I had heard that Stats Masters programs weren't super competitive before, but I wasn't sure quite how relaxed they were in admissions, so this is very helpful. Thank you!