Jump to content

Stats PhD Profile... Should I get a year of research exp first?


DaffyDuck

Recommended Posts

Undergrad Institution: Top 10 in the US

Major: Mathematics and Economics
GPA: 3.71/4.00
Type of Student: Domestic Asian male

GRE General Test: Have not taken
GRE Math  Subject Test: Have not taken
 
Programs Applying: Statistics PhD
 
Research Experience: Mathematics summer REU at my undergrad institution in my first two years, writing expository papers on the math that I learned over the summer with the help of a grad student mentor.
 
Letters of Recommendation: I have none currently and graduated in 2017. 
  • For one letter I am thinking of asking a Stats professor with whom I took a core class and a time series class and received A's.
  • I might ask my professor from abstract algebra for another letter (2 classes in which I did well)
  • I am more uncertain about the third one. I was a decent but not stellar math student who was lucky enough to take classes from well-known profs. I don't necessarily compare well to the better math students who took grad level courses. I may ask my applied econometrics prof whose class I enjoyed, despite my otherwise poor grades/disinterest in honors econ classes. Otherwise I may try to work in a lab and work to get a good LOR from my PI.
 
Programming Skills: R
 
Relevant Courses: all undergrad level except 1. Some courses cross-listed.
Math: honors real analysis (B+, A, B), honors abstract algebra (A-, A), complex analysis (A), Markov Chains/Brownian Motion (A), ODE (A), PDE (A-), Point Set Topology (A-)
Stats: Core classes (A-,  A), Time Series (A), Pattern Recognition (A-), Stochastic Calculus (grad level, B+)
Econ: Honors econ (B+/B), Applied Microeconometrics (A), Econometrics (A), Game Theory for Econ (A)
 
Schools: Looking at schools in tech hub cities for personal reasons... Berkeley, Stanford, UWashington, Harvard, MIT, Columbia. I realize that these are all reaches.
 
Main concerns:
  •  I don't think I would have particularly strong LOR since I never developed a close working relationship with any faculty members. I might take a year to work in a research lab to build connections and develop more skills. Is this a good idea?
  • I am also concerned about my lack of graduate level courses and my mixed grades in real analysis and economics. I think I could get a good score on the Math GRE however.
  • Lack of research experience in undergrad (not counting math REU).
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't think it necessary to take a gap year to do research. Most statistics PhD applicants don't have meaningful research experience (publishing a paper) so I wouldn't worry about not having research experience. Your have very strong math background from a top school so I wouldn't worry about your grades in analysis and grades in economics won't matter much for statistics admission. I think you might get into a few schools you listed but for safety measure, I would also add schools at the level of Michigan/Duke/Wisconsin.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There's really not much else you can do. You have a very strong profile. Apply to a couple top-10 schools and target schools ranked 11-30. I am certain you'll have plenty of choices.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. See our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use