Profile Eval for stat/biostat phd (2021 Fall)

[RaoBlackwell]

Hi, I am a graduate student from South Korea. Majoring statistics, I am yearning to pursue a PhD in the States. Thing is, the more profiles from international students I search, the more frustrated I am. After worries and worries, I decided to share my profile and beg any advice. Hope your forthright assessment of my potentiality to get in...!

Type of Student: International Asian

Undergrad and : Top 3 university in South Korea (Korea or Yonsei)

Major: Applied Statistics 
Overall GPA: 3.81/4.00

Math & Upper division Stat GPA: 3.92/4.00

Math & Upper division stat classes:

Calculus (A+,a semester but with multivariate calculus);

Linear Algebra (A);

Mathematical Statistics (1)&(2) (A & A+);

Regression Analysis (A+);

Time Series Analysis (B+); 

Statistical Model for General Insurance (A+);

Bayesian Statistics (A);

Survival Analysis (A+);

Stochastic Process (A+);

Statistical Data Analysis (A+);

Statistical Computing (A);

Experimental Design (A);

Exploratory Data Analysis (A+);

Multivariate Analysis (A+)

Data Mining (B+);

Data Science (A+);

Analysis (A-, I took it as a graduate student)

grad Institution : Same as undergrad

Major: Applied Statistics 
GPA: 3.97/4.00

GRE General Test: 151 V/ 170 Q/ 3.0 AWA

Toefl: 100 overall (and I am planning to submit the case of 99 due to some subsection-score threshold)
 

Programs Applying: Statistics/ Biostatistics PhD 

 

Research Experience: 

1. A year of work as a statistical researcher in a lab of preventive medicine (recent)

what I did: reproducible analysis for governmental system to detect critical point (using R & SAS);

Poster Presentation at APHA using some statistical analysis (with SAS);

submitted two papers about preventive medicine (in review, not published yet). 

 

2. REU at population genetics Lab for basic Bayesian modelling and basic computation tasks (using Perl and Unix)

 

Teaching experience: one year of TA, a semeseter of Tutoring program (Mathematical Statistics)
Awards/Honors/Recognitions: 

several times of Honors.

 

Letters of Recommendation: 

Two from faculty in statistics, one from research adviser (in preventive medicine lab)

 

Programming/ Software skills: R, SAS, Python, Perl
 

Research Interest: Statistical Computing, Bayesian Statistics, Measurement Error

 

Note: not impressive scores in GRE and TOEFL(though not planning to retake), limited research experience (in theoretical aspect of statistics)

What makes me so frustrated is that nowadays competition among international students is really intense. Recently, I am even dubious about whether I am eligible for applying...

Craving for several years, however, I still want to apply to some schools. So I beg your any advice for my questions. It would be so precious for me.

 

1. Do members in admission committee know well about the reputation of Korean Top Univ? (Apparently, skimming other domestic profiles, I could catch that overall reputation of the undergrad school is quite important. So I am curious about the international case.)

2. What is your recommendation for my application (stat or biostat)? I cannot calibrate the suitable range of good/fair shot for my case. Beg your suggestion..

3. Any advice to strengthen my profile at this point?

 

Thank you!

[Stat Assistant Professor]

1. Yes, if you attended one of the top 3 universities in South Korea, you have a very decent shot at a top 40 Statistics PhD program in the U.S.A. A 3.8+ GPA from a school like Yonsei, SNU, or Korea University will make you very much "in the discussion." Since you also have some papers under review, that should also help your application (even if these aren't in statistics).

2. With your profile, you may be able to get into Statistics PhD programs ranked 15-40 (e.g. North Carolina State University, Texas A&M, Purdue, Penn State all seem like a reasonable bet for your profile). Above top 15 might be a little hard for you because your pure math background isn't as deep as other applicants from Asia -- these other students will likely have taken multiple semesters of analysis, measure theory, measure theoretic probability, sometimes classes like abstract algebra or Galois theory as well, etc. But you do have real analysis, so it's not completely hopeless for schools like TAMU and Penn State. I would apply to schools broadly from 15-50 maybe, and you can try one or two "reach" schools above 15. 

3. At this point, if you are already taking classes in the fall, then there's not much more you can do to improve your profile. Your GRE score and your TOEFL score are both perfectly fine. I would speak with your recommendation letter writers and ensure that they can write strong letters for you -- with a particular focus on "research potential" and mathematical maturity. If you can ensure strong letters and if you apply broadly (for you, I would mainly focus on schools ranked 15-40 by USNWR), I could see you getting into a decent program. As to whether you should apply to biostatistics programs too... are you interested in biostatistics and public health/biological applications of statistics? That should factor into your decision. But I've also heard that Biostatistics PhD admissions tend to be more difficult for international students because of limited funding (e.g. a lot of the NIH training grants are only for U.S. citizens/greencard holders). You could try a few Biostat PhD programs, but Statistics PhD programs will probably be easier for international students from prestigious universities in their home countries to crack.

If you go the Statistics route but are interested in biostat, you could always find a PhD advisor who does biostatistical applications. I know at the school where I did my PhD, some of the students in my department (Statistics) had Biostatistics faculty as PhD co-advisors. And even more theoretical departments like Stanford and UPenn Wharton have faculty who have a biostatistics tilt. For example, Susan Holmes at Stanford and Nancy Zhang at UPenn Wharton do a lot of stuff with complex biological data and statistical genetics.

Edited September 28, 2020 by Stat Assistant Professor

[RaoBlackwell]

Thank you so much for your answer! So helpful for me.

Not only did your comment encourage me a lot, it also made me think in different way.  Initially, due to lack of theoretic research experience and depth in pure math, I thought that I will get slightly a bit more chance to get in biostat phd program than stat phd program. I also thought that my work in public health area (a poster and some papers) would fit more to biostat program (actually, should I choose one domain field where statistics comes into play, I would definitely choose biomedical science/public health). However, you pointed out some important things.

So, according to your viewpoint, (1) it is easier to get in statistics phd program than biostat, as an international student for whom funding is indispensable; (2) one can always find a biostat-specialized advisor in statistics faculty.

That sounds really reasonable. It changed my mind a lot. I have two more questions here:

1. so for stat phd program application (not biostat), can I stress my (interdisciplinary) research experience in preventive medicine (especially in CV and SOP)? Will it work? 

2. For a few biostat program application, similar range (rank between 15~40) would be proper like the case of statistics program?

Again, thanks a lot for your considerate advice!

Edited September 29, 2020 by RaoBlackwell

[Stat Assistant Professor]

7 hours ago, RaoBlackwell said:

Thank you so much for your answer! So helpful for me.

Not only did your comment encourage me a lot, it also made me think in different way.  Initially, due to lack of theoretic research experience and depth in pure math, I thought that I will get slightly a bit more chance to get in biostat phd program than stat phd program. I also thought that my work in public health area (a poster and some papers) would fit more to biostat program (actually, should I choose one domain field where statistics comes into play, I would definitely choose biomedical science/public health). However, you pointed out some important things.

So, according to your viewpoint, (1) it is easier to get in statistics phd program than biostat, as an international student for whom funding is indispensable; (2) one can always find a biostat-specialized advisor in statistics faculty.

That sounds really reasonable. It changed my mind a lot. I have two more questions here:

1. so for stat phd program application (not biostat), can I stress my (interdisciplinary) research experience in preventive medicine (especially in CV and SOP)? Will it work? 

2. For a few biostat program application, similar range (rank between 15~40) would be proper like the case of statistics program?

Again, thanks a lot for your considerate advice!

 

1. In your SOP, you should definitely mention your research experience in preventative medicine, but say you are interested in delving more into statistical methodology that is *motivated* by problems in medicine. Also maybe ask one or two of your letter writers to mention that in addition to your research experience, you have solid mathematical training, having taken linear algebra and real analysis. 

2. This is my suggestion. Apply to 2 of the top 5 biostatistics PhD programs in the U.S. (Johns Hopkins, Harvard, University of Washington, University of Michigan, UNC-Chapel Hill) as your "reach" schools. I believe these programs are ranked in the top 15 combined stat/biostat rankings of USNWR. Don't bother applying to any Statistics (not biostat) programs in the top 15, since at this tier of school, your pure math background is not competitive when compared against other international applicants at these programs. 

Then apply to a combination of stat and biostat programs in the rank of 15-50 (but probably more stat than biostat), *except* for the Ivy League pure Statistics programs like Yale, Cornell, etc. Those are actually very difficult to get into and have just as high math expectations as the top 15 programs. I think the larger programs at public universities like TAMU, Purdue, Penn State are probably accessible for your profile. 

[RaoBlackwell]

I really appreciate your suggestion. Now I can calibrate the suitable range of schools. Alright, things became more lucid. Thank you so much for your objective assessment & considerate suggestion!