Master's Statistics School Suggestions

[mrstat]

Hey everyone, I've decided to apply to master's programs in statistics/data science this fall. I'm looking for some feedback on my current school list, as I'm not quite sure how to gauge my chances at some of the schools. Here's my profile:

Undergrad Institution: UC Berkeley

Major: Statistics 
GPA: 3.74

Type of Student: Domestic White Male

GRE General Test: Q: 166 (87th percentile), V: 166 (97th), W: 5.0 (92nd)

 

Programs Applying: Master's Statistics (maybe some data science programs as well)

 

Research Experience: I had a negative research experience with a professor, and I ended up not passing the "research apprenticeship." Should I address this in my apps?

 

Work Experience: I was a data analyst intern for a baseball team after my sophomore year (used lots of R and SQL). In summer 2019 I was a business analyst for a pro soccer team (mostly used Excel). Was hired to be a data analyst for a pro baseball team this year, but that got canceled due to COVID, hence why I'm applying now. I've been at home for the past few months and have been working on my own personal projects that I've posted on GitHub and a personal website.

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: I was a TA for Berkeley's Intro to Data Science course, which involved me teaching weekly lab and discussion sections of 25 students and participating in weekly meetings about content and logistics. I taught topics like python, SQL, pandas, linear regression, and PCA. I did this my last semester.

 

Letters of Recommendation: Should get a strong letter from my Game Theory professor and from one of the professors I TAed for, which will be weaker but still decent. The third letter will probably be the weakest, as I'm asking someone from the pro baseball team that hired me this year (but I never worked for) to speak on my performance in coding challenges/interviews for them. We formed a good relationship at least.

 

Math/Statistics Grades (freshman-senior year in order) Intro to Linear Algebra and Differential Equations (B), Calc III/Multivariable (A), Calc-Based Probability (B+), Computing with Data (basically an R class) (A+), Discrete Mathematics (intro to proof-writing as well) (A), Theoretical Linear Algebra I took one summer at UCLA (A), Intro to Real Analysis (B), Calc-Based Mathematical Statistics (B),  Fundamentals of Data Science (the class I TA'ed for) (A-), Intro to Time Series (A), Linear Models - Theory and Applications (A), Game Theory (A), Intro to Machine Learning (very theoretical) (A).

 

Regarding my grades, I definitely didn't do as well as I would've liked in some of the fundamental stats courses (probability, mathematical statistics). But, my senior year I got all As in my stats courses which I hope this shines through. There may be some weak spots in my math grades too, like my Linear Algebra and Diff EQs class, but that was my first semester and I like to think my A in the summer Linear Algebra class makes up for it. Real Analysis was really tough and showed I don't want to do a PhD.

Schools: Below is my current list of 13 schools, which is already a lot. If you have any recommendations based on my profile, I'm all ears. Basically, I need to know if it's not worth applying to some, if I have enough safeties, and if I should consider swapping out some for other programs. I'm also interested in applying to a couple schools in Europe... please let me know if you know anything about this in general/ETH Zurich/Oxford. Thank you!

 

- Stanford, MS Statistics

- UChicago, MS Statistics

- Berkeley, MA Statistics

- Harvard, MS Data Science

- Washington, MS Statistics 

- CMU, Master's Statistical Practice

- UNC Chapel Hill, MS Statistics and OR (apparently now it's called MS Data Science and Analytics...)

- UCLA, MS Statistics

- Yale, MA Statistics

- Duke, MS Statistical Science

- Rice, Master's Statistics

- ETH Zurich, MSc Statistics

- Oxford, MSc Statistical Science

[DanielWarlock]

This is a very solid list, although I think MIT and Princeton OR programs, Stanford ICME, Michigan data science are worth consideration also.

[mrstat]

20 hours ago, DanielWarlock said:

This is a very solid list, although I think MIT and Princeton OR programs, Stanford ICME, Michigan data science are worth consideration also.

So you think I have a solid chance at getting into some of these top 10/top 5 programs? Also, what is the difference between Stanford Stats/ICME and why would I choose one over the other? What about their data science program relative to these two?

Edited October 11, 2020 by mrstat

[DanielWarlock]

2 hours ago, mrstat said:

So you think I have a solid chance at getting into some of these top 10/top 5 programs? Also, what is the difference between Stanford Stats/ICME and why would I choose one over the other? What about their data science program relative to these two?

Yes I do think you have an excellent chance. At least at Harvard I know there are much interests about sports analytics. You will most likely get in to be frank if you elaborate that in your letter. I know Mark Glickman and Kevin Radar are involved with data science program at SEAS but I'm not sure to what degree. Take a look at their work and mention that you would be interested to work with them and the sports analytics club in your letter. I say you have very very good chance to get into Harvard.

Stanford statistics master is hard to be admitted and the coursework is rigorous. ICME on the other hand is easier and has more flexibility in terms of choosing coursework, potentially more suitable if you would like to work on applied projects using ML, NN etc. ICME is similar to Harvard program on this aspect.