Fall 2021 Statistics profile Evaluation

[statenth]

Hi, I am an international student interested in high-dimensional data and Ph.D. in Stat or Biostat. I found this topic thread recently and now I am seeking for any advice on my qualification.

Type of Student: International male

 

Undergrad Institution: ranked in top 80 ~ 100 asian university in QS
Major: Statistics
GPA: 3.75 by WES

 

Grad Institution: same with undergrad
Major: Statistics
GPA: 3.6 / 4.5 (90q)

GRE General: Many programs seem to waive the GRE submissions for applicants now, so I am reconsidering taking additional test.
Q: 168 (94q)
V: 153 (54q)
W: 4 (55q)

 

Applying to: Statistics PhD

 

Research Experience: I have two publications in domestic journals(one on an applied NLP) and two manuscripts under review at international journals(one is under minor revision at CSAM). Also I have industrial experience at the public health and computer vision sector for 6 months in total.

Letters of Recommendation: One from advisor and two from co-advisors; I wrote papers with two co-advisors, and I have taken every course of all three recommenders throughout undergrad and grad school. 

Math/Statistics Grades:

Planning on Applying to: Not decided yet

 

Where do you think I would have high chance for getting into and where may I consider for high reach? Thank you in advance for your help.

 

 

 

Edited October 20, 2020 by statenth

[StatsG0d]

I think your profile is strong. Do you know if your institution has successfully sent many applicants to US PhD programs? Based on the rankings, I'm assuming you have gone to one of Yonsei, NKKU, or USTC. I'm not familiar with the latter two and only slightly familiar with the first.

[statenth]

6 minutes ago, StatsG0d said:

I think your profile is strong. Do you know if your institution has successfully sent many applicants to US PhD programs? Based on the rankings, I'm assuming you have gone to one of Yonsei, NKKU, or USTC. I'm not familiar with the latter two and only slightly familiar with the first.

Thanks for the reply! As I mentioned mine as top 100 'Asian' school, it is ranked pretty lower than them. But I saw a few of my alumni getting admissions to UFL and MSU.

Edited October 20, 2020 by statenth

[StatsG0d]

Just now, statenth said:

Thanks for the reply! As I mentioned mine as top 100 'Asian' school, it is ranked pretty lower than those. But I saw a few of my alumni with similar profile getting admission to UFL and MSU.

Sorry, I misunderstood "top-100 Asian" as "an Asian university in the top-100"

If your school isn't necessarily renowned for producing top quality graduate students (e.g., Peking, Tsinghua, ISI), the best strategy is to find out where your school has successfully sent PhD students, because they are already familiar with how competitive it is and know how the graduates of these universities fared at their programs. Perhaps you can talk to some professors / the chair of the department. I am sure that they know where students have gone. These schools should comprise your "target" schools.

For reaches, I think you have a small but nonzero shot at getting into a program ranked 15-20 in the USNWR for statistics programs (ignoring biostatistics). Here is a list of the rankings separated by stats / biostats (make sure you scroll down to Marmle's post).

For "safeties", I think any school ranked 40 and below would be some good choices. At this level, there's not much difference between a school ranked 40 and a school ranked 60, so I would say select some schools that have faculty in your research interests and that's in a desirable location.

[ASAP]

15 minutes ago, StatsG0d said:

 

Edited October 20, 2020 by ASAP

[statenth]

10 hours ago, StatsG0d said:

Sorry, I misunderstood "top-100 Asian" as "an Asian university in the top-100"

If your school isn't necessarily renowned for producing top quality graduate students (e.g., Peking, Tsinghua, ISI), the best strategy is to find out where your school has successfully sent PhD students, because they are already familiar with how competitive it is and know how the graduates of these universities fared at their programs. Perhaps you can talk to some professors / the chair of the department. I am sure that they know where students have gone. These schools should comprise your "target" schools.

For reaches, I think you have a small but nonzero shot at getting into a program ranked 15-20 in the USNWR for statistics programs (ignoring biostatistics). Here is a list of the rankings separated by stats / biostats (make sure you scroll down to Marmle's post).

For "safeties", I think any school ranked 40 and below would be some good choices. At this level, there's not much difference between a school ranked 40 and a school ranked 60, so I would say select some schools that have faculty in your research interests and that's in a desirable location.

I appreciate your recommendations. You are right that I have to meet professors to discuss on which programs would be the best fit for me. Though the programs ranked near USNR 15 would put me in extreme competitions, I think they deserve challenging. Would you mind if I ask for a rough range of Biostat programs that might be suitable for me? Many thanks again.

[StatsG0d]

12 hours ago, statenth said:

Would you mind if I ask for a rough range of Biostat programs that might be suitable for me? Many thanks again.

I think any program outside the top-3 (UW, JHU, Harvard) is plausible for you. Based on your history, it looks like you're really into theory, so I would say the only biostat programs that would be a good "fit" would be those top-3 and UNC. The other biostat programs are less focused on theoretical training.

I'll close by mentioning it does not really matter much where you study. If your advisor is well known and well connected, that will hold a lot more weight than coming from a top program with an unknown advisor. Publishing in JASA is really at least 50% luck as there is no way of knowing how groundbreaking the project will be when you start it. For that reason, your advisor's recommendation will be the biggest deciding factor in where you get placed post graduation.

Take a look at @Stat Assistant Professor's recent post, where he talks about someone that came from an unranked program and is currently a professor at UF publishing in some of the best journals. 

[ASAP]

10 hours ago, StatsG0d said:

 

Edited October 21, 2020 by ASAP

[statenth]

11 hours ago, StatsG0d said:

I think any program outside the top-3 (UW, JHU, Harvard) is plausible for you. Based on your history, it looks like you're really into theory, so I would say the only biostat programs that would be a good "fit" would be those top-3 and UNC. The other biostat programs are less focused on theoretical training.

I'll close by mentioning it does not really matter much where you study. If your advisor is well known and well connected, that will hold a lot more weight than coming from a top program with an unknown advisor. Publishing in JASA is really at least 50% luck as there is no way of knowing how groundbreaking the project will be when you start it. For that reason, your advisor's recommendation will be the biggest deciding factor in where you get placed post graduation.

Take a look at @Stat Assistant Professor's recent post, where he talks about someone that came from an unranked program and is currently a professor at UF publishing in some of the best journals. 

Thank you for all comments and references. I was very lucky to find this thread before applying!