Profile Evaluation for Stats MS

[bruinlookdown]

Hey everyone, I Just got out of college and am now working full time as a Data Scientist. I'm planning to apply for an MS in Stats for the Fall 2021 cycle. I'm very worried about my GPA and am unsure of which schools I should even aim for. I know my grades don't look the best. This is mainly because I started off very rough (hated my major, had trouble adjusting to college) and did progressively better as I went through school. While I floundered for my first couple years, I really got my stuff together towards the end and am hoping to continue my passion through these mess up. Im not sure if this is a good assumption, but I'm hoping since I actually did better in my more difficult stats classes that I may look a bit better than my GPA implies.

If anyone can offer any advice for where I should apply please let me know! Here is my profile:

 

Undergrad Institution:  UCLA
Major(s): Cognitive Science (Computing Spec)

Minor(s): Stats 
GPA: 3.225 (Overall), 3.365 (Major)

Type of Student: 
Domestic Caucasian Male

GRE General Test: 

Will take in 1-2 months, aiming for 165Q+

Relevant Courses: 

• Psych 100A (Psych Stats) - C
• Econ 41 (Econ Stats) - C-
• Math 32B (CALC OF SEVRL VAR) - C-
• Math 33A ( LINEAR ALGBRA&APPLS) - B-
• Math 32A (CALC OF SEVRL VAR) - A-
• Stats 20 (PROGRAMMING WITH R)- A
• Stats 100A (INTRODCTN-PROBABLTY) - B
• Stats 102A (INTRO-COMP STATS-R) - B+ 
• Stats 100B (INTRO-MATH STATS) - A-
• Stats 101A (INTRO-COMP STATS-R) - A+
• Comm 188 (Intro to Data Science) - A+
• Stats 100C (LINEAR MODELS) - A-
• Stats 101B  (DSGN&ANLY-EXPERIMNT) - A- 
• Stats 102B (INTRO CMPTTN&OPTZTN) - A
• Math 115A (LINEAR ALGEBRA) - C-

Programs Applying: 

MS in Statistics (Maybe Applied Statistics?), interested in possibly going for a PhD sometime in the future but until I finish a Master's I don't know yet. If anyone wants to know I would like to work in Data Science or possibly as BioStatistician to leverage my Health Sciences background and a Master's degree in Statistics seems like a great way to achieve this. After working for a while I would prefer to get a PhD and go into Academia.

Extra Academic Experience: 

Currently getting the Data Science certificate from UCLA Extension (4 Classes - Intro to Data Science, Machine Learning, Databasing, and Data Visualization) . Likely getting/ Planning to get straight A's in each course.

Work Experience:  

Data Scientist for a small Tech Company

Letters of Recommendation:  Have 3 professors from the statistics department who have agreed to write me letters, but I don't know them all too well. Will ask a manager at my company who is an Adjunct Data Analytics Professor and the CEO, who I have worked with often.

Applying to Where (Current List): 

UCLA, Texas A&M_______UCSD, UCD, UCSC, UCSB, UCI, SDSU, Ohio State, Colorado State, U Conn, Penn State, U Colorado- Denver, U Virginia__________ San Jose State, Long Beach State, SF State

 

Questions:

1) What could I do to improve my profile between now and when applications are due (Dec 2021)?

2) What schools do you think I could realistically get into? Should I change around my list of schools I'm applying to? I would like to stay within California due to cost if possible.

3) Should I try to go for just pure Stats or maybe Applied Stats? Is there a benefit acceptance wise for applying to Applied Stats programs? Will it hurt me a lot if I get into an applied stats program but decide to try for a PhD down the line?

4) Any target schools I'm missing that I should really check out?

 

Thank you for taking the time to read my post, I'd appreciate any advice at all!