Stats Profile Evaluation/Advice

[lrste]

Hi everyone! I have a few questions about Stats PhDs, but first, here's my profile:

Student Type: DWM

Applying for: Stats PhD Fall 2022 

Undergrad: Top 5 Math/Economics

Major: Double Major in Math & Economics

GPA: 5.0/5.0 overall and in both majors

Note: many of the classes listed below have "P" grades associated, which stands for "pass". In all cases but 1 (grad level math stat), this grading was required by the university, either as a typical first year grading scheme or for COVID, more on this below.

Math: (no stats department, so many of these are stats courses in the math dept) Calc (single and multi): P, Diff EQ: A, Probability: A+, Proof-based Lin Alg: A, Theoretical Stats: P, Grad Stochastic Processes: P, Real Analysis: A, Grad Math Stat: P, Matrix Methods in Data Science (basically applied Lin alg for ML): A. 

Relevant Econ: Econometric Data Science: P, AI/ML for Causal Inference: A

Research: Not a whole lot of experience here. I worked with my econometrics prof last summer on a COVID related project, but nothing deliverable ever came of it.

Work Experience: I'll be working this summer at a well regarded Econ consulting firm.

Teaching Experience: Two (so far) semesters as an econometrics TA.

GRE: Taking in the early fall, starting to prep soon! I am planning to take the math subject test as well.

Letters of Recommendation:  Not entirely sure the best place to get these. One will definitely come from my econometrics prof, who is well known in metrics and has worked with me a lot at this point through research and TAing. I was thinking to get another from my stochastic processes prof, because he is also my academic advisor. As far as the third, it could come from a supervisor at my upcoming internship (likely an economics phd working in industry) or from my professor who taught both my undergrad theoretical stats and grad math stat classes. I performed okay in both of these classes (would have been an A in the undergrad class, B+ in grad class), but did not go to office hours often/connect with the professor.

Other notes: As you can see, while my GPA is good, that doesn't show up in my transcript very much because so many of my math classes have just passing grades (no effect on GPA). I did well in these classes, but pass/fail was mandated by the university. Do you think this will negatively impact my application? 

 

General Questions: I've got a few general questions. First, would I even be ready to apply to a top 50 stats phd program with this profile? I'm not certain about my research interests, but they include causal inference and network structures. However, what I'm really interested in is teaching at a high level, so I want to apply to programs with good placement. Second, I only have one free slot in my schedule this coming fall for an extra class (everything else is taken up by Econ major requirements). Should I take graduate probability theory (a notoriously difficult class at my university that I may not be ready for) or another class (like a class on algorithms focusing on inference, or another math theory class like measure theory)? Finally, any advice on rec letters? Right now, I only feel that one of my rec letters is truly strong, but it feels like it is too late in the app cycle to get meaningful connections with profs at this point.

Edited April 5, 2021 by lrste

[trynagetby]

I think you can check out my profile and results for a comparable example. I had a little more math and a lot more research than you, but also a lot of Bs, plus your school's reputation is slightly higher than mine. I also really only had 1 strong rec letter and a rec letter where I just asked a prof who taught a class I did well in.

I still got into the lower top tier range of Stat PhDs (UMich, UW, Duke,etc..) and I suspect that you would too (at least one of them if you applied to all). Cracking Harvard/Berkely/CMU will be hard but you should definitely apply.

In terms of classes, I'd take whatever interests you and you think you can do well in. Many schools won't even ask for fall grades.

Good Luck!

[StatsG0d]

You can definitely get into top-50. I'd say you have a good chance at the 11-25 ranked programs in the pooled rankings. I think you should take real analysis II if you want to apply to stats PhD (and not biostats).