Fall 2022 Operations Research PhD -- Profile Evaluation + General Questions

[aeiou12345]

Hi everyone. I am struggling a lot with figuring out a list of schools to apply to in the fall and could use some input. I am really interested in Operations Research, but have a primarily mathematical background.

I have three questions:
(1) What “level” of OR program should I look at?
(2) Do I stand a better chance at applied math PhD programs or operations research PhD programs?
(3) What are some examples of some programs I should consider?

Here is my background:
Undergrad Institution: Liberal Arts College
Major(s): Mathematics (NOTE: I will be graduating with both masters and bachelors degrees)
GPA: 3.8+ (my grades junior year were straight 4.0’s), major GPA of 3.9+
Type of Student: Domestic Asian Female

GRE Revised General Test: N/A (will take in fall)
GRE Subject Test in Mathematics: N/A (will take in fall)

Program Applying: Operations Research PhD

Courses:
Analysis 1/2, Algebra 1/2, Graduate Analysis 1/2, Graduate Topology, Graduate Complex Analysis, Math Modeling, Numerical Methods, Scientific Computing, Linear Optimization, Probability, Differential Equations, Multivariable Calc, Linear Algebra, Discrete Math, Number Theory

Research Experience:
Freshman summer, did research with prof. at school plus local gov’t office in integer programming applied to budget planning. Presented work at poster presentation at school in fall.
Sophomore summer, did an internship in which I developed a customizable program through linear optimization for scheduling employees based on preferences and staffing requirements.
Junior summer, attended a brief research program in applied math, presented on work to faculty and students at program.
Junior summer, currently attending top 3 pure math REU. Hope to present at a conference, and would be great if I could have work published but we’ll see, of course. This REU has a very high publication rate.
Senior year, will be working on masters thesis, topic to be on specific application of optimization to a sustainability issue (cannot give more details for privacy, but I’m sure anyone who knows me in real life recognizes this profile).
Awards/Honors/Recognitions:
Received several-thousand-dollar grant from school freshman summer to conduct research.
Received schoolwide award for fostering sense of community on campus.
Pertinent Activities or Jobs:
TA for multivariable calculus (held tutoring sessions, assisted in labs, graded student work, and took notes for student use).
TA for linear optimization (held tutoring hours, graded student work, assisted in labs)
Organizing weekly mathematical talks in math dept.
Have major organizational role in math dept.
Any Miscellaneous Points that Might Help:
One of my recommenders has a PhD in Applied Math from Cornell, and I’d like to apply to Cornell (not sure if CAM or ORIE)
I’m a woman
To clarify, I will be working on a masters thesis in the fall and will be graduating with both a bachelors and a masters.

PhD Programs I am Interested In: (some of these are long shots, but their programs are incredible, and I figured why not apply)
Cornell ORIE
Georgia Tech ISYE
Northwestern IEMS
U Mich IEOR
MIT ORC
UCLA DOTMS
Princeton ORFE
CMU ACO
Columbia IEOR
U Wisconsin Math
U Washington Applied Math

Again, my main questions are:
(1) What “level” of OR program should I look at?
(2) Do I stand a better chance at applied math PhD programs or operations research PhD programs?
(3) What are some examples of some programs I should consider?

Any other constructive comments would also be greatly appreciated. Thanks to those of you who took the time to read through and respond to this! I go to a very small college and there's not really anyone I know who's gone down this path before (and my profs have no clue what this admissions process looks like, they're all pure math folks) so I am grateful for anything you all may have to share!

[aeiou12345]

sorry for bump, was just told to reupload here rather than in the engineering forum. does anyone have any insight on this? thanks again for any advice/help!

[aeiou12345]

bumping again, I’d really appreciate any help

[bayessays]

Hey, this is mostly a statistics forum, so I will forewarn you that this is a *very* uninformed opinion.  But some people here over the years have applied to both statistics and operations research programs, so I've seen a little bit of these admissions results.  I'm guessing when you say you go to a liberal arts college that it's a pretty good one? Top 20 or top 50 at least?

Regardless, your profile looks very strong both in terms of coursework and research and I'd recommend you apply to any of those programs that interest you and I suspect you'll have good results.  It seems to me, from an outsider perspective, that once you get past MIT/Princeton, the level of competition drops dramatically and these programs tend to not be as competitive as statistics PhDs, where I would recommend you apply to top programs.  I have seen some applicants here who didn't get into top 40 statistics programs but got into OR programs like Berkeley, so I imagine you will have a lot of good choices. 

[aeiou12345]

7 hours ago, bayessays said:

Hey, this is mostly a statistics forum, so I will forewarn you that this is a *very* uninformed opinion.  But some people here over the years have applied to both statistics and operations research programs, so I've seen a little bit of these admissions results.  I'm guessing when you say you go to a liberal arts college that it's a pretty good one? Top 20 or top 50 at least?

Regardless, your profile looks very strong both in terms of coursework and research and I'd recommend you apply to any of those programs that interest you and I suspect you'll have good results.  It seems to me, from an outsider perspective, that once you get past MIT/Princeton, the level of competition drops dramatically and these programs tend to not be as competitive as statistics PhDs, where I would recommend you apply to top programs.  I have seen some applicants here who didn't get into top 40 statistics programs but got into OR programs like Berkeley, so I imagine you will have a lot of good choices. 

It’s a seven sisters college, top 30 LAC! Thank you so much for your help.

Edited June 21, 2021 by aeiou12345

[aeiou12345]

I don’t know what hapless potential OR PhD student may stumble upon this in the future, but I thought if someone does it might be useful to know where I got in (and once I decide, where I ended up, maybe!). All applications were to PhD programs.

Accepted:

GTech ISyE

Cornell ORIE

Berkeley IEOR

Columbia IEOR

Waitlisted:

Stanford GSB OIT

Rejected:

CMU ACO (through math dept.)

MIT ORC

Princeton ORFE

Stanford MSE OR

Interviewed:

UMich IOE (withdrew)

[fujigala]

On 6/20/2021 at 12:32 PM, bayessays said:

Hey, this is mostly a statistics forum, so I will forewarn you that this is a *very* uninformed opinion.  But some people here over the years have applied to both statistics and operations research programs, so I've seen a little bit of these admissions results.  I'm guessing when you say you go to a liberal arts college that it's a pretty good one? Top 20 or top 50 at least?

Regardless, your profile looks very strong both in terms of coursework and research and I'd recommend you apply to any of those programs that interest you and I suspect you'll have good results.  It seems to me, from an outsider perspective, that once you get past MIT/Princeton, the level of competition drops dramatically and these programs tend to not be as competitive as statistics PhDs, where I would recommend you apply to top programs.  I have seen some applicants here who didn't get into top 40 statistics programs but got into OR programs like Berkeley, so I imagine you will have a lot of good choices. 

My advisor has said something similar. He advises a lot of his master's advisees in statistics who are interested in statistics to apply for other less conspicuous programs such as operations research, management science, biostatistics, etc. with the idea that admissions are easier, but you can still take the same classes you would as a statistics major.