Fall 2022 Non-traditional Applicant Profile Eval. Pls Help!

[llhhmmrr]

Undergrad Institution: US News Top 100 
Major(s): Sociology
Minor(s): N/A
GPA: Roughly 3.8X major GPA, 4.0 thus far in all math courses

Type of Student: Domestic Asian Female

GRE General Test:
Q: N/A (Between 155-160 in practice tests without studying) 
V: N/A (90-95th percentile)
W: N/A
GRE Subject Test in Mathematics:
N/A

TOEFL Score: N/A

Grad Institution: Penn State Graduate Certificate in Applied Statistics (in progress) 

Concentration: 
GPA: 4.0 thus far
 

Programs Applying: Statistics/Biostats MS/MA

 

Research Experience: Internship at my schools center for statistical analysis (working under a Sociology PhD) 
Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Dean's Honors but nothing special
Pertinent Activities or Jobs: 

Letters of Recommendation: Most likely won't be anything spectacular. I took most of my math courses at a local CC post-grad. Also, Penn State is online so almost no interaction with professors. If anyone has any advice on this that would be super helpful! My jobs have all been in environmental/non-profit work so largely irrelevant to a statistics degree. I'm about 7 years out from my undergrad and was a fairly quiet student. The one professor who offered to write a strong rec died in 2017. 

Math/Statistics Grades:  
 

Undergrad: 

Statistics - B+ 
Javascript - C+ (I shouldn't have taken this course, I was not a CS person at 19 and really came to appreciate math/computer science in my last semester of college which is why I went back to school at nights to fulfill pre-recs and self-taught coding languages) 

Community College (post-grad):

Calc I: A
Calc II: A

Calc III: A

Linear Algebra: A 

Differential Equations: A 

Penn State (post-grad graduate certificate): 

Applied Statistics: A

Regression Methods: In progress (A so far with a midterm and final left)

Probability Theory: Fall 2021

Python: Fall 2021

R: Fall 2021 

Any Miscellaneous Points that Might Help: I've now taken a couple graduate level courses at Penn State if that helps. 

Applying to Where: (subject to change)

Reach: 

UC Davis MS Biostatistics (top choice)

UCSB MA Statistics 

UCLA MA Statistics 
Brown ScM Statistics
UCSC MS Statistics 

 

Still probably a reach: 

Cal State Fullerton MS Statistics (Online) 

Penn State MA Statistics (Online) 

San Jose State MS Statistics (top choice)

Cal State East Bay MS Statistics and MS Biostatistics 

San Diego State MS Statistics and/or Ms Biostatistics (top choice)

Cal State Long Beach MS Statistics (top choice)

 

I need someone to tell it to me straight. Judging from other application profiles, I am in way over my head (you guys are so smart and qualified and it makes me wish I majored in math as an undergrad!). I decided to pursue statistics back in 2018 (after spending two years wanting to, but being overwhelmed by the process) and have since been taking classes mostly at night while working full-time. I would like to avoid spending any more time and money on this application cycle (GRE, application fees, etc) if I'm being too optimistic here. My hope for this degree is to obtain the quantitative skills necessary to work in social/public policy/research. I would love to be able to use both my BS (sociology) and statistics in my career. Should I wait a year and finish my grad certificate and maybe get some relevant work experience/LORs in the meantime? Alternatively, I can get a google data analysis certificate (R, SQL, Tableau) and try for a job as a data analyst if a masters degree is out of reach. 

 

Thank you so much!

 

Sincerely, 

 

Underconfident and Anxious. 

 

 

 

[bayessays]

Do you think you can get your GRE Q above 160? I feel like that's really the only flaw in your profile.

 

[llhhmmrr]

Hi, I think with enough studying I can get my score above a 160. How worried should I be about my weak LORs and general lack of quantitative preparedness? Thanks for the response! 

[bob loblaw]

You're on a forum with those applying to PhD programs which can give you a skewed sense of your qualifications.  I think you'll get into at least one of your reach schools.  

The fact that you went back to CC after getting a bachelors shows you care.  For LORs, you've also been out of school for a while!  So unless they're not looking at applications very closely (which can happen at certain schools), they'll factor that into account.  

GRE: My guess is that they use this to weed people out, especially for MS programs. I know it's super annoying.  I personally think getting a high score is about having done a LOT problems.  I recommend following this guide:  https://magoosh.com/gre/90-day-gre-study-plan-math-focused.  Don't take the Math Subject one.  

LOR:  I had problems with this so I can empathize!  I would say, ask one of your CC professors & ask one of your work colleagues (for MS programs this is fine). Ask the Penn State profs for one (even if it was online).  Remember if they look down online education, then most university degrees granted during this pandemic era would also be worthless! 

Good luck!