Profile Evaluation for Stat phd for 2024 Fall- any advice thank you

[Prospectstudent]

Hi, I'm international student currently studying abroad and I would like to apply to Stat Phd this year. I would like any advices because I am new here, and I'm confused about my direction.

 

Type: International Asian

Undergrad

Degree: Statistics (Top 3 in my country)

Cumulative GPA: 3.83/4.3

Major GPA: 4.15/4.3

Courses Taken (Grade) : (Math/Stat Courses)

Real Analysis I (grad level : A+)

Numerical Analysis (grad level: A+)

Analysis I (A+)

Topology (A0)

Mathematical Statistics I and II (A0/A+)

Advanced Calculus (A+)

Linear Algebra I and II (A+)

Regression/Survival/Categorical/Bayesian Analysis, etc of roughly about 10~15 courses related to statistics all A+ except for one or two A0

 

Master

Degree: Master in Statistics (Top 10 in US) First Year

Cumulative GPA:  3.787/4.0

Courses Taken (Grade) : (All Math & Stat PhD courses)

Functional Analysis (B+)

Probability Thoery (A)

Grad-level Mathematical Statistics (A-/A)

Statistical Learning (A)

Applied Classes (all A)

(planning to take this semester)

- Convex Optimization in Math Department

- Measure Theory

- Theoretical Linear Models

 

the above lists are all Phd level courses except for applied courses.

 

Research Experience:

- one paper submitted and under revision: but it's more related to applied math than statistics => not to a famous journal though.

- doing research about variable selection with one of profs, but not predicting to turn it into paper before application cycle.

 

Letters:

Haven't decided yet.

 

Exam Scores

Toefl : 114 (30/30/27/27)

Gre general: 157/170/4.0

Gre subject Math: 85% (should I submit this? I didn't do that much good)

 

Schools: (All Stats PhD)

reaches: Texas A&M , NCSU, PSU, UW madison, UMN, etc about 10~20 rankings in US

targets: UFL, UIUC, OSU, ISU, MSU

 

 

1. Am I aiming too high for the application? Can you give me any advices of where I should apply to? My undergrad institution sends students to those reach schools + some top schools so admission comittee might know my undergrad institution probably.

 

2. Is B+ in Functional Analysis going to hurt my application? I did roughly about median in the class with other Math phd students, but my school has harsh grade on core math phd courses (but I should have tried harder though..) for qualifying exam exemption.

 

3. Any advices of how to boost my chances of application?

 

Thank you so much.

[Stat Assistant Professor]

One B+ in functional analysis (not relevant to most subfields of statistics) likely won't be a dealbreaker when you have mostly A's. Your profile looks quite good, and your academic pedigree will also help you a lot in the admissions process.

I think you are underselling yourself a bit. I have seen applicants with profiles that are not as strong as yours get into the likes of PSU and NCSU (i.e. international students with a BS GPA below 3.7 got admitted into those schools... they did have research experience though, which you also have). UIUC has really risen in prominence in the past few years with the excellent academic job placements of their PhD aluni (their grads are getting TT jobs at TAMU, Penn State, Purdue, etc.). I think that UIUC is pretty selective now. I would put UIUC in the same tier as UWisc, NCSU, and UMN at this point.

IMO, your "reaches" are actually targets, while schools like ISU, MSU, and OSU are "safe bets" (but if you want extra assurance, you could apply to a few more schools in the 30-40s USNWR rankings range). You can also afford to apply to some top 10 schools as your "reach" schools just to see how you fare -- I would pick a few of these top 10 schools based on how much they appeal to you, and apply to thse as well.  

Best of luck.  

[Prospectstudent]

Thank you so much for the advice! It was a great help thank you