Requiring brutally honest feedback on list of schools to apply to for applied math / stats / OR PhD

[open_ball]

I feel very depressed about my prospects for applied math PhD programs. I lack guidance on where to apply, and my mentor has not provided much input aside from 'following your heart' and 'apply to top schools'. 

I spoke to the head of my home institution's department and he said that if I take a second graduate course, I have a very strong profile to apply to top schools (I definitely plan on taking this course). But I feel that I am not good enough and I have doubts about getting into any PhD programs, especially given that I have not taken PDEs yet. I did apply to REUs this summer, and I was very lucky to get into a very selective program and 2 other REUs at good schools, but I don't think I will be so fortunate when it comes to actually applying to PhD programs. 

Here is my current profile:

• Current institution: top 30 undergrad but not known for math
• Domestic female applicant 
• Current GPA: 3.96, expect it to be above 3.85 when I apply, but I will be taking some hard courses next semester
• Classes taken: 
     * Watered-down multi calculus class (red flag since I need to teach myself vector calculus so I can take PDEs)
     * Real analysis I
     * Real analysis II
     * Linear algebra
     * Math of data science
     * Numerical analysis 
     * Intro CS
     * ODEs
     * Mathematical probability, mathematical statistics sequence (non proof based)
     * Reading group on theoretical / statistical machine learning
     * Non-rigorous programming classes in R and Python, some non-rigorous stats courses
     * Grad class in computational math topic related to numerical linear algebra
     * *Planning to take while applying: PDEs (undergrad), Numerical analysis (graduate), nonlinear optimization (undergrad); planning to take in final semester: possibly measure theory (graduate)*
  * Reading group on statistical / mathematical theory of machine learning (2 semesters) -- covers a LOT of topics 
•  Research experiences: 2 summers of NSF math REUs (applied / computational math), \~ 1 year of research assistant employment (in statistical topic related to machine learning w/ BME application). 
• Interests: non-convex optimization, statistical machine learning, applied deep learning for scientific computing, signal processing (???)
• Other: I have a lot of experience using Python / PyTorch for research. 
• Recommenders: my mentor (tenured prof, computational math) has some connections at some of the schools I am interested in; will also ask my PI (director of AI lab, very seasoned researcher in BME, is also a CS professor) for letters of rec; third recommender is a wild card (maybe REU mentor this summer? we will see)

Historically, students with similar profiles compared to me from my school have gotten into top programs, but they're smarter than me / they have something I lack (like physics background, research is more of a fit, their recommenders have ties to those programs, etc.). 

**Here are some schools I am interested in for applied math:** Brown, Rice, JHU, Duke, Northwestern, CU Boulder, NCSU, UMD, USC, Georgetown, Virginia Tech, UNC, WashU

I would particularly like to do research with biomedical applications, so a school that is associated with a medical system is a big plus. 

**Here are some schools I am interested in for statistics:** Duke, Rice, NCSU, Northwestern, Emory (bio stats)

**Here are some schools I am interested in for OR:** Cornell, JHU, Duke, Yale, Wharton, Northwestern McCormick

 

Please, would anyone help me disabuse myself of the delusion that I can get into any of these schools, and provide ideas for safeties? Thank you very much. 

[PhysicsKid]

I’m no expert but you look like a very very competitive applicant for top top departments. If you are interested in optimization, Stat ML, and signal processing I am surprised that Stanford isn’t on your Statistics list just considering some of the top people in the world in those fields are here. If you were just not considering Stanford et al for competitiveness reasons I would say you should set your sights higher because your application looks very good!

[bayessays]

I can't comment on Applied Math/OR, but for statistics, I think your list is completely reasonable - if anything, I think Emory is shooting too low for you but NCSU/Northwestern/Rice are definitely the types of schools you should be end up attending at a minimum.

It really depends on what you want to do though. Applied math and stats are quite different.  You have a great profile for statistics at least though, and would have a lot of success applying to top programs if you applied to more stats programs.  I doubt you'll get into Stanford, but I think you'd be at least in the conversation almost anywhere else.

[open_ball]

Thank you but I have no shot at getting into Stanford  . I do know that over the past 3 years 2 girls from my school and my department got into Stanford, but their research is pretty different from mine. I feel like they are a lot better than I am  

I thought Rice was a pipe dream  I got an interview but didn't get accepted to their stats REU (I already got 3 other offers from math programs though, partially because I am a US citizen). 

[Public health grl]

On 4/7/2024 at 11:09 AM, open_ball said:

Thank you but I have no shot at getting into Stanford  . I do know that over the past 3 years 2 girls from my school and my department got into Stanford, but their research is pretty different from mine. I feel like they are a lot better than I am  

I thought Rice was a pipe dream  I got an interview but didn't get accepted to their stats REU (I already got 3 other offers from math programs though, partially because I am a US citizen). 

Are you specifically looking into only math/stats PhDs?  What is your long-term goal? There are other doctorates/masters in other departments at top institutions that value a quant profile, which would still be quant-heavy, and you would indeed have a great chance of getting in.