Master's/PhD Statistics School Suggestions

[hannhat]

Hi everyone, I've decided to apply to master's programs in statistics this fall. I've spent the past year working in industry and am mostly interested in applying to master's programs to strengthen my weak research profile/get more research exposure to strengthen my PhD profile in the future. I am not interested in returning to industry after a potential PhD currently, so I would be looking to pursue a PhD with an eye towards academia. I am interested in studying causal inference and applications in econometrics and the social sciences (very broad, I know). 

I have mostly been looking at EU Master's programs (I have EU citizenship) with a strong research/thesis component. I have noticed that most Master's programs in the US are only 1-year programs and/or don't have a particularly strong research component (plus they are expensive!). I think that the main reason I would want to do a Master's would be to get involved with research to strengthen my research profile, as while taking additional graduate level statistics courses might be helpful, I think my math background from undergrad seem to be in the range of what PhD Statistics programs seem to be looking for already. 

In discussing my plans with one of my former professors/recommenders, he suggested looking at PhD statistics programs as well as he thought my profile was strong enough to be competitive at some "strong PhD programs" (top 50? top 30?). With this in mind, I was wondering both what the range of PhD schools you think I would be competitive at given my profile. Additionally, though I know this will probably be more difficult to give advice on, I wanted to get thoughts on if I would be dumb to apply to PhD programs when I don't have an extensive enough research background to really know a specific question/focused topic I want to pursue. I also probably do not have the time to study for and take the Math Subject GRE. 

I was hoping to get help both in terms of knowing what the strength of PhD programs I would be competitive at/if I should apply at all as well as feedback on my admissions chances to the master's programs I am currently planning on applying to. Thank you very much for any help you can provide! 

 

Undergrad Institution: Top 10 US

Major: Mathematics, specialization in Economics
GPA: 3.77

Type of Student: Domestic White Male

GRE General Test: Q: 168, V: 166, W: 4.5

 

Programs Applying: Master's Statistics

 

Math/Statistics Classes Real Analysis I-II-III, Abstract Linear Algebra, Markov Processes, ODEs, non-measure theoretic Probability, Advanced Statistics, assorted graduate level Economics and Econometrics classes

     - Earned A/A-s with the exception of weak grades in advanced statistics (B-) and graduate level game theory (B) during COVID. General upward trajectory of grades my third and fourth years of undergrad which I am hoping might help me a bit 

 

Letters of Recommendation: I expect to receive fairly strong recommendation letters from my graduate level Econometrics professor who I wrote a strong term paper for and my Real Analysis III professor. For my third recommendation letter, I am planning on getting a letter from a manager at work who can speak to my programming experience and statistical literacy. While I expect each of these recommendation letters to be fairly strong for what they are, none of these professors will likely be able to attest to any potential research experience I have gathered. 

 

Research Experience: This is definitely my weakest area in my opinion. I worked as a research assistant for an economics professor for half a year, but didn't publish or obtain any significant results. I also wrote a strong term paper for a graduate level Econometrics course, but did not publish. 

 

Work Experience: I've been working as a data analyst (mostly R, SQL, Stata) at an economic consultancy for the past year. 

Schools: Below is my current list of 8 Masters programs, with my top choice being ETH Zurich. 

 

- EPFL, MSc Statistics

- ETH Zurich, MSc Statistics

- LSE, MSc Statistics (Research)

- Oxford, MSc Statistical Science

- Copenhagen University, MSc Statistics

- Utrecht University, MSc Methodology and Statistics

- Stanford, MS Statistics

- University of Washington, MS Statistics

Edited October 30 by hannhat
Added context

[bayessays]

I agree with your recommender that you can definitely apply for PhD programs.  There's no glaring weaknesses in your profile.  

You could apply to top 10, but I think 11-35 on US News is probably your sweet spot along with any top 10 biostat program.  If you really want to go to a top 10 stats PhD, you could definitely improve your profile if you aced a top MS program and got some more research experience, but I think you can get into some schools right now that would set you up well for an academic career.