Would anyone like to review a statement of purpose?

[sidneysamson]

I'm thinking about using one of those online companies especially if nobody here volunteers to do so. Is that a bad idea? I have no choice at this point.

Otherwise, I'd appreciate feedback. I'll PM you if interested.

[Quant_Liz_Lemon]

Don't you have recommenders who can skim over it?

[cyberwulf]

Assuming you're applying to math/stat/biostat, you have a choice to stop worrying about your personal statement because it's unlikely to have any significant impact on your chances of admission.

[OhioStateStudent]

Should this be taken as a rule for all programs?

I know OSU sees them as being extremely important for fellowships. Are they only important for those sorts of things, but essentially negligible for admissions?

[stat_fiend]

Assuming you're applying to math/stat/biostat, you have a choice to stop worrying about your personal statement because it's unlikely to have any significant impact on your chances of admission.

Is this because most applicants don't really know what they want to research? Or some other reason?

[cyberwulf]

Should this be taken as a rule for all programs?

I know OSU sees them as being extremely important for fellowships. Are they only important for those sorts of things, but essentially negligible for admissions?

Is this because most applicants don't really know what they want to research? Or some other reason?

Though I obviously can't speak for all programs, the evidence suggests that personal statements have little impact on admissions. The principal reasons are:

1. The pool of students applying to statistics and biostatistics departments isn't particularly deep, so that a major concern of even excellent departments is whether applicants can handle the requisite mathematical coursework and exams. Unlike in pure math, it is possible to be quite successful in stat/biostat if you are only modestly creative but very good at grinding out mathematical and statistical proofs. Mathematical ability is best assessed through academic records and test scores (and to a lesser extent, letters), so it is generally quite easy to order students on this important trait.

2. Very, very few applicants have meaningful statistical research experience before starting graduate school. As a result, many students end up working on dissertations in areas entirely different than they were initially interested in... and this is totally OK!

3. Funding in U.S. stat/biostat programs is generally allocated at the department level to the best incoming students (usually in the PhD program). Applicants aren't "shopped around" to potential advisors who agree to fund them; rather, the department projects the total number of positions available and then tries to recruit up to that number of students. Once the students are on campus, they are then either assigned to a position or (ideally) have some choices available to them.

Given points 2 and 3, declarations in the personal statement such as "I am very interested in studying [X] with Professors [u,V,W]" usually carry little weight. They typically translate to: "[X] is a hot topic which I know very little about but sounds interesting, and I see on your website that Professors [u,V,W] list [X] as a research area." Which, again, is JUST FINE, since that's essentially all you can credibly write.

4. Research potential *is* important, but the best source of information on this trait is letters of recommendation. In some fields, part of showing research potential is demonstrating that you have already thought of a reasonable project that will turn into a dissertation. Since (virtually) no one applying to stat/biostat has a "shovel-ready" dissertation idea, research potential is generally assessed using some combination of mathematical ability, creativity, and perhaps some exposure to lower-level research, all of which are best evaluated using other parts of the application.

I don't mean to denigrate the personal statement too much, and there are a few key things to avoid (eg. aimless rambling, saying you have no intention of pursuing an academic career), but as long as the PS is merely competent it probably won't affect an application in these fields either way.

Edited December 10, 2012 by cyberwulf