Stat/ BioStat PhD chance/ Suggestion

[roguexgirl]

Hi all,

If anyone could chip in school suggestions/ advice/ profile evaluation for me, I'd really appreciate it!

Undergrad institution: Small Liberal art college, top 35 US News I think.

Major: Mathematics

Minor: Economics

GPA: 3.88 overall, 3.92 for major.

Currently in an Applied Math Master's program at a large public university, very small program though.

GPA: 3.914.

Type of student: International

GRE: 156 Verbal, 168 Quant, 5.0 Writing. No GRE Subject.

LoR: all 3 from professors, 1 from an undergrad professors, 2 from graduate courses. One of 3 comes from a statistics professor.

Program applying: Statistics, Biostatistics, PhD.

Interests: Applied Statistics esp in health research & education research. Interested in an academic career.

Coursework:

Math: Calc I - III, DiffeQ (ordinary & partial), Linear Algebra, Real & Complex Analysis, Abstract Algebra, Math Finance, Numerical Analysis, Numerical solutions to PDEs.

Statistics: Probability, Mathematical Statistics I & II, Regression Analysis, Stat Computing, Mixed Model & Longitudinal data (Spring 2013), Time Series (Spring 2013).

Research:

- REU in Applied Math, Brown University

- Group Projects for Master's programs, one is about Power Grid Dynamics, the other one about Molecular Dynamics.

Work experience:

- Tutor/ Grader/ TA since 1st year in college.

- Currently lead discussion for an Intro to Statistics course.

List of schools so far (in no order): Harvard (very long shot I know), Berkeley, University of Washington Seattle, Duke, Ohio State, Carnegie Mellon, University of Chicago, John Hopkins, Columbia, Boston U, UC Davis.

Main concern: Not much research experience in Statistics. I performed statistical analysis in all of my projects, but that's about it, no specific Statistics projects/ research so far. Also will a change from Applied Math to Statistics too much of a change in the route? Will schools think that I'm not focused?

Also, do I really need to go into specific areas of interests in the SoP? Like missing data, MCMC, etc? To be honest, I don't have a clear idea about such specific things yet so I'm slightly worried.

Any comments are welcome. Thanks a lot!

[cyberwulf]

I think you're in very good shape; your list of schools is reasonable.

With your strong math background, lack of statistical research experience won't be a problem. Like most people applying, you can't really write credibly about particular areas of interest in your SOP, which is fine. You might just mention in passing a couple of areas you think might be interesting to study further.

[sisyphus1]

We are applying to similar schools with similar profiles and scores (I think yours is a little stronger with the REU experience). Being international will hurt you (as it will me). I think the real long-shot in your list of schools would be Berkeley, unless you are applying to it for Biostats. CMU also has an insanely low admit rate--around 5~6%. With SoP, I would mention something that might be a potential research interest but qualify it with the fact that given your lack of formal statistical research experience, you are open to studying other areas of statistics. That was the strategy I took.

Deadlines for most of the schools have passed, so I hope you've applied already!

Best of luck to both of us.

[roguexgirl]

Thanks a lot cyberwulf & sisyphus1!

@sisyphus1: Thanks for the suggestion! I've applied to most of them already, have a couple more with deadlines in January that I'll work on over the break. Good luck to both of us :-)!

[bamafan]

Why do you consider Harvard to be a longshot? Are you just assuming because it's Harvard, it necessarily must be selective? Harvard isn't the end all be all, and depending on the graduate field, is often far from the most cutting-edge or prestigious. Out of curiosity, since you are an international student, is that the perception most foreign applicants have on American schools? Don't get me wrong, Harvard is an elite and great school, but it seems people have a fixation on HYP.

 

I'm biased of course, having gone to UG down the street from them so we're fierce rivals, but the name is really just a name; individual PhD programs hold varying levels of impact factor and prestige. Of the schools you listed, I'd think CMU, Berkeley, and JHU are harder to get accepted into (I can't speak of course to pure statistics, but regarding biostatistics).

 

Also, it's a hotly debated topic, but I actually think it's easier to get in as an international applicant. Probabilistically speaking, you have a better chance as you face a proportionally higher opening to applicant ratio. The fallacy here assumes all applicants are equal, and it stands to reason international applicants are on average of higher caliber than domestic ones, but the numbers do favor you.

[cyberwulf]

Why do you consider Harvard to be a longshot? Are you just assuming because it's Harvard, it necessarily must be selective? Harvard isn't the end all be all, and depending on the graduate field, is often far from the most cutting-edge or prestigious. Out of curiosity, since you are an international student, is that the perception most foreign applicants have on American schools? Don't get me wrong, Harvard is an elite and great school, but it seems people have a fixation on HYP.

 

I'm biased of course, having gone to UG down the street from them so we're fierce rivals, but the name is really just a name; individual PhD programs hold varying levels of impact factor and prestige. Of the schools you listed, I'd think CMU, Berkeley, and JHU are harder to get accepted into (I can't speak of course to pure statistics, but regarding biostatistics).

Harvard is among the top 3 biostat departments in the US/world, and many would say it's #1. CMU doesn't even have a biostat department.

Also, it's a hotly debated topic, but I actually think it's easier to get in as an international applicant. 

This is demonstrably untrue.

Probabilistically speaking, you have a better chance as you face a proportionally higher opening to applicant ratio.

Also wrong. There are far more international than domestic applicants to biostat programs, and on average they have stronger math backgrounds than domestic students. Plus, for some international students English can be a concern, which raises the academic bar.

[Shostakovich]

Also regarding international students, I have heard that their employers back home do look for more "brand name" schools than for department strength, although this is slowly changing.

 

And Berkeley is widely considered one of the top 2 Stats departments along with Stanford, but is slightly weaker in Biostats. I suspect it might be due to the fact that they don't have a medical school and their department is not that big.

[bamafan]

Harvard is among the top 3 biostat departments in the US/world, and many would say it's #1. CMU doesn't even have a biostat department.

This is demonstrably untrue.

Also wrong. There are far more international than domestic applicants to biostat programs, and on average they have stronger math backgrounds than domestic students. Plus, for some international students English can be a concern, which raises the academic bar.

 

Well, I was speaking to my field, and you did neglect to quote the part I wrote about not all applicants being equal. But hey, you're faculty, I'll defer to your knowledge here.

[roguexgirl]

I didn't mean to say that Harvard is the most/ only hard program to get in - I typed this post around 2 in the morning and was ready to hit the bed :-). I said that because I've heard several students saying that Harvard is hard to get in both in general and especially for international students. I also consider several other schools on my list to be long-shots: Berkeley, Chicago, JHU for Biostat, etc. I'm slightly afraid that I have too many reach schools in my list, but I figure it's worth a try.

 

Cheers,