how to narrow down stat graduate program search

[rruns]

Hi all, I've been an unregistered reader of this forum for a while, which has been extremely helpful, but finally decided I should create an account and become an active user. I apologize if my question has been asked before; I couldn't find quite the same topics when I searched through old posts.

 

Anyways - I am a rising senior exercise physiology major who has changed focus to statistics. It's a long story why, but I'm almost postive I want to pursue a master's in statistics and work in a non-academic setting, possibly with a biology/health focus but I don't want to narrow myself to that just yet. From a lot of online searches, I have what I believe to be a list of every program in the US. But now I don't know how to narrow down my search. If I wanted to go onto a PhD, research, etc. I know that I would want to find programs whose research interests are in line with mine. But since I want to be on the applied end of things, does that not matter as much? How did others pursuing a MS in Stat decide on programs to apply to? By "academic tier"? Geography? Anything else? I know I wouldn't be a top candidate at some schools due to my mostly non-math background, but thanks to free electives I have taken the full calc sequence, intro stat, and linear algebra, and received A's in all of them. So I don't want to limit myself to schools that may be deemed less competitive or less prestigious. And I'm open to a variety of settings in which to live.

 

It just seems like there are so many options and I'm not sure what to do with all of them. I know this type of question may seem naive or silly, but I'm feeling a little lost right now. Professors I have spoken to in the stat/math department at my school have been pretty unresponsive, perhaps since I am not one of "their" students. I would really appreciate any insight from others who have gone through this process!

[cyberwulf]

My general advice is to go with the best/most prestigious program that will accept you, in a place that you would be happy living.

There's been a lot of discussion on this board about what people with particular academic records can aspire to in terms of admissions, so I suggest you try to find a close-ish match to your profile and start to form a list of reach, reasonable, and safety schools.

[rruns]

Thanks for your response, cyberwulf!