Statistics Phd profile eval

[Vokram8]

Hello. Here's my profile:

 

Undergrad institution: Top Mexican university, unkwown in the US

Major: Applied Mathematics

Undergrad GPA: 9.3/10, not sure how to translate this to the "out of 4" GPA scale

GRE:

Q: 98 percentile

V: 80 percentile

W: 3.5

Math subject test: Still haven't taken it.

TOEFL: 108/120 (internet based)

Letters of recomendation: I'm sure they'll be very good. One of them is from my undergrad thesis advisor, who got his Phd in statistics from Stanford.

Others: I directed my universitiy's math magazine and finished my 4.5 years degree in 3.5. I am currently working for an internet retailer doing statistical analyses for newsletter advertising.

 

 

I intend to apply for a statistics Phd. I'd like to apply to Harvard, Berkeley, Stanford, Chicago, Duke, Carnegie Mellon, University of Michigan, Columbia and the University of Toronto. What do you think my chances are? Does anyone know a rough equivalent for my GPA? What is the minimum score I should get in the math subject test to stand a chance? Do I have to retake the general GRE due to my poor writing score? Do you think directing the magazine, finishing earlier or my job might play in my favor or will they just be ignored?

 

Any answers you can give me will be very appreciated,

Thanks!

Edited August 3, 2013 by Vokram8

[biostat_prof]

Make sure you get recommenders who will spell out in very clear detail how to read your transcript. They need to be very specific: "Top 5% of students," "Best student in 5 years," something along those lines. And if they are not willing to classify you as "best student in x years," my guess is that it will be an uphill climb to be admitted to the top-ranked departments. PhD admissions for international students is brutally competitive. My department could fill all of our slots for foreign students several times over with students from Tsinghua/Peking/ISI/SNU/HKU alone. Quite honestly, we usually don't admit foreign students from outside this short list of "feeder universities" unless a person's credentials are really amazing. I would also apply to a number of MS programs as a backup; you will have a much easier time if you can get a recommendation or two from a well-known professor at an American university. Good luck.

[Vokram8]

Thanks a lot for your input, I appreciate it. Do you think if I get a very good score in the GRE subject test I might have a decent chance? I'm sure I can get very good recomendations, but from the professors at my university, not from well-known professors at American universities...

[biostat_prof]

I'm honestly not sure the math GRE will help you that much. I think Stanford is the only school that still asks for it, and to be perfectly honest with you, very high scores on that test are the norm for international applicants. If you get a nearly perfect score it probably ensures that they will read your application, but it still won't guarantee you admission, and if you do poorly it might doom you. Recommendations are really the most important thing in your case. They need to be very specific. Your recommendation writers need to be able to say that you are the best student in X years and they need to describe what students they are comparing you to. I don't know much about Mexican higher education specifically, but I know in most of Latin America the competition to be admitted to a major university in the first place is already very intense. Your recommenders should say how hard it is to be admitted to your university and then say that you are the best student out of this already select group. They should also describe your specific accomplishments in detail. If you got a high grade in a course that uses a standard textbook that is well-known in the U.S. (Casella and Berger or the Lehmann books, for example), they should also talk about that. In general, you need to convince them that you are one of the best students at your university and that it is worth taking a chance on you rather than a student from Tsinghua or HKU who they already know will have a strong undergraduate preparation.

[cyberwulf]

 I'm sure I can get very good recomendations, but from the professors at my university, not from well-known professors at American universities...

 

Very few people get letters from "well-known" professors. As biostat_prof said, the main issue is the strength of your school and how you compared to other students there. Hopefully, you can get someone to say something like "Vokram8 is a better student than Vokram7, who graduated two years ago and is now a PhD student at [prestigious stat/math program]."

Edited August 19, 2013 by cyberwulf

[Vokram8]

Thanks a lot for you input, I really appreciate that you took the time to write it down.