General Advice for a Junior Interested in Biostats Graduate School

[CommonerCoffee]

Hi everyone, thanks for taking the time to read this thread. As the title states, I'm currently a junior so I have one more year to add to my profile before applying to graduate schools.

Of course, I would like to do all I can to make myself as competitive as possible when the time comes though. Here's some background information.

 

School: Top 15 Liberal Arts College

Major: Math

Minor: Physics, Economics

GPA: 3.92 Overall, (4.0 in Major)

Haven't taken much math classes so far so that might be a bit weak. 

Multivariate Calculus (High School)

Differential Equations (High School)

Linear Algebra (A)

Probability Models (A)

Into to Number Theory (A)

Mathematical Statistics (A)

Research experience: I spent a summer doing astronomy research at my college before freshman year. 

Letters of recommendation: Not quite sure yet. 

GRE: Not yet taken.

Schools: Would like some recommendations on where to apply! I know my profile is mostly incomplete so far but an idea of where I'm competitive for would be nice.

This past summer I took part in a Summer Institute of Biostatistics program and that really made me decide on doing this. I'm currently taking a Real Analysis and Advanced Linear Algebra class this semester. My school seems to only offer one more stat class and I could take that next year in the Fall. The math department here is small and I'm not sure if I could be of much use to what little statistics research that might be taking place throughout the year. 

 

If anyone has any tips on what classes to take from here on out, that would be great! I'm taking an intro bio course this semester but don't know if I should take more after this semester. Computer Science classes in my school are incredibly hard to get into as an upperclassman but I did learn some SAS and R over the past summer. 

 

I'm really hoping to land an REU this summer to get a sense of statistical research but my luck with getting accepted into those programs has been awful. If anyone knows of any relevant backup programs to apply to, that would be greatly appreciated. 

Edited September 23, 2013 by CommonerCoffee

[cyberwulf]

If you graduate with anything approaching a 3.9 overall in math from a top 15 liberal arts college, you will be given very strong consideration for admission at every biostatistics program in the country. Your math background is likely to be a strength given that you've got two more years of math classes to go, and you're already taking analysis. Don't worry about taking more bio classes; I would lean towards more math/stat classes instead. Landing an REU would be nice as it would give you some additional perspective on the field and (hopefully) produce a letter of recommendation speaking to your research potential, but a strong academic record at a highly-regarded institution remains the surest path to admission at top programs.

 

Good luck!

[CommonerCoffee]

Thank you very much! I guess that frees up a lot of room when I go course shopping for the next semesters. 

Do you recommend taking the Math GRE? I don't really have the time to study for it over my semesters but I could study up over the summer.

[cyberwulf]

If you're pretty set on biostat, you definitely don't need to take the math GRE.

[aridneptune]

The math GRE is very frustrating and scores are highly skewed toward the top end (so missing even a few questions lowers your percentile quite a bit). The benefits (marginal) are not worth the costs (significant).