How can I improve my chances for PhD stats programs as a rising senior?

[palmfrond]

Here's my profile:

 

Institution: Clarkson University (has anyone heard of this school?)

Citizen: USA

Major: Math, Computer Science (double)

Cumulative, Math, CS GPA: 3.789, 3.824, 3.9

Math/stats coursework: Calc 1-3, B, B+ ,B+; Applied Stats/Probability, A; Actuary Seminar;  intro. proofs course, A; Applied lin. alg., A; elementary diff. eqns, A; intro. modelling course, A; Advanced Calculus I, A; Abstract Algebra, A; graduate Finite Element Methods, A;

 

I've also TA'd the DE course for a few semesters.

 

Research Experience: I've done a ton of stuff in computational mathematics during the school year with one of my professors; I'm not really finding it as I did when I was still new to it. Last summer, I did an REU at Duke where I learned about and did a ton of Bayesian statistics which I really enjoyed (in contrast to the stats/actuary classes). I'm still working on the computational mathematics stuff, but I've also started working through some material on topic modelling.

 

I feel like I can get really strong letters of recommendation from various mentors or advisors, but on the other hand my home department is rather small. I also haven't had any publications yet, but I've presented work at local poster conferences (not sure if these matter).

 

By the end of this semester, I'll also have completed Advanced Calculus II and a graduate complex analysis course. My plans for the summer aren't set in stone yet since I'm waiting on REUs/internships, but I'm sure I'll be doing research somewhere this summer. In addition, I'll probably try to self-study GRE-type stuff and statistics/machine learning.

 

My plan (class-wise) for next semester is to take graduate real analysis and also a Bayesian data analysis course, as well as finish off my CS requirements. The semester after that, I was considering doing a Budapest Semester, but I'm not sure if this is optimal preparation for stats programs.

 

What really concerns me is that I've done a pretty mediocre job at what I perceive to be a mediocre school. With respect to statistics programs, I also feel like I won't have completed as much stats/prob. coursework as the competition. When I submit applications next fall, I'll also be much younger than most graduates; I don't know if this is something that works for or against me.

 

Do you guys have any suggestions at all for making my application more competitive? My hope is that I can be at least mildly competitive for high-ranking schools.

Edited March 23, 2014 by palmfrond

[clurp]

Budapest semesters is fun. If you want to, do it. Doing well in those courses will reaffirm your math preparation. 

 

Did you work with a stats professor at Duke? If so, get a recommendation from this person if possible. Duke has a lot of well-known faculty members in Bayesian statistics. 

 

If you like computational modeling and Bayesian statistics, then I would emphasize this in your applications. You might consider applying to schools with a focus in this area, e.g. Duke, Columbia, UCSC, UCI, UT Austin. 

 

The competition is pretty stiff, so definitely apply to a range of programs. But you have a lot of valuable experience (the REU in Bayesian statistics, the computational experience, the mathematics background), so I think you'll be all right. Definitely emphasize the strengths I mentioned in your SOP and mention any areas you think you're interested in so long as there's some intersection with work the faculty are doing at the school you're applying to. That'll play well at a lot of departments. 

Edited March 24, 2014 by clurp

[wine in coffee cups]

Budapest is great, enthusiastically recommend doing the BSM program if you can. I went, as did several other people in my statistics PhD program. I'm not sure if BSM helps directly with admissions (it definitely doesn't hurt), but it's a good opportunity to take classes your home university doesn't offer, particularly in combinatorics or graduate level analysis. Budapest is a really fun city and inexpensive too.

 

You also say you're worried about being younger than most graduates (did you skip some grades or have an accelerated undergrad?), so you might consider waiting to apply until after you graduate. Get your study abroad experience in there, get A's in more advanced classes on your transcript to offset those calculus B's, get a little more research or work experience. Besides, it super sucks to be under 21 and unable to participate in an admitted students event at a bar if you're 20 when you go on visits.

 

Can you elaborate on what you mean by having "done a pretty mediocre job at what I perceive to be a mediocre school"? Your profile doesn't sound mediocre so maybe you're just being excessively pessimistic, but what probably matters most is how your faculty recommenders would describe your performance. A compelling recommendation would compare you favorably with other graduates from Clarkson who have gone on to succeed in math/stat PhD programs and have your professors gushing about your abilities, intellectual curiosity, potential for research, blah blah. From a small department, they should be able to say that you're one of the strongest students they've had in recent years, maybe the strongest in your year. Someone from Duke should be able to compare you favorably to their students, too, which are more of a known entity in the statistics world. If you're in a position now where you think they would be able to say things along those lines, then I wouldn't worry too much about being able to get into a decent stats PhD program.

[palmfrond]

Budapest is great, enthusiastically recommend doing the BSM program if you can. I went, as did several other people in my statistics PhD program. I'm not sure if BSM helps directly with admissions (it definitely doesn't hurt), but it's a good opportunity to take classes your home university doesn't offer, particularly in combinatorics or graduate level analysis. Budapest is a really fun city and inexpensive too.

 

You also say you're worried about being younger than most graduates (did you skip some grades or have an accelerated undergrad?), so you might consider waiting to apply until after you graduate. Get your study abroad experience in there, get A's in more advanced classes on your transcript to offset those calculus B's, get a little more research or work experience. Besides, it super sucks to be under 21 and unable to participate in an admitted students event at a bar if you're 20 when you go on visits.

 

Can you elaborate on what you mean by having "done a pretty mediocre job at what I perceive to be a mediocre school"? Your profile doesn't sound mediocre so maybe you're just being excessively pessimistic, but what probably matters most is how your faculty recommenders would describe your performance. A compelling recommendation would compare you favorably with other graduates from Clarkson who have gone on to succeed in math/stat PhD programs and have your professors gushing about your abilities, intellectual curiosity, potential for research, blah blah. From a small department, they should be able to say that you're one of the strongest students they've had in recent years, maybe the strongest in your year. Someone from Duke should be able to compare you favorably to their students, too, which are more of a known entity in the statistics world. If you're in a position now where you think they would be able to say things along those lines, then I wouldn't worry too much about being able to get into a decent stats PhD program.

 

I'm thinking I'll do the Budapest Semester; it'll be nice to get out of Clarkson for a bit.

 

Part of me wants to take a little break after I finish my undergraduate (I started schooling early and then finished a diploma at a really bad high school in a year), but I'm not sure what I could do. I think sticking around and taking more classes would probably be out of the question because of money. I'm not sure if I could get a satisfying job, and I'd probably be having more fun working at a doctorate anyway. I imagine just taking a year off to sit around and do unrelated activities at probably looks worse than any of the above, not to mention that I'd be unhappy staying at home not doing something like math or statistics with other people with similar interests.

 

In general, I feel like I've made a lot of poor decisions, like taking really long to decide on computer science and math and then being miserable doing the computer science coursework. Other regrets: not getting straight As, not being academically focused when I started, and other similar things. I also feel like I've been really unsuccessful in trying to do research.

 

In sum, I guess I just feel like I come from a small department and won't be able to compete at top programs with people who were successful at bigger, more famous universities and have everything figured out already.

 

I'm fairly confident that I'm able to get good letters though, so I suppose that's comforting.

Edited March 24, 2014 by palmfrond

[wine in coffee cups]

Part of me wants to take a little break after I finish my undergraduate (I started schooling early and then finished a diploma at a really bad high school in a year), but I'm not sure what I could do. [...] In general, I feel like I've made a lot of poor decisions, like taking really long to decide on computer science and math and then being miserable doing the computer science coursework. Other regrets: not getting straight As, not being academically focused when I started, and other similar things. I also feel like I've been really unsuccessful in trying to do research.

In sum, I guess I just feel like I come from a small department and won't be able to compete at top programs with people who were successful at bigger, more famous universities and have everything figured out already.

I recommend taking a break from school. It sounds like you might be a little burnt out and insecure. Grad school will not improve the feeling. The problem is not that we compete with each other, but there's a chronic sense of guilt and disappointment with yourself for not working harder, lots of angst about missed opportunities and your future in general. It's nice to put that aside for a few years, work on something else altogether, do a good enough job and feel satisfied that you don't need to be doing more. You can pursue new hobbies, meet other kinds of people, figure out what matters to you, generally become slightly more of a developed adult human being. And the feeling of guilt-free evenings and weekends is something to appreciate while you can!

 

You're well-situated to do something interesting after college with your math and programming skills. I'd guess that a majority of Americans take at least one year before enrolling in a stats PhD program post-undergrad, not at all unusual for people to delay grad school by a few years in this field. You should do some online CV/LinkedIn stalking of current statistics PhD students to get an idea for what they did. Some examples from people I've encountered in my program and others, all of whom were math, stat, CS, or econ majors: teaching math (e.g. through Teach for America), teaching English abroad, many many 1-2 year post-bac research assistant jobs helping with the kinds of data collection and analysis professors don't have grad RAs working on (e.g. econ professors, law professors, neuroscience labs, biostats stuff for hospital research units), many consultant flavors (management consulting, litigation consulting, IT consulting, healthcare consulting, media research), research at the Federal Reserve, journalism, actuarial work, programming at tech companies big and small, freelance web development, Peace Corps, fancy foreign fellowships.

[literaryreference]

I would totally second everything said by the other posters.  It sounds like you are a very ambitious, very young person who has been accelerating things for a while and you don't feel like you will be able to compete.  My senior year of college I was a bit like a (less academically successful) version of you: I was looking at the competition and I spent too much time looking at forums where it seemed like all of the applicants are Ivy League graduates with 3.9+ GPAs, very high math subject test GRE scores, meaningful research, straight A's in graduate coursework, letters from famous professors, etc, etc, etc.  So I decided not to apply to grad school that year, considered myself a failure, and went into industry for a few years, and eventually started working on a masters in stats.

 

As it turns out, that was all just a pessimistic narrative I allowed myself to believe because I was in a college environment.  It can seem like academia is the only possible path, simultaneously the most noble and coveted of professions, and that going to grad school immediately is the only possible path because you don't want to be seen taking time off.  But it isn't exactly true.  

 

I think you should be proud of your accomplishments, particularly your GPA and completing an REU at Duke.  There is always going to be competition, but if you apply to a bunch of programs, and get good LORs from professors, you will get in somewhere that will be a good fit.  Waiting a year might improve your chances, but there is no harm in applying your senior year (other than the cost of apps).  Best of luck to you.