PhD in Biostatistics--Profile Evaluation

[kdk]

Sorry for a long post and more profile evaluation questions, but here goes:  I'm thinking about applying to a PhD program in Biostats in about a year and a half; I have a B.S. in Math (and a B.A. in French) from an average state school (in top 50 public schools), and a master's in math with a concentration in mathematical biology from an above-average state school (in top 20 public schools) with a decent math department (top 30--all schools).

 

Graduate GPA:  3.85 (received one B- in a difficult biology class first semester; all other grades were A's with 2 A-'s)

Relevant Courses:  Applied Differential Equations I, II, III; Molecular Cell Biology I and II; Numerical Methods; Computational PDEs; Probability; Statistics; Intro to SAS; Statistical Analysis of Genetic Data

Research:  Master's thesis project (30 page thesis), includes mathematical modeling and statistical analysis

 

Programming:  MATLAB (advanced), SAS and R (confident beginner), introduction to various others

No publications

Presentations:  Quite a few posters; three at national conferences (won an award at one), several at regional and local conferences

 

I'll retake the GRE; on the old system, I got 800 quantitative (94th percentile), 660 verbal (94th percentile), and 5.0 writing (84th percentile).

 

I did take a year "off" to teach English abroad, so I'm not sure if that will impact my application.  I am currently looking for a position in industry (ideally in research related to biostats/public health, but so far I haven't had much luck in that area, so it might be more math than stats-related), so in theory, I'll have about a year and a half of work experience before entering a PhD program.

 

My letters of recommendation would come from my two thesis advisors, who I would expect to write reasonably good letters, though neither is directly in biostatistics (one is math PhD, one is MD).  A third letter would come from a supervisor at the job I'm hopefully going to get soon.

 

My question is, to what caliber of programs can I expect to be admitted?  I'll apply to a range of reaches and safeties, but I'd like to know what reasonable reaches and safeties would be.  Are top programs like Harvard and University of Washington within the realm of possibility, and is there anything I can do within the next year or so to help my chances?  Could mid-tier schools be my safeties, or should I apply to state schools at similar levels to my previous institutions as safeties?

 

(Not sure how much my undergraduate profile matters after having completed a master's, but here it is in case it's useful:

 

Undergraduate GPA:  3.82

Relevant Courses:  Calc I, I, III (all A's, Calc II taken in the honors section of the course); Linear Algebra I (A, honors section), II ( and III (A, graduate course); Real Analysis (; Abstract Algebra (B, graduate course); Applied Mathematical Statistics (A); Applied Differential Equations (A); Actuarial Math (A); Applied Regression Analysis (A); Probability (A); Discrete Probability (A); Mathematical Theory of Statistics (

Research:  Participated in an REU at a well-respected institution (in a pure math topic, not related to statistics or biostatistics) and participated in a research project with faculty, though the research was not really original or high-level--this was maybe more like an independent study project, again not in a stats/biostats-related topic

No publications)

[sild]

It depends on the grades in Analysis and Math-Stat Theory (smiley faces!).  If those are A's and you score well (>165) on the new GRE-Q, and you are confident in your academic reference letters, I'd apply to the top 5 (Harvard, Hopkins, UNC, UW, Michigan) and a smattering of others.  If you've got B's in some of those and it has been a while since you've taken a theoretical math/stat class, admissions committees might get nervous.  The year off to teach English shouldn't hurt at all, though you want to be sure your post-MS experience (if you have graduated) is directly relevant, so you may need a good spin on what you are doing now if you have graduated and are still job hunting.

[cyberwulf]

A few years ago, this profile would have made you a lock for all but perhaps the top 2-3 programs, but the competition has become much, much stronger recently. You're still in good shape, and it's certainly worthwhile applying to top 5 programs, but I would consider programs ranked from ~5-10 as where you'll want to target most of your applications, with a couple higher and a couple lower than that range.