Profile evaluation for stats phd

[heronsode]

Greetings,

 

I would greatly appreciate it if someone could evaluate my profile info below and give an informed opinion on my competitiveness in applying to stats phd programs, such as CMU and UWashington.

 

Thanks!

 

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Undergraduate institution rank: Around #100 in the US News rankings.

Undergraduate majors: Math, Philosophy

Minors: Economics and physics

Undergraduate GPA, math GPA: 3.66; 3.3.

 

Math courses (not exhaustive, but the most pertinent): Cal I - cal III (A's); differential equations (A); discrete math (A); three terms of linear algebra (A, A, B+); three terms of real analysis (one introductory course, and two advanced courses) (B+, C+,B+); two terms of complex analysis (A's); one course in mathematical statistics (taken pass/fail); and two terms of algebra (C+, B+).

 

Other quantitative courses taken: Error analysis (physics) (A); and two terms of econometrics (A's).

 

GRE (quantitative, verbal, writing): 169, 165, 5.5.

 

Teaching experience: TA for an undergrad/grad course in monetary policy; TA for an undergrad survey of mathematical topics sequence (discrete math, logic).

 

Research experience: Research assistant promoted to research analyst for two years at a federal reserve bank. Employed sophisticated time-series analysis methods for forecasting macroeconomic variables using statistical software. Co-authored a paper regarding a forecasting model I developed.

 

Other experience: Co-founder of forum website that utilizes machine-learning algorithms. My role here has been in coding the back-end portion of the website as well as developing the ML algorithms.

 

Programming languages: Matlab, SAS, Stata, Eviews, VBA, SQL, PHP.

 

LOR (according to previous LOR's from them): From math professors: "Solid student, passionate." From econometrics professors: "Top of the class, one of the best in my experience."

 

Other relevant background: I had two terms of bad grades (C's and B's) that sunk my math GPA. This was a result of my mom dying one term and my father the next. (Are circumstances such as these typically considered in admissions decisions?)

Edited October 28, 2014 by heronsode

[StatsG0d]

I think it'll be tough to get into those schools with that GPA and in particular the C+ in analysis especially since your school is not highly ranked. Take what I say with a grain of salt as I'm applying in the same cohort as you. The rest of your profile looks great though. I don't see CMU as that far of a reach but UWashington I think would be very tough. Then again, you have a coauthored paper so that helps you out a lot and your GRE scores are high. I think one strategy might be for you to take the math subject GRE to show that although your math GPA isn't the highest amongst the top applicants your math skills exceed them. Your advantage is that you have taken many math courses, so you can probably do well on it if you study hard.

[Stat Assistant Professor]

You should definitely mention the personal circumstances in the application (either the supplemental info section or the SoP, or ask one of your LoR writers to allude to it). Don't dwell on it too much, but the point you need to get across is that these two terms are not reflective of your true mathematical ability, and you'll want to emphasize how you improved greatly after that. You may want your LOR writers to make a case with regard to this too.

 

Also agreed with footballman2399 that a decent score on the math GPA could help you make your case. You'll also want to get very strong letters of recommendation that can say a bit more than just "one of the best." If your professors could be a bit more specific (e.g. pointing to specific coursework, class participation, projects, etc.) and say you're one of the best students they have ever had, that your research potential is excellent, etc. that would work in your favor. Your GPA would still keep you out of the very top programs, but there are programs that tend to place stronger emphasis on letters of recommendation (case in point: there is a student in my current program who went to a liberal arts college that didn't even give grades).

[heronsode]

My thanks to both of you for the strategies--taking the subject test does seem like a good way, if done well, to send a more robust signal to the adcoms and relieve concern about my GPA; and I'll definitely make sure to have my LOR's emphasize potential for research.

 

And best of luck to you, footballman2399!

 

For anyone else who comes across this thread with a concern about explaining a hardship-based lowered GPA, the second post in this thread also mentions the importance of the personal statement: