PhD in Biostatistics - Mid-level schools and safety schools

[rodeoclowns]

What are some good mid-level and safety schools to apply to for a PhD (or DrPH) in Biostatistics?

[Biostat_Assistant_Prof]

That's entirely relative to your application profile. 

[rodeoclowns]

On 11/2/2014 at 5:13 PM, Noco7 said:

That's entirely relative to your application profile. 

Hi Noco7. I made a separate post with my profile but I haven't really gotten many opinions on it  . But I'll copy it here:

 

Undergraduate:

BS in Biology 3.2 GPA (top tier State school)

Relevant courses: Calc 1: B, Calc 2: B-, Calc 3: B, Stats for Life Sciences: A-

 

Graduate:

MPH 3.66 GPA (WashU)

Relevant courses: Intro to Biostats: A- , Applied Linear Modeling: A-, Multilevel and Longitudinal Modeling: B

 

Currently taking an online Linear Algebra course

 

GRE: 164 Quant, 156 Verbal, 4 Writing

 

Research Experience:

Currently working (will be 1 year full-time and 1 year part-time by Fall 2015) in a public health research (health disparities) lab. No publications yet. I use SAS at work (beginner) and have some experience with R (used in MLM).

 

My recommendations will likely be:

1. My PI who is has a PhD in Biostatistics (from a top 5 school in Biostats) and is published (and gives talks) often

2. Another PI I work with. Also has a PhD in Biostatistics (same school as other PI) but seems to have fewer publications

3. My Epidemiology from grad school professor. I took two courses with her and was her research assistant for a few months

4. (if required) My supervisor at the job I worked at during undergrad. In terms of "knowing me", she'll be a better option than the 1-2 jobs I took during grad school.

[sild]

DrPH programs can vary a lot across universities.  You might consider well-ranked programs who also offer that degree, e.g. UNC, Columbia, UCLA.

 

In terms of places to apply, some schools with strong reputations have newer biostat departments so you might consider those, e.g. Vanderbilt, Penn, Brown.   Maybe more of a stretch but potentially worth it depending on how your letters/statement look include Minnesota and Emory.  Colorado-Denver has been building and has some first class faculty, so that might be a nice choice.  More along the safety lines would be Alabama, MUSC, South Carolina, Ohio State, Dartmouth....  For a PhD program you might consider taking real analysis first.