Univeristy of Texas Austin Statistics program

[Pha3drus]

Hi guys, I graduated from Texas A&M University in 2014 with a degree in Computer Science with a Math minor. After doing software engineering for almost a year, I have realized that I want to go back to school and get a Masters or PhD in statistics (particularly data science). I had a ~3.9 GPA and graduated with an honors degree. While in undergrad, I did a little bit of research in high performance computing, but no papers or anything. I could get decent recs from a Math Modeling professor and a Data Science prof (from CS department) but just from classes I took. I can't find anything about the University of Texas Austin Statistics department rankings, but UT would be my first choice because I love living in Austin. How would I look as an applicant / Does anyone know about selectivity at UT Austin? 

Thank you so much for any input you can give me!

 

 

P.S., my GRE scores are 170Q/164V

Edited April 23, 2015 by Pha3drus

[bayessays]

You seem to be a good fit and would probably be a great candidate for the MS, assuming they start admitting students again.  The PhD program is new, so it is unranked, but I think it will be a highly ranked department in the future.  Admissions to the PhD program is very competitive; they have small PhD cohorts (about 5 students/year).  There were students this year I've seen on the forum who were admitted to top 20-40 departments and were rejected from UT.

[Pha3drus]

Thank you for the response! That's good to know. Do you know how selective Rice University, Texas A&M, and UT Houston Health Science Center are for the PhD and Masters programs? Thanks again

Edited April 23, 2015 by Pha3drus

[bayessays]

Keep in mind with all of this that there is a lot of randomness in the admissions process, and mine is just one opinion.  You're probably competitive for any MS program in the country.  They're less selective because you're usually paying your own way.  Texas A&M has a very highly ranked department, but it is larger so that makes it a little easier to crack.  Rice has a very good program.  I don't know what your math minor consists of, but if you completed through real analysis and did well, I think you'd have a shot at these schools (but by no means a guarantee).  I think Rice and UT-Austin in particular will look favorably upon your CS/math background. UT-Houston is considerably easier to get into than the three other schools; I would be surprised if you were not admitted to their PhD program.

[Pha3drus]

 

 

Keep in mind with all of this that there is a lot of randomness in the admissions process, and mine is just one opinion.

 

I know this, but I also really appreciate your responses! I am trying to learn as much about the admissions landscape of schools in Houston and Austin, and you seem to have a pretty good idea. Thanks again!