Questions from a Prospective Statistics Grad Student

[njstat]

I am a rising senior in undergrad at TCNJ and looking at grad programs. I would appreciate any advice.

1. I want to study applied statistics as opposed to theoretical, and am particularly interested in environmental applications. I've found studies in remote sensing and spatial analysis that interest me, but they are not out of statistics departments. Does anyone have suggestions for programs (preferably in eastern US) where I can get in, get funded, and do research in applied statistics (not business applications or biostatistics)? So far I have found interesting programs at Penn State and NC State, but I do not know if I can get into NC State and it doesn't seem likely that I will get into Penn State. I'm also looking at applying to Rutgers, but I have yet to find any professors in the Statistics/Biostat department who are studying what I want to study.

2. I would like to get a Masters en route to a PhD, and I need to be fully funded. It makes sense to apply to a PhD program, right?

Undergrad: The College of New Jersey (TCNJ)

Major: Mathematics with a Statistics Specialization

Minor: Graphic Design

GPA: 3.71 Cumulative, 3.61 in Mathematics/Statistics

Student: White female

GRE: 160 Verbal / 165 Quant / 4.5 Writing

Schools I am considering applying to: NC State, Rutgers New Brunswick, Penn State

Courses / Background:

Calc A(B+), Calc B(A-), Multivariable Calc(A-), Proof Writing Through Discrete Math(C+), Statistical Inference(A), Linear Algebra(A), Data Management and Analysis(A), Probability(B), Regression Analysis(B+), Sampling and Nonparametric Statistics(A), Datamining and Predictive Modeling(A), Real Analysis(tbd), Mathematical Statistics(tbd)

I'm proficient in R and am a certified base programmer for SAS 9. 

 

Research Experience: Summer undergrad biostat research program at TCNJ

 

Potential Letters of Recommendation (haven't asked them yet):

-Advisor / Research Advisor / Statistics Professor of 2 of my courses

-Criminology professor who taught my Data Management and Analysis course and helped me get SAS certified

-Boss of an online statistics internship I did

 

Thank you for your time, and I appreciate any advice you can give regarding applied statistics graduate programs.

[cyberwulf]

If you want to do applied statistics with a focus on environmental applications, writing off biostat departments seems like a big mistake since that is where a lot of enviro-stats folks congregate (see, e.g., Roger Peng at Johns Hopkins, Amy Herring at UNC, and Francesca Dominici at Harvard). Also, that C+ in proof writing is going to be a fairly serious barrier to admission in stat departments since most decent ones require quite a lot of math. It will still be an issue at decent biostat departments, but may be less of a "deal-breaker" if the rest of your application is otherwise strong.

[WhiteLion]

1. Ohio State has some faculty who do research in spatial statistics and sends a lot of its students to industry compared to most PhD programs. I know of one recent graduate from there who worked on a spatial ocean surveying problem for his dissertation.

2. Yes, assuming you can get in somewhere you are happy with. If you think your math grades are too poor, it is possible to do a funded masters and rehabilitate your image by getting good grades in graduate math classes(this is what I had to do, but my undergrad grades were much worse than yours). But you save time by going directly into a PhD, and if you change your mind, you can always leave with a masters, assuming you pick a program that allows it an fulfill the requirements.

Also, try really hard to get a good grade in real analysis. That would likely help mitigate your poor grade in discrete math.