Help with Application Evaluation

[rlatngus]

Hi everyone, 

I would really appreciate an honest review of my application. I graduated as Class of 2016 as a math major and came back to my home country to take a gap year (for personal, family reasons). I am applying for only PhD programs this year (cannot afford MS) and would greatly appreciate a review of my application and even some suggestions about my current list of schools I am applying to.

Undergrad Institution: Mount Holyoke College
Major(s): Mathematics, Economics
Minor(s): n/a
GPA: 3.83, Major GPA: 3.9

Type of Student: International female

GRE General Test: (did not have much time to study and will take on 11/20, but I am expecting around V:165, Q:165+, W:4)
Q: 
V: 
W: 

 

 

Research Experience:  independent research project with faculty (course credits) the whole senior year in statistical genetics (longitudinal, mixed modeling of biomarkers after injection of LPS, testing for significant snps using anova and score test statistic) \

 

Computer Programming: R

 

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Magna Cum Laude

 

Letters of Recommendation: 

1 math professor (Real analysis)

2 statistics professors (one of which was my ind. research project supervisor)

Any Miscellaneous Points that Might Help: Took Real analysis (A), Linear Algebra (A), all 3 calculus classes (A), discrete mathematics (A-), complex algebra (A), abstract algebra (a-), ode (a-), stochastic processes (a-), probability (a), regression (a), mathematical stats (a)

 

Also, the reason i do not have research experiences for the summer following my soph and jr year and why I came back to korea to take a gap year after graduation has to do with health problems of a family member... I really hope this does not put me at a great disadvantage. Should I talk about this somewhere in my application?

 

 

The list of schools is not final. I know that there are a lot of really competitive and smart ppl out there and my application is not a WOW material so I really need less reach schools and more safeties... Please please help me! Thank you!!

Schools:

 

Reach: 

JHU (reach)

UNC (reach)

Umich (reach)

Columbia (reach)

WashU (reach) UCBerkeley(reach)

Emory

UCBerkeley

Uminnesota

UCLA UCDavis

BU

Upittsburg

Yale

Utexas

UIUC

[cyberwulf]

That is a reasonable list, but I'm not sure why you're classifying UNC and Michigan as reaches but not, say, Emory. UNC and Michigan are very large programs which accept a lot of applicants, while Emory is much smaller and therefore often has a higher bar for admission. Of course, that's not to say that Emory is a better program than UNC and Michigan, but rather to point out that difficulty of being admitted doesn't track exactly with school rankings. I think that places like UNC and Michigan are very reasonable targets for someone with a profile like yours. Michigan might be particularly appealing to you because of their strength in statistical genetics.

[rlatngus]

Ahh I see thank you. Yea that was a mistake not categorizing Emory as a reach. Do you have any suggestions for safeties?

[chisquare]

Have you considered stat master in biostat track at UBC? One of the new students enrolled in our department last year came from MHC as well, although I cannot recall if she is doing biostat or not. UBC provides fundings to master students.