Fall 2018 Statistics Applicant Thread

[bayessays]

7 minutes ago, Woolworth said:

Can anyone compare the NCSU vs. UNC Statistic Phd? I want to stay in academia after finishing, and it seems like NCSU has a low placement for academia. But I've heard NCSU has a stronger program... Any insights?

NCSU has that reputation here because there are a lot of industry opportunities in the triangle and it's a large department, so many of the students do go into industry. But NCSU has some great researchers who would prepare you well for a career in academia, and you can find NCSU alums in many departments so I would say that is simply not true. UNC has a sort of odd department in that they are smaller and have a lot of probability people and others doing more niche research (JS Marron has done a lot of vision stuff, and they have a guy who researches the foundations of fiducial inference).

[Woolworth]

6 minutes ago, bayessays said:

NCSU has that reputation here because there are a lot of industry opportunities in the triangle and it's a large department, so many of the students do go into industry. But NCSU has some great researchers who would prepare you well for a career in academia, and you can find NCSU alums in many departments so I would say that is simply not true. UNC has a sort of odd department in that they are smaller and have a lot of probability people and others doing more niche research (JS Marron has done a lot of vision stuff, and they have a guy who researches the foundations of fiducial inference).

Awesome, thanks for that! Might be pushing here, but any thoughts on profs strong in math stats / theory at NCSU?

[HappyDog]

19 minutes ago, Woolworth said:

Can anyone compare the NCSU vs. UNC Statistic Phd? I want to stay in academia after finishing, and it seems like NCSU has a low placement for academia. But I've heard NCSU has a stronger program... Any insights?

NCSU for industry and UNC for academia.

[StuartLittle]

Good read: http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/1/1/e1400005

"Systematic inequality and hierarchy in faculty hiring networks"

[StuartLittle]

8 hours ago, SheldonCopper said:

Can you guys please share information regarding professors’ move? It would be heartbreaking if one realizes that the program he/she accepted no longer has the POI.

Lafferty just moved to Yale last November.

K...I am definitely heading to Yale then hahaha!

[bayessays]

31 minutes ago, Woolworth said:

Awesome, thanks for that! Might be pushing here, but any thoughts on profs strong in math stats / theory at NCSU?

They have two great Bayesian theorists in Ghoshal and Ryan Martin. There is a lot of very theoretical research that isn't called "mathematical statistics" though that is done all throughout the department. For instance, Eric Laber works on biostatistics problems but his research in reinforcement learning is very mathematical. 

[jswizzle48]

Anyone still waiting for Duke MS results?

Any indication what this could mean if I haven't heard back?

[Laoceberg]

Just get accepted by Florida State University statistics Ph.D. (Without Funding). The email says they will give limited TAs based on your grade on qualifying exam. Basically, the first two years will be fully unfunded. Does anyone know this program? How likely can I get the RA after my second year?

[Onsemiro]

On 3/11/2018 at 9:51 AM, imgonnafail said:

Also waiting on UCLA. I'd assume this week, they don't have many more weeks left...

I got rejected from the UCLA Statistics PhD program earlier today.

[BStat]

Advice needed: I have a call scheduled with the Vice Chair of Graduate studies for Statistics department of Ohio State University. I have already received an offer for Ph.D. with Graduate Teaching assistantship and Fubrizol Startup scholarship. I was also nominated for University Fellowship, results of which are still pending. Did anyone receive a request for a similar phone call? If yes, can they advise on what will be the topic of discussion? Is it like an interview for University fellowship? Do I need to prepare something for this? Thanks! 

[Alexg]

11 hours ago, Woolworth said:

NCSU professors have very good networking 

 

Edited March 14, 2018 by Alexg

[Alexg]

would you please help me: comparing between Boston University vs University of Virginia (UVA), I see the ranking of UVA(overall ranking) is much better than BU,  I don't have much information from these two and I applied as a safe place (just these two admissions) out of 20 places that I was rejected.

[underworked]

15 hours ago, jswizzle48 said:

Anyone still waiting for Duke MS results?

Any indication what this could mean if I haven't heard back?

I'm still waiting too. Not sure what this means but not super hopeful 

[Kn8.Cuckoo]

Anyone heard from JHU yet? I know they have sent out some interviews and offers. Not sure about rejection tho. Still waiting 

[bayessays]

9 hours ago, Alexg said:

would you please help me: comparing between Boston University vs University of Virginia (UVA), I see the ranking of UVA(overall ranking) is much better than BU,  I don't have much information from these two and I applied as a safe place (just these two admissions) out of 20 places that I was rejected.

My initial impression was that BU is probably better but I'm really not so sure. The department isn't ranked as a stats department because it's affiliated with the math department. Eric Kolaczyk is a name I recognize in the data science world, but they have only a few professors doing stats research and a lot of probabilists.

UVa's big name is their chair Kafadar who I think used to be head of the ASA, but she's not a very active researcher. They have a couple profs who publish some papers in journals like JASA on a semi regular basis. 

My guess is that you'd have similar opportunities coming out of both places and tour decision should come down more to research fit, location, department culture etc. as I don't think there is a clear answer to which is better. 

[Bayesian1701]

17 hours ago, Laoceberg said:

Just get accepted by Florida State University statistics Ph.D. (Without Funding). The email says they will give limited TAs based on your grade on qualifying exam. Basically, the first two years will be fully unfunded. Does anyone know this program? How likely can I get the RA after my second year?

Do you have any funded offers?  It would probably cost you somewhere in the range of $80-100k for those first two years.   I know that my offer was renewable so I wonder how many of the previously unfunded students they can afford.  It's a gamble and you may be better offer reapplying if you don't have any funded offers and focusing on programs known to fund all of their students.  

[lilchow]

Got into UMBC PhD statistics this morning!! no word on funding - they told me to reach out to the graduate program director for funding. 

[ducklamp]

2 hours ago, Kn8.Cuckoo said:

Anyone heard from JHU yet? I know they have sent out some interviews and offers. Not sure about rejection tho. Still waiting 

Checked online last night and found out I was rejected. Received an email this morning. Really really bummed... this is a difficult one to swallow. I did not receive an interview, but had spoken with a few professors extensively before the application deadline (and had received VERY positive feedback), so was hoping that the lack of interview invitation wasn't a huge red flag. Good luck to you!!

[OuterEdge]

18 hours ago, jswizzle48 said:

Anyone still waiting for Duke MS results?

Any indication what this could mean if I haven't heard back?

I found out February 16th, they're flying me out for a visit day next Friday. However, I've seen a few other people report here on the results search admissions for Duke MS after I found out, so I think they were rolling them out in batches.

[OuterEdge]

48 minutes ago, ducklamp said:

Checked online last night and found out I was rejected. Received an email this morning. Really really bummed... this is a difficult one to swallow. I did not receive an interview, but had spoken with a few professors extensively before the application deadline (and had received VERY positive feedback), so was hoping that the lack of interview invitation wasn't a huge red flag. Good luck to you!!

Where does it indicate online you were rejected? Is this for biostatistics?

I applied for the MS in Biostatistics and it says mine is still under review. I'm expecting a rejection but I need to know one way or another so I can finish planning my school visits... JHU is my top choice.

[OuterEdge]

19 hours ago, jswizzle48 said:

Anyone still waiting for Duke MS results?

Any indication what this could mean if I haven't heard back?

Oops I made the assumption you were referencing Duke Biostatistics MS. If you weren't, ignore my previous reply

[Jairo333]

I applied for a Stats Ph.D at University of Toronto. Apparently acceptance offers and waitlist offers have already been sent. However, my online application say it's still being reviewed. I send an e-mail asking for any news and they said I should keep waiting. Should I keep my hopes up?

[ducklamp]

1 hour ago, OuterEdge said:

Where does it indicate online you were rejected? Is this for biostatistics?

I applied for the MS in Biostatistics and it says mine is still under review. I'm expecting a rejection but I need to know one way or another so I can finish planning my school visits... JHU is my top choice.

This was for biostatistics ScM. 

If you go to the mypath site, the tab on the left that was entitled "Application Status" (or something of that nature) switched to "Application Review Complete." The Application Decision is on the page after you click that tab. I checked this site multiple times yesterday and saw the decision in the early evening; the email with the decision then came this morning. Sigh... this was my first choice (by FAR) too. The sting has subsided a little and now am trying to focus upcoming visits! Best of luck:) It's not game over until you get the rejection!

[Laoceberg]

3 hours ago, Bayesian1701 said:

Do you have any funded offers?  It would probably cost you somewhere in the range of $80-100k for those first two years.   I know that my offer was renewable so I wonder how many of the previously unfunded students they can afford.  It's a gamble and you may be better offer reapplying if you don't have any funded offers and focusing on programs known to fund all of their students.  

I have funded offers but most of them are mid tier schools. The email says they hire around 40 unsupported Ph.D+MS each year. And the cost is around 35K per year for unfunded student.

[bayessays]

15 minutes ago, Laoceberg said:

I have funded offers but most of them are mid tier schools. The email says they hire around 40 unsupported Ph.D+MS each year. And the cost is around 35K per year for unfunded student.

What are the other schools? FSU has some good faculty, but it's also solidly mid-tier, so knowing what your other options are could help us give some perspective on the difference.  Unless you are wealthy and the money is not an issue, attending an unfunded PhD program is a bad idea when you have other options.