How high to aim? (Biostatistics PhD)

[StatHopeful]

Undergrad Institution: Low-ranked non-flagship state school
Major: Mathematics, CS minor
GPA: 3.95 (4.0 in math)

Type of Student: DWM

Upper Division Courses:

Real I/II, Mathematical Statistics, Categorical Data Analysis, Abstract Algebra, DEQ, Set Theory (grad level)

 

GRE: 169V/170Q/5.5W

 

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Generic math department awards/ high gpa awards

 

Research experience: Past summer at top 15 biostatistics department in clinical trials, two working papers in stat, one r&r in graph theory

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Student teaching assistant in math department 

 

Letters of Recommendation: Math department chair, young stat professor from department, leader of data coordinating center from top 15 biostat department

 

Research Interest: Clinical trials, specifically Phase I and Phase II (I want small grant hell for the rest of my life), and structural neuroimaging

 

(Plan) to apply to (PhD Biostatistics Programs):

Harvard

Johns Hopkins

UNC

Michigan

Emory

Minnesota

Florida State (hopefully safety)

SMU (hopefully safety)

 

Possibly (PhD Statistics):

Purdue

WashU

South Carolina (safety)

 

Random:
Notre Dame AMSC (one adviser in particular)

 

I worry I may be aiming too high on the biostats side. I would love anyone's opinion/advice! Thank you all in advance.

[GoPackGo89]

This is shaping up to be quite the competitive year. Based on past years results I don't see how you don't get into one of those biostat departments.

[cyberwulf]

That's a reasonable list on the Biostat side, given your profile.

[StatHopeful]

@cyberwulf - thank you for your input. Would you recommend applying to Harvard/WashU/Hopkins even though I go to a poorly-ranked institution with no GRE subject? 

Thank you again!

[GoPackGo89]

On 8/16/2017 at 8:38 PM, StatHopeful said:

@cyberwulf - thank you for your input. Would you recommend applying to Havard/WashU/Hopkins even though I go to a poorly-ranked institution with no GRE subject? 

Thank you again!

With your profile you will be in the discussion EVERYWHERE. I can't wait to be the one reviewing applications one day to know for sure but for now I hypothesize there are less than 50 applicants with your kind of profile

[abstract_art]

37 minutes ago, statbiostat2017 said:

With your profile you will be in the discussion EVERYWHERE. I can't wait to be the one reviewing applications one day to know for sure but for now I hypothesize there are less than 50 applicants with your kind of profile

Op definitely has a strong profile, especially with multiple papers in the works and summer research at a top 15 biostats program, so they should apply to everywhere they want to. Just would caution about being overly optimistic for UW/Harvard (not sure about Hopkins), even though that already kind of goes without saying since grad admissions are super competitive. At the visit days for both, nearly everyone was either from a top 20 undergrad, a flagship state school, or a top liberal arts college. There were a few from colleges that didn't fit into that mold, but they were definitely the minority (I would consider myself in the minority even though I went to a top 35 undergrad). Then again, this might've just been this years applicant pool, so idk if this is typical or not.

Also to the op, if you're interested in neuroimaging why not apply to Penn biostats (http://www.med.upenn.edu/pennsive/)?