Profile Evaluation: Biostatistics PhD

[econtobiostat]

Hi all, any feedback is appreciated. Also note that I would be willing to apply to masters programmes instead if you think a PhD is a reach for me.

Undergrad Institution: Top 3 Canadian university
Major(s): Economics and Mathematics
GPA: 3.7

Masters Institution: Same as undergrad.
Major(s): Economics
GPA: 3.3 (Discussed below; it's 3.8 if a failed course is removed)

Type of Student: Canadian PR

GRE General Test:
Q: 165
V: 161
W: 5.0

Research Experience: 

1. Co-authored paper in a top economics field journal. Simulation-based paper using labour market survey data. I worked on this for about a year and a half, including a summer of full-time work, and attended a National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) conference for it.
2. RA for a project in applied microeconomic theory. I worked on this full-time for a summer and part-time through a school year.
3. Several other miscellaneous RAships (ex. replicating an existing paper using updated data, producing a report on public sector wage differentals for a provincial think tank)

Math Courses: Calc 1 (A), Calc 2 (A-), Calc 3 (A), Linear Algebra I (A), Linear Algebra II (B-), ODEs (A), Combinatorics (A+), Dynamical Systems (A+), Real Analysis (A+), Linear Optimisation (A+), Non-linear Optimisation (B).
Relevant Econ Courses (Undergrad): Econometrics I (A), Econometrics II (A)
Econ Courses (Grad): PhD Econometrics I (A), Microeconomic Theory (A+), PhD Econometrics II (A-), Empirical Microeconomics (A), Applied Econometrics (A), Macroeconomic Theory (F)
Stats Courses (Grad): Math Stats I (A+), Math Stats II (B)

Letters of Recommendation:

1. A joint letter from the 3 economics professors I co-authored with. This should be very strong.
2. A letter from the economics professor I did the applied microeconomic theory RAship with. This should also be very strong.
3. A letter from the statistics professor who taught me grad math stats. He said he'd be willing to explain the B in the second semester (the course average ended up being very low so I did well in relative terms). I don't know him too well but I spent a fair bit of time in his office hours. I think the letter will be okay.

Programs Applying: I would like to apply to programmes with an emphasis on causal inference. I am interested in self-selection into treatment and in potentially adapting econometric methods in this area to methods currently used in biostatistic. I have read through a textbook on dynamic treatment regimes from a professor at McGill and I have put together a rough thesis proposal which is based on incorporating self-selection into one of the main estimators used in that field.

PHD:
McGill
UPenn
Berkeley
UNC
Still deciding on more

Masters:
May apply to some if my application is too weak.

Concerns:

1. The obvious one: That F in macroeconomic theory. In the second semester of my MA I burnt out from the combination of PhD coursework, TA'ing and co-authoring. I have a particular dislike for macroeconomics and it was the first thing I let slip during the burn out. I try to explain this in my letter but, as I mention above, it brings my masters GPA from 3.8 to 3.3. I'm not sure whether this ruins my chances of applying to a PhD directly.
2. The more general concern that I am coming from an economics background and don't have much exposure to coursework or research in biostatistics. I'm not sure where to realistically apply given my background.

[TeX4]

Cant speak much for the rest but you will get into McGill for sure, proposal or not. I'm there now so I know a bit about the admissions.

The F probably kills any possible application for economics but I dont thnk it matters for biostats.

Also, I would take the GRE again If I were you.

Edited October 5, 2017 by TeX4

[econtobiostat]

12 hours ago, TeX4 said:

Cant speak much for the rest but you will get into McGill for sure, proposal or not. I'm there now so I know a bit about the admissions.

The F probably kills any possible application for economics but I dont thnk it matters for biostats.

Also, I would take the GRE again If I were you.

Thanks for the feedback. I have no interest whatsoever in staying in economics so I'm okay with my application for that field being dead.

I think I'll take your advice and retake the GRE. Those scores are from a couple of years ago and I hate these sort of standardised tests so much that I've tried to avoid going back, but 165 Q is probably on the low end.

[cyberwulf]

I think retaking the GRE with that score is a waste of time.

The only concern I have with the 'F' is that, in the context of the rest of your generally solid grades, people will wonder what happened there. Isolated F's sometimes signal cheating, so it's probably a good idea to address the grade in your personal statement (basically saying what you did above, i.e., that you were burned out and flaked on the course). It'll be interesting to see your results; you have very good mathematical prep from a strong school, so despite the low Masters GPA you could get some decent outcomes. Your list seems like a good start.

Edited October 9, 2017 by cyberwulf

[econtobiostat]

15 hours ago, cyberwulf said:

I think retaking the GRE with that score is a waste of time.

The only concern I have with the 'F' is that, in the context of the rest of your generally solid grades, people will wonder what happened there. Isolated F's sometimes signal cheating, so it's probably a good idea to address the grade in your personal statement (basically saying what you did above, i.e., that you were burned out and flaked on the course). It'll be interesting to see your results; you have very good mathematical prep from a strong school, so despite the low Masters GPA you could get some decent outcomes. Your list seems like a good start.

Thanks for the feedback! I appreciate it. I'll be sure to bring up the reasons behind the F in my personal statement. My understanding is that I shouldn't wax poetic about it; just keep it straight forward and to the point. It's good that I seem to be on the right track with my schools. I'm planning to add several more: Brown, Michigan, Hopkins, UCLA and Washington.

I'd really like to avoid getting rejected everywhere and I think my results may be noisy (it sounds like I'll be a 'let's take a chance on him' candidate). Do you think if I apply to those 9 I'll have a good chance of at least one offer? Or should I be adding more schools lower down the rankings to be safe?

Edited October 10, 2017 by econtobiostat

[StatsG0d]

Agree that it's not worthwhile to retake the GRE.

Please do post your results when the time comes. I think it will help future "nontraditional" applicants. Best of luck!

[econtobiostat]

Just here to give an update on my outcomes. In keeping with my non-traditional background, I ended up going for a non-traditional application route. I ended up ditching all of my planned US applications. I came across a PhD project in the University of Bristol Medical School which was right up my alley: developing statistical methods for Mendelian randomisation studies. Unfortunately, as an overseas student, I was only eligible to apply for one hotly contested spot funded by the Wellcome Trust and I -- perhaps unwisely -- put all of my eggs in that basket. It worked out, though, and I managed to secure the funding and the offer of admission.

I'd be surprised if anyone else follows this route but I hope this thread will prove useful to someone. I think I was successful in this approach because I applied for a subfield in which my econometrics background ended up being hugely advantageous (after all, Mendelian randomisation is simply a particular application of the method of instrumental variables). I suspect I would have had a much harder time trying to compete for more traditional biostatistics projects without first acquiring more relevant coursework or research experience. My F in macroeconomics also didn't seem to factor into their decision. It wasn't mentioned in the interviews and I didn't discuss it in my personal statement.

Anyway, I don't think I could have asked for a better outcome. I'm going to be working on an excellent project with equally excellent supervisors within a very unique department, not to mention the big fat stipend provided by the Wellcome Trust. Good luck to the other applicants!

Edited January 28, 2018 by econtobiostat

[StatsG0d]

Glad it worked out for you! However, (I guess this is for the future applicants), don't think that because you studied econ you can't do stats/biostats. I also did economics in undergrad, and got into several top-20 stats and biostats programs.

Best of luck in the UK!