Profile Evaluation : Statistics Ph.D

[lwxlwx]

Hey guys, another profile evaluation. Any feedback would be appreciated and please be honest!

 

Institution: Smaller state school

Major: Mathematics

Minors: Statistics, Actuarial Science

GPA:

Cumulative - 3.4

[But for last 5 semesters - 4.0 (bad freshman year)]

Type of Student: Domestic Caucasian Male

GRE General Test:

Q: 164 (Not that spicy)

V: 157

W: Pending

Research Experience:

• Research in queueing theory/algorithm design/discrete event simulation, with one paper written, and two in progress. Had a talk on the first paper at IFORS 2017 in addition to several other talks/poster sessions (on the first paper) throughout last year. 
• Meritorious Winner (Top 10% globally among ~8000 teams)  in the ICM 2017. Problem statement had to do with modeling airport security checkpoints to identify and pose solutions to bottlenecks in the system. 
• Small paper on data mining algorithms and chess.
• Undergraduate research assistant for statistics/operations research.
• Did some minor work with linear programming, nothing all that exciting.

Work:

Worked as both a research assistant and a peer tutor for 2 semesters.

Actuarial Exams (If relevant?):

• Exam P/1 - 10
• Exam FM/2 - 9
• Exam MFE/3F - 7

(Passed all three within 8ish months if that matters)

Courses (Chronologically):

• Calc I - C
• Stat I - C
• Calc II - C
• Calc III - B
• C++ Course - A
• Stat II - A
• Analysis I - A
• Math Stat I - A
• SQL Course - A
• Deterministic OR - A
• Abstract Algebra I - A
• Math Stat II - A
• Data Mining & Analysis - A
• Statistical Modeling - A
• Abstract Algebra II - A
• Number Theory - A
• Statistical Computing - A
• Stochastic OR - A
• Linear Algebra - A

Letters of Recommendation:

• From a Stats professor who I've done most of my research with, including working as a research assistant. She was an executive at a high profile company for most of her career, so she's an excellent writer/recommender and absolutely loves me.
• From a  Math professor who I've known and had classes with my entire college career.
• From a Math professor who I was extremely close with outside of the classroom. (I could choose a recommender who I've had more classes with, though I like the idea of having variety)

Programs (All Statistics, All Ph.D):

I'm not looking for anything fancy and any suggestions would be appreciated.

• University of Pittsburgh
• Ohio State
• University of Connecticut
• Temple
• Baylor University
• University of Georgia
• University of Kentucky
• Kansas State
• Bowling Green

Among some others, but you get the general type of school I'm shooting for.

Concerns:

My GRE scores aren't the best. I could take it again (and I know I could do better), but on the other hand, I'm not really trying to get into top-tier school, just a mid-level or large state school if possible. Similarly, my GPA isn't too hot either, though I have a massive upward trend in performance with the majority of my bad grades being freshman year. My last major concern is coming from a smallish state school, though I'm not sure how large of a factor this even is. I'm hoping good letters, my research experience, and my upward academic trend is enough to make me competitive at the level I'm aiming for, but if you really think I should consider taking the GRE again please let me know.

 

Thank you in advance!

Edited October 26, 2017 by lwxlwx

[StatsG0d]

I don't really think it's necessary to retake the GRE. You have the same score as me and I got into a couple top-10 stats and almost all schools in the 11-30 range that I applied to.

It will be interesting to see what happens. I think the admissions committee will forgive the relatively poor grades in the Calculus sequence if you're getting A's in analysis and abstract algebra 1 AND 2. I would say you should add maybe 2-3 more prestigious programs to that list. Try maybe Penn State, NCSU, A&M, Purdue. At A&M, it's free to apply so you have nothing to lose and everything to gain.