Data Science PhD Student | Engineering, Stats & CS Background

Victoria S.

ACT Math

I scored an 800 on SAT Math and 800s on SAT II Math, Physics, Chemistry, and Biology, along with 5s on 16 AP exams — all as an international student applying from China to US colleges. I completed my undergraduate degree at Northwestern with three majors in Industrial Engineering, Statistics, and Data Science, and I am now a second-year PhD student in Data Science at the University of Chicago. I have TAed quantitative courses at both the undergraduate and graduate level.

Calculus

Scored 5 on AP Calculus BC (with AB subscore of 5) and 5s on 16 AP exams total including Physics C: Mechanics, Physics C: E&M, Chemistry, and Biology. Earned an 800 on SAT II Math.

Computer Science

I am a second-year PhD student in Data Science with strong foundations in algorithms, programming, and applied machine learning and have TAed graduate-level courses in software engineering and data systems. I hold a TensorFlow certification from Imperial College London and completed a Machine Learning for Data Science and Analytics certification through edX. Professionally, I have applied these skills as an AI Research Intern at Zhipu AI in Beijing, where I developed and deployed multimodal LLM and agentic systems, and as a Quantitative Strategist Intern at Goldman Sachs, where I built large-scale graph data pipelines in Python and SQL.

Data Analysis

I'm a PhD student in Data Science at the University of Chicago, where I also TA graduate-level courses in data systems and software engineering. I graduated from Northwestern with a top GPA across three majors — Statistics, Data Science, and Industrial Engineering — so I have deep hands-on experience across the full quantitative stack. I've applied these skills professionally as a Quantitative Strategist intern at Goldman Sachs and as an Research intern at Z.Ai (AI Company in China), building everything from ML pipelines to optimization models. I love breaking down complex topics into clear, intuitive steps — whether you're stuck on stats, Python, linear algebra, or ML.

Physics

A few years ago, before college, I earned perfect 5s on all four AP Physics exams (Physics 1, Physics 2, Physics C: Mechanics, and Physics C: Electricity and Magnetism), scored a perfect 800 on the SAT II Physics Subject Test, and was recognized as an AP Scholar with Distinction. I earned regional distinction in the Physics Bowl competition for two consecutive years and competed in USAYPT (US Association of Young Physicists Tournament), which trained me in rigorous experimental design, theoretical modeling, and defending physics arguments against peer critique. I am currently a fully funded PhD student at the University of Chicago, where physics-based reasoning underpins my machine learning research. I have strong experience breaking down challenging concepts across mechanics, E&M, waves, optics, and thermodynamics for students at both introductory and AP/calculus-based levels.

R

I have extensive experience with R from both academic and research settings. I completed my honors thesis in statistics at Northwestern University using R, focusing on nonparametric methods for stochastic dominance in portfolio selection. As a triple major in Statistics, Industrial Engineering, and Data Science, I used R throughout my coursework for statistical inference, nonparametric statistical analysis, multivariate statistics, financial statistics, time series modeling, and regression. In research, I've applied R for statistical network modeling (ERGM/ALAAM), predictive modeling, and data visualization dashboards. I'm comfortable with tidyverse, ggplot2, Shiny, data wrangling, statistical testing, and building reproducible analyses.

SAT Math

• Scored 800 on SAT Math • S800s on SAT II Math, Physics, Chemistry, and Biology • Scored 5s on 16 AP exams, all as an international student applying from China to US colleges • Undergraduate degree from Northwestern with three majors: Industrial Engineering, Statistics, and Data Science • Currently a second-year PhD student in Data Science at the University of Chicago

Statistics

A few years ago, I got 5s on AP Statistics, AP Calc AB, AP Calc BC, and all four AP Physics exams (1, 2, C: Mechanics, C: E&M). I am currently a PhD student in Data Science at the University of Chicago, with a BS in Industrial Engineering from Northwestern University and honors in Statistics. My senior honors thesis, "Nonparametric Methods for Stochastic Dominance in Risky Portfolio Selection" (2024), was advised by Professor Thomas Severini. My statistics coursework includes probability, regression analysis, parametric and nonparametric inference, statistical theory, stochastic models, experimental design, Bayesian inference, etc.