<p>A lot has to do with how much money the professor has or doesn’t. </p>
<p>DS didn’t get into your mentioned schools primarily 1)No money at school 2)Prof interests did not match student’s 3)student’s goal is different from prof’s. DS came from CMU with top stats and LORs.</p>
<p>You can have top notch stats but if money or goals are different, I’d guess you’d be declined.</p>