justgoSUPERSAIYAN

For sure! Pretty sure we sat next to each other at the introductory powerpoint presentation lol

Attending CMU! Declined Michigan

Thanks for the responses! For what it's worth, here is what the department head at a top program had to say to me on the matter. I also have an offer from Cornell. "They are all great PhD programs, but I'd rank them CMU > UM >> Cornell. I'd probably rank CMU's Statistics department equal to Harvard's, if not better. It has more breadth and depth, and many terrific faculty (including two of my former PhD students, and ). CMU has long been a leader in statistical computing, too. We would hire from any of them: we look at individuals' work, letters of reference, research and teaching statements, publications, etc. But we do consider who wrote the letters of reference... Congratulations on having several great choices!"

It doesn't really seem to me that UMich Stat has better placements then CMU Stat. Here are some CMU's that I picked out since '91. Duke University 6 Carnegie Mellon University 4 University of California, Berkeley 3 Ohio State University 2 University of Michigan 1 University of Washington 1 North Carolina State University 1 Cornell University 1 Iowa State University 1 University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill 1

Hi, I am trying to decide between these two programs. I intend to go into academia after finishing and, like everyone, would like to have options for what institution I go to. Is CMU's program head-and-shoulders above UMich's, or could UMich help me to equally good job placement? Any thoughts are much appreciated!