Severina

Go to Harvard. I have a friend who years ago chose UCLA over Harvard for his PhD and spent the rest of his career regretting passing up the opportunity to get Harvard on his resume.

From what I've seen, biostat grad program admissions is far more interested in your research experience than your teaching experience.

UC San Diego's Biostats program is a joint program with San Diego State. I know of a graduate from about 3 years ago who got a good postdoc at UCLA.

All three are top programs from which you can get a good job or get into a top PhD program (assuming you get good grades). Focusing on whether the school in question is ranked #1, #3, or #5 is slicing the baloney a little too thin. Pretty much any top ten program can take you wherever you want to go. Focus instead of the content and requirements of the individual programs.

I doubt it. That article didn't come out until mid-December, which is kinda late to be putting an application together if you weren't already on track to do so.

Forbes ranks Statistics as the number 2 best master's degree for employment: http://www3.forbes.com/leadership/the-10-best-and-worst-masters-degrees-for-jobs-right-now/10/ And Biostatistics is number 1: http://www3.forbes.com/leadership/the-10-best-and-worst-masters-degrees-for-jobs-right-now/11/

I think you have a decent shot at some masters programs. Thus, IMO you should apply to both masters and PhD programs (at different schools). That way if you don't get into a PhD department, which is your ultimate goal, you can enroll in one of the masters ones. If you do well in the masters then getting into a PhD in a couple of years will not be so difficult.

If you already have an MPH-Biostats degree It's not clear to me what advantage you would gain with an MS Biostats degree. I understand that an MS and MPH are not exactly the same, but the overlap in statistical coursework is likely to be significant. I could see going for a PhD in Biostats not a masters.

Berkeley Biostats does not guarantee funding for masters students, but they pretty all get it offered because they need a lot of TAs for undergrad stat sections.

It's common in many programs for all PhD students to get funding, but you should never assume (about anything, especially something involving money) that what applies to one program applies to them all. So check with the websites or ask the department directly for any programs in which you are interested.

Apart from what employers may think, another question to ask is how much will you know? Based on the courses and work load, will you learn as much in 1 year at St. Andres as you would in two years at the US schools? St. Andrews may be fine at first to get hired, but things could be difficult later if you turn out not to have the skill set and knowledge that US employers would expect from someone with a masters in Statistics.

I think it's okay, but IMO their PhD program in conjunction with UCSD is a lot better.

They are not all cash cows. Admissions to Berkeley's Biostat masters program is very competitive, and they enroll only about 6 - 8 new students each year.

I was generally interested in PhD programs but I applied only to master's programs for several reasons: 1. Most people are able to get a good job with only a master's in stats or biostats. (This is not true for all branches for all branches of science - for some fields it is basically PhD or nothing) A stats/biostats PhD is a requirement only for an academic career, and a PhD is probably better career-wise in the long run in industry as well, but career prospects for masters are still pretty good. 2. My grades were good enough for masters' programs but getting into a selective PhD program probably would have been tough with a 3.5. However, if I do well in the master's program and wish to keep going, my masters performance will likely get me into a good PhD program. 3. You never know how much you will enjoy grad school (or not) until you get there, and at the outset signing on for a two year program is a lot less daunting than committing to 4-6 years required for PhD. If you are borderline for PhD programs you may wish to do what one of my friends did . He applied primarily to MS programs (in Biochem) but he also took a shot, however long, and tossed in a couple of PhD apps as well. And, mirabile dictu, one of the PhD programs accepted him. He's now in his second year of that PhD program.

Yes, you still have a shot, especially at a masters program. My undergrad GPA was 3.52 and I got accepted by all seven biostat/stat masters programs to which I applied, including UC Davis, UCLA, and UC Berkeley. I can decide along the way whether to continue on to PhD. I had solid undergrad research experience, so maybe you should work hard to achieve that and also try to get your GPA up to 3.5.