I have a question regarding the reputation of large stats programs. Do you think that the rankings and reputations for NCSU, Iowa State, and Texas A&M are overly inflated due to their size?
I understand that these schools offer broader research areas, have more funding, and place rather well in industry. However, I get the feeling that these schools are somewhat like "feeders" for industry jobs, and that they don't place people in academia as well as the mid-size or small programs.
It seems like they would be a great place to end up as a professor, but not quite the best place to train future professors. What do you ya'll think?