Tigertiger1993

Actually, the #3 in USNEWS is Harvard Biostat, yet Harvard Stat is rank #7, which is behind Chicago Stat. Maybe this information provides you more preference for Chicago's program.

In my opinion, top Ph.D. programs in the US really care about the rank of undergraduate school that you were enrolling. I think the way to overcome the drawback is to have solid research experience, which leads to publications, and the RL from your research advisor. Besides, an outstanding GRE sub is a plus. Though, I do not know what is your definition for "top" Ph.D. program.

If decide to apply for PhD, Chicago is a good choice. If go to industry, I would recommend Harvard or Berkeley. they have more flexible curriculum. You do not need to struggle with PhD level courses when you are busy seeking jobs. Master thesis is a somewhat trivial thing, because no one expects a profound research through that thesis. That is why all the programs of Stanford, Berkeley and Harvard do not require master thesis.

If you are not planning on doing PhD, I would say Harvard is a better choice.

I believed that mathematics background is extremely important for a PhD in Biostatistics application. At least, Calculus, Linear Algebra, Probability and Real Analysis should be taken. However, if your research is highly quantitative, your background might be regarded as qualified.

Hi, I am an international student from China, accepted to both program. I planned to pursue my PhD study, either in statistics or biostatistics in the future. I am more familiar with Biostatistics, yet I believed that Statistics also has interesting topics. I think that the name recognition is about the same for Harvard and Chicago. So do the statistics program. The Harvard Biostatistics program is 80-credit, thus may contain 16~20 courses, without thesis (2 years). The Chicago Statistics program contains 9 courses plus Master's thesis. (2 years) Two programs have similar class size, maybe Harvard is a bit smaller (Biostatistics always has smaller class size) Boston vs Chicago? I do not have any idea. Weather is bad, right? Could someone please shed some light on my questions? Thanks in advance!