[2018 USNWRRankings (Statistics/Biostatistics)]

On 3/22/2018 at 7:21 PM, cyberwulf said:

It's awfully strange. I note that Pitt *stat* is ranked (fairly decently) all of a sudden, whereas it wasn't even listed in 2014. My best guess is that they screwed up and ascribed scores for Pitt biostat to Pitt stat.

Pitt stat and biostat were both ranked in the 2014 US News Rankings. And Pitt biostat was 0.1 point above the stat department. It's strange that Pitt biostat is not even listed in the new US Rankings. Maybe the recent change of department head is the reason.

[Help me choose between 3 schools for MS Stats/Biostats?]

16 hours ago, Sintarator said:

I got into the MS Biostatistics programs at Vanderbilt and UT SPH, and the MS Applied Statistics program at UMich. I need help deciding which one to choose.

I visited Vanderbilt, and it was amazing. I LOVE the environment, and I love their focus on computation and programming and how respected the graduates are within their medical center. I know the program is very new and thus might not have an established reputation in academia yet, but the Biostats faculty is very impressive. 

I also like UT SPH because it is the cheapest option (I'm from Houston, so I'll get in-state tuition and I can live at home to cut costs) AND has so many departments and groups as resources, including the whole medical center in Houston. I guess the only downside is it's not as highly ranked as the other two.

UMich has an established reputation and is ranked pretty highly. They have LOTS of courses and departments to work with. The downside is it's the most expensive option.

 

Does reputation of the program matter for a master's -- to the point where cost should be secondary? Or should costs be my first priority? I'm looking at roughly $21K/year at UMich, $13K/year at Vanderbilt, and $5K/year at UT SPH.

I think the location of the university matters, too. Large cities tend to offer better job opportunities.

As for the biostatistics program rankings, UMich ranked fourth and UT SPH ranked seventeenth according to the post here. The Department of Biostatistics at Vanderbilt University is not ranked, perhaps because their program is relatively new.