GonnaFailAnyMinute

I'm going off of feedback I've gotten in my own search for programs that specialize in quantitative methods. The programs you list are strong in that area, probably stronger than PSU, but are generally also well-rounded in other areas. I'm sorry if your misinterpretation of what I said was offensive to you. You might want to lighten up a bit - life's short.

And I should believe you because...? And which part are you disputing - Penn State being highly regarded? UC Santa Cruz being a lower-ranked program? UC Santa Barbara and UC Riverside being overall stronger than UC Santa Cruz? None of that is controversial.

Penn State is a well-known and highly-regarded program. If you want a highly quantitative program, there's probably nowhere you could go that's higher ranked except Rochester. Just getting waitlisted with Penn State is an accomplishment. I went to UC Davis for undergrad, and my professors there routinely warned me not to apply to UC Santa Cruz (without me even mentioning the school). I did some digging around, and the job placement numbers for Santa Cruz are pretty poor compared to the average PhD program, and it's ranked pretty low. I'd imagine that if you really want to get a PhD at a school in California that's not insanely competitive, check out UC Santa Barbara or UC Riverside instead.