hopesandprayers

I can't decide which one to go to, and I obviously need to by April 15th.  I feel like Columbia is the best fit research wise (I'm interested in applied probability/stochastic differential equations and Columbia has tonnes of probabilists), Chicago also has great people and is better if I change my mind and want to do more stats instead of probability (or for more theoretical probability - pure theory doesn't seem like a smart move career wise though), while Duke also has fantastic faculty and (this is somewhat important I suppose) seemed to have by a million miles the happiest grad students.
Any advice from those who have already made their decisions (or have already started/finished a program at one of these places)?

I just committed to Columbia, so thank you all for helping me get to the decision I was clearly trying to convince myself of from the get go

I just committed to Columbia, so thank you all for helping me get to the decision I was clearly trying to convince myself of from the get go

I just committed to Columbia, so thank you all for helping me get to the decision I was clearly trying to convince myself of from the get go

I just committed to Columbia, so thank you all for helping me get to the decision I was clearly trying to convince myself of from the get go

I just committed to Columbia, so thank you all for helping me get to the decision I was clearly trying to convince myself of from the get go

Congratulations on your excellent acceptances. You can't really go wrong with those choices, but I would say you should strongly consider Duke if you could see yourself being really into Bayesian statistics and computational stuff. There is definitely theoretical research going on there as well (particularly for Bayesian nonparametrics), but there is also a big focus on Bayesian methodology and addressing computational challenges at Duke.
If you're agnostic about Bayesian vs. frequentist, then the other two might be better. It seems as though UChicago is the most theoretical of the ones on your list. Many talks I've attended by alumni and PhD students from UChicago seem to be solidly in theory (like proving risk bounds, attaining confidence intervals with the correct asymptotic coverage, etc.). So if you are solidly into theory, then that could be a good choice. Columbia seems to have a good balance of theoretical and applied/computational work, with some faculty who work a lot on statistical theory (e.g. Bodhisattva Sen) and others who work a lot on algorithms/methodology (e.g. David Blei). One other poster on this board was deciding between UPenn Wharton and Columbia Statistics, and they mentioned that they liked Columbia for being more applied than Wharton.

I can't decide which one to go to, and I obviously need to by April 15th.  I feel like Columbia is the best fit research wise (I'm interested in applied probability/stochastic differential equations and Columbia has tonnes of probabilists), Chicago also has great people and is better if I change my mind and want to do more stats instead of probability (or for more theoretical probability - pure theory doesn't seem like a smart move career wise though), while Duke also has fantastic faculty and (this is somewhat important I suppose) seemed to have by a million miles the happiest grad students.
Any advice from those who have already made their decisions (or have already started/finished a program at one of these places)?

Congratulations @Cauchy!  Your decision is obviously a really awesome problem to have, and I'll keep my sliver of hope for now.  Also @MathStat and @Schweinchen feel free to hmu if you guys wanna get in touch before Chicago's visit day if you're going

Ditto here. Maybe I'll see you all on visit day.

Also got into Harvard. 

I got in Harvard 

Nothing yet from Columbia or CMU for the regular PhD. Didn't apply to Harvard, so not sure there. 

Thanks!! And good luck on your remaining results!

Has anyone heard from Columbia, CMU or Harvard? (regular PhD, not Biostats)  The waiting game is actually eating my soul right now.

Has anyone heard from Columbia, CMU or Harvard? (regular PhD, not Biostats)  The waiting game is actually eating my soul right now.

Has anyone heard from Columbia, CMU or Harvard? (regular PhD, not Biostats)  The waiting game is actually eating my soul right now.

My wait is over!! I got an acceptance to PSU! No matter what happens now, I'm going to grad school!
This is so exciting - good luck to everyone else!

Penn State for me too. Received a phone call from the department. A little bit surprised as it was Sunday evening in Pennsylvania, but so delighted about the offer.

I checked my portal and email as well and nothing yet.. Maybe Chicago is doing their process in waves?  This waiting game is surprisingly stressful. I should really do something better with my time! ? Good luck to all of us waiting! 

Wharton has started sending offers…… 
Good luck guys. Hope I won't get 10 rejections... 

Got into Duke MS Statistical Science! Decisions have perhaps come out?