statcan
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Posts posted by statcan
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29 minutes ago, boilers23 said:
Any opinions on UWisconsin Biostat v. UNC Biostat, I know UNC is technically the better program but their lack of computing is worrying me a little.
What do you mean by "lack of computing"? According to the course requirements at Wisconsin and at UNC, it seems like UNC actually requires students to take a course in computing, whereas Wisconsin does not.
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It seems like UNC has quite a few faculty working in clinical trials. You can find 14 of them listed under "clinical trials" here. It doesn't seem to me like Wisconsin has a clearly bigger focus on this area than UNC.
There's also the "IMPACT" program joint with UNC, NC State and Duke with plenty of UNC Biostatistics faculty taking part: http://www2.cscc.unc.edu/impact7/ . To add to this, the primary grant funding this project is focused on cancer clinical trials, entitled "Statistical Methods for Cancer Clinical Trials".
I don't know too much about this field but from a first glance, it seems to me like UNC is a great place for your interests. What makes you say that Wisconsin has better opportunities?
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Undergrad Institution: Canadian institution
Major(s): Math and Statistics
Minor(s):
GPA: ~90%Type of Student: International (Canadian)
GRE General Test:
Q: 168 (94%)
V: 157 (76%)
W: 4.5 (82%)
Programs Applying: (Statistics, Biostatistics MS/PhD)Research Experience: Did two research assistantships at my university and held one research job in industry.
Awards/Honors/Recognitions:
Pertinent Activities or Jobs:Letters of Recommendation: All from research supervisorsMath/Statistics Grades: A's in real analysis, abstract algebra, regression, mathematical statistics, and some other Math/Stat courses.
Any Miscellaneous Points that Might Help: Most research I did was biostat-focused.
Applied: Statistics/Biostatistics PhDs except at the Canadian schoolsUniversity of Waterloo (MMath Statistics) - AcceptedUniversity of Toronto (MSc Statistics) - Accepted
UW-Madison (Statistics) - AcceptedCMU (Statistics) - AcceptedUniversity of Washington (Biostatistics) - AcceptedUNC Chapel Hill (Biostatistics) - AcceptedUniversity of Washington (Statistics) - RejectedHarvard (Statistics) - RejectedUniversity of Chicago (Statistics) - RejectedUniversity of Pennsylvania - Wharton (Statistics) - Rejected -
If you're debating between UBC and Waterloo, make sure you look closely at your financial support since these cities (Vancouver and Kitchener-Waterloo) have drastically different costs of living. Waterloo is very affordable, while Vancouver is one of the most expensive cities in Canada. That said, Vancouver is beautiful and it's an amazing place to be if you can afford it.
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19 minutes ago, grabianco said:
What do people here think about CMU vs Columbia Stats PhD? I'm mostly interested in ML and both programs have faculty I'd be really interested in working with. I'm not 100% sure if I want to go into industry or academia, but I'm slightly leaning towards academia right now.
Both locations' geographies have their advantages: Pittsburgh seems much cheaper which is an important consideration for me, but I also like the big NY city environment having grown up in one myself. It also seems CMU is a slightly more prestigious program (also in terms of their CS dept), but Columbia might be a better name for positions in industry?
If anyone has any useful input, that would be greatly appreciated! I was wondering if I should make this a separate thread, but I didn't want to contribute to the growing pile of similar threads if not many people are going to respond.
CMU has had many great industry placements and they're available online: http://www.stat.cmu.edu/phd/thesis
They may have fewer academic placements, but the ones that are listed are excellent. I wouldn't worry at all about your job prospects coming out of CMU especially given your interests in ML which is what they seem to be known for. I don't know much about Columbia, sorry.
Did you visit the departments and/or cities? Pittsburgh is a smaller city but is pretty charming, and people seem to like living there. That said, I don't need to tell you that NYC is a city like no other, so it really comes down to preference.
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1 hour ago, OptimisticCynic said:
For those on the CMU Statistics PhD waitlist -- any news yet?
Also, has anyone else not heard back from UMich PhD Statistics?
The CMU visit day is not until this weekend. If people reject their offers, they'll most likely do so starting next week.
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How might these programs compare with Wisconsin-Madison Statistics?
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8 minutes ago, statsbrah123 said:
I applied to UofT and UBC as well. In the past few years the earliest MSc acceptances are at the end of Feb. Those two postings are for PhD, which are decided before MSc.
Check the U of T SGS admissions site. My status is “decision made”.
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8 minutes ago, bayessays said:
Are other people still waiting on U Chicago PhD decisions? I think it's interesting that they've sent out both acceptances and rejections but others are still waiting to hear.
Still waiting.
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@statscan9 Congratulations on your offers! Have you applied for a Masters or Ph.D. at McGill? Best of luck with your decision, and if you end up at McGill, enjoy the lovely Montreal.
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27 minutes ago, bayessays said:
Your advisor and your research are what matters. Again, I think your perception of UW biostat as a more prestigious program is just wrong - if anything, CMU is a more highly regarded program. If you go work with Larry Wasserman at CMU, you will end up better off than some no-name prof at UW. If you work with Daniela Witten at UW, you'll end up better than working with some no-name CMU prof.
You sound like you want to go to CMU - if you think it is a better fit but turned them down because of "prestige", you would be making an incredibly uninformed and misguided decision.
I appreciate your honesty. Truly, they are both great research fits and I think they're both awesome programs. I just wanted to hear the grad cafe's opinion on the whole thing.
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9 hours ago, OptimisticCynic said:
If you want to attain a faculty position, then it is probably in your best interest to go to the highest ranked program that you can get into. Program prestige can be more important than research or advisor when hunting for faculty position. For that reason, UW might be the better option.
This is what I was afraid of. I've heard the opposing opinion from my mentors though. They say prestige matters somewhat, but research output (and to a lesser extent, one's adviser) trumps all when they consider who to hire.
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1 hour ago, bayessays said:
They're both fantastic departments and you can't go wrong. In terms of competitiveness, I've heard UW biostat has two sets of pretty grueling qualifying exams, whereas I don't think CMU does but you should learn more about that from actual students. I think your decision should come down to research fit, whether you would like the biomedical research environment of a biostat department, and where you would like to live.
I'm fine with having to write tough qualifying exams as long as their purpose is to make the students stronger, rather than weed people out.
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Hi everyone,
I am really fortunate and have received two offers so far. One from UW Biostatistics, and the other from CMU Statistics. Even if I receive no other offers, I'll have a really hard time deciding on a program.
I'm not exactly sure what I'd like to do for research, but I've been generally interested in high-dimensional statistics, statistical computing, nonparametrics, statistical genetics, causal inference, epidemiology, and a few other rather niche areas.
My ultimate goal would be to obtain a faculty position, but if that market tightens by the time I graduate, I'd also be very happy to work in industry. Also, I don't think this will be an issue in either department, but I really want to be in a friendly environment that is more collaborative than competitive.
I know that UW Biostatistics ranks ahead of CMU and has a great track record of placing graduates in academia. However, I feel like CMU is a slightly better (i.e. near-perfect) research fit. I hope to visit both campuses but I just thought I'd seek out advice from you knowledgeable folk first.
PhD Stats and Biostats 2019 Profile Eval
in Mathematics and Statistics
Posted
Agreed. If you look at previous profiles and results, you probably won’t get the sense that international students have a huge advantage at stat over biostat departments (if any). It seems Harvard is really tough for international students, but from my limited exposure I get the sense that UW, Michigan, UNC, and possibly even Hopkins have been accepting lots of non-Americans over the years.