Bonferroni_Correction

Thanks for the explanation. Do you think there are any major disadvantages going to one of these lower-ranked but very selective programs (such as Northwestern, NYU, or Yale)? I know there are higher-ranked programs that are much larger and hence can accept more students, but I hope to move to Chicago for family and personal reasons, and I unfortunately don't think I am competitive enough for the Statistics PhD program at the University of Chicago (but I will still apply on the off chance that they'll accept me). If I ultimately have to decide between a higher-ranked larger Statistics program (such as Iowa State or NCSU) vs. a lower-ranked smaller Statistics program located at a 'prestigious' private university (such as Northwestern), what would be the disadvantages in choosing the more selective lower-ranked program? Would choosing to attend these smaller lower-ranked programs limit my options career-wise if I want to keep my options open (since I'm still undecided if I want to go towards industry or academia)?

Hey guys! I'm a current junior in college hoping to apply to Statistics PhD programs this fall (for admissions in 2020). So far, I've been looking into programs to apply to that I have a reasonable chance of getting into, and something that has helped me a lot is when graduate schools post admissions statistics for admitted students by program. For instance, Duke posts their admissions statistics here, which shows that they generally admit about 10% of applicants with an average undergraduate GPA of 3.7 (in recent years). I also found the admissions statistics for Northwestern, and I was shocked to see that the 5-year average acceptance rate was only 5%! In the most recent year on the document, there were 178 applicants and only 6 who were accepted (barely more than a 3% acceptance rate)! That struck me as especially strange, since Northwestern Statistics is only ranked 55th in Statistics according to U.S. News. Even Duke, which is ranked 12th, is apparently less selective than NU. I know that part of the reason for the low acceptance rate is that NU has a small program (they have a class size of 5 every year according to the document) and that a lot of students may be applying to the program due to the prestige of the Northwestern name rather than program quality. I also heard that the U.S. News rankings tend to give a lower rank to smaller programs (like NU and Yale) even though these programs might be good programs. However, I feel like this doesn't fully explain how the 55th ranked program accepts only 3% of applicants! Is the program at Northwestern better than what its ranking would suggest? Looking at their recent placements, they actually seem pretty good (a fair mix of industry and academia, with industry placements at Google, etc.). I am interested in the program due to its location, but I don't know if spending almost 100 dollars to apply would be a good investment given how selective the program is. The University of Chicago and Northwestern seem to be the two universities with Statistics PhD programs in Chicago, but I heard that UChicago is exceptionally hard to get into. I didn't anticipate NU to be so selective as well. Can anyone elaborate on the program quality of Northwestern Statistics?