dino88

I'll be moving there this summer...currently looking for an apartment/house/farm too. Torn between getting a 1 or 2 bedroom within walking distance to campus or a place 20 minutes away with some land. Have a car. Probably will buy parking for convenience. Open to suggestions...

PM me if you want to know more about CMU. It is a solid school. I'm a Heinz alum.

Pittsburgh is a lot cheaper than LA. CMU is a bit quant (attractive to employers), but no calculus required.

Gradhopeful,

I did a one-year MPP. No, employers do not view it differently. You'll interview during your first or second semester. Be prepared. Usually, mid career people want to spend less time in school. In my experience, one-year MPP people had more career experience and received better offers than two-year MPP students, but didn't have the full two years to figure out what they really wanted to do. Harvard is very competitive, yes. It is at least in the top five. You can't go wrong. Georgetown/JHU are near DC which helps for jobs after, but Harvard will definitely make up for that difference. It is about an 8 hour drive from DC. I'd go HKS, but if Georgetown or JHU had a great offer/scholarship, you really can't go wrong. The work you do in the masters is more important than the name itself, but the name surely helps out.

In my opinion, you can't really beat HBS for an MBA. But, wait until you get offers. Don't take the interviews for granted. IHBS/HKS is a very strong combo. You can take courses at MIT for free with their network anyway. You need to sit in the classes - trust me. Harvard is night and day compared to MIT for the MBA. It depends what you prefer. A visit should settle it. Now, you want quantitative. I have an MPP and HKS is not the most quantitative MPP out there. You'll be getting more quant from the MBA. So, if you wanted to combine that with MIT/Wharton MBA, that might be good. But, seriously visit. A policy degree and MBA degree will be a strong combo. Lots of people I know who did that were hired by McKinsey or other. But, I must warn you - having worked in the policy and business communities, that there are many in policy community that say business is an opposite interest, and many in business community that say policy is an opposite interest. I don't believe that is true (businesses fund policy programs, and policy allows business to profit), but you can see this in microeconomics from a profit maximizing objective versus a social planner's perspective. Congrats on the wonderful opportunities - you are truly fortunate. If you want networking, Harvard MBA, period. They do "the wave" in their classroom and invite the protagonist in the case studies into the actual classroom.

PM me if you want. I know someone who I can connect you with who went to both schools.

If you are in the policy field, DC is a great place to be. A large portion of MPP grads end up working in DC.

If you plan on continuing to a PhD at NYU after the MS, you should take the Duke offer. From what you said, it doesn't seem like the PhD at NYU is guaranteed. You can always transfer from Duke if you are not happy with it later, but it seems like you will like it. Also, you'll be able to afford to live in NC much more than NYC. A lot more. Rent is probably 3 times cheaper. Think about how your career opportunities would change if you had an MS in math versus a PhD in math. What if it ended at an MS? You might also have a big loan to pay off for living in Manhattan and paying for a masters. Seems like an easy decision?

London is kind of expensive...I think you'll save a lot of money in Cornell!

Yea, I think you guys are right. I'm getting that "Stanford" speech from everyone who is not really informed as to what I am doing. Next week, I'll make my decision and most likely go for the discipline. Thank you!

Thanks! Research fit is better at 1) versus Stanford. I would have to meet someone at Stanford to find someone I could publish with, but Stanford seems like the place where you could make that happen. The research with the advisor that called me would be probably result in one publiciation by the time I graduated and it is interesting, but more applied. If Stats is applied math, then this program is applied stats. Placement is better at the specific 1) program, however if you specialize with an M.S. in Stats at Stanford or a little more, who knows? Most of the interdisciplinary students in my dept. at Stanford have business goals and don't go to academia, so I'd be the one reaching for other courses in the Stats dept. to go to academia. Basically, I can use about half the credits in that program to take completely in the Stats dept. At 1) about two-thirds go to academia.

I have a quick one: Am I crazy to go to a top 10 Stats PhD over a truly interdisciplinary PhD at Stanford where they will let me take half my courses in the Stats dept. and get my masters in stats as well? I need a different perspective. Thanks!

I have a crazy advice question which I wanted to ask your advice for. First, let me say that I am very fortunate this year and hope everyone else gets a good admission too. I can't make up my mind and I'm going crazy. It's apples and oranges. Here is the choice: 1) Stats PhD at a #3 to #10 school depending on how you view the rankings. Very solid though, but not Stanford (#1 ranked) or Berkeley (#2 ranked). 2) Interdisciplinary quantitaitve PhD at Stanford with the definite ability to get an M.S. in Stats during the PhD due to it being so interdisciplinary. Credits count for each. I checked out both schools - they have solid programs. I want to be a professor and I'm leaning toward 1) Am I nuts? Thanks.

I'm still thinking about the PhD there - I can't make up my mind. I'm really split. You definitely can't go wrong with Stanford - congrats. Yea, I looked into it - you can get a studio for about $1000/month in graduate student housing.

I would also challenge you to name one job that you can get with an MS, but not with a PhD. In the end, you are just a salesman to a potential employer.

I think you would be making a bad decision to get an MS at Stanford versus a PhD at Cornell. Can't you just drop out and end up with an MS at Cornell if you don't finish the program? Plus it is free. PhDs are more selective. And with all that money that they are paying you at Cornell, you would save a lot each year. Ithaca is cheap compared to Palo Alto. Also, is an MS or MBA really going to differentiate you in the workforce? I suppose if you got a joint MS/MBA at MIT or other. You could always do an MBA part-time. I used to be an engineer...I knew a lot of uppers without graduate degrees. My vote is the PhD - you'll open more doors. There are lots of MSs and MBAs on the job market.

I just visited. Leaning heavily this way. Great school. May be interested in housing in a month or so depending on what I do.

Yea, unfortunately I don't think they have anything formal and I'm paying out of pocket for travel and the hotel. But, I was able to connect with a grad student in my program who will give me a tour. I'm really interested in the graduate student housing. I'll look into the UG tour as well. Any other suggestions are appreciated!

Hi, I was accepted to a PhD at Stanford too and will be visiting the week of the 9th to the 13th. Not sure exactly when, but most likely near the end of the week. I'm driving up from Southern California. We don't have an admit day, but I am interested in student housing and possibly touring the campus if anyone has any relevant information.

Lol - I only posted it and found out because I received a very strange PhD offer letter from UCONN that made me investigate what was going on financially. It is a shame. Luckily, I have another offer.

Hey - you better read this before you even think of attending UCONN Grad School. Especially the part "We are also prepared to....closing the graduate school." It would suck to have it shut down after your first year. I'm sure much of their state budget came from finance - all those hedge funds sitting there...no more. http://advance.uconn.edu/2009/090223/09022301.htm

Hi, I'm kind of a newbie to statistics and come from a different discipline. I've googled the net, but didn't come up with much. So, can someone please explain the following to me: 1) If you applied to a Statistics PhD program and got accepted to an MS/PhD, is that the same thing as getting accepted to a PhD? Pros? Cons? 2) Rankings. I am a bit confused as to what Stats PhD programs are top 10 or top 20 versus top 50 or 100. I suppose this would affect your placement in the end. Can anyone be so kind as to list some schools that are not listed on the U.S. News and World Report for the Math:Statistics (http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandr ... statistics)? For example, where do these Ivy League schools fit in that are not on that list? (the ones missing are Yale, Cornell, UPenn...I didn't even know Princeton had a Stats Dept. - I searched their site) Or places like CMU or even international schools like Oxford? I don't really care about rankings, but I'd hate to walk into a program that was way out there. 3) Is there a distinction between Bayesian and Classical? 4) What is the typical size of an incoming PhD Stats class? Any thoughts about that? Thank you.