Brown University Rank for Biostatistics

[SimianVirus]

Hi all,

I recently got an offer of admission to both Brown University's MS in Biostatistics, as well as to Georgetown University's program. Brown offered me a scholarship which would bring my total tuition cost for the program to be $31,000 cheaper than Georgetown's (Georgetown's letter of admission did not include any mention of financial aid), which is great. However, I am not sure which of these two is the better program. Both are great universities, that goes without saying.

But on one hand, I keep reading that Brown's School of Public Health is unranked, that the program is still relatively new and so on. And I cant really find many rankings or much information about this program outside of Brown's website. I'm sure that Brown being an Ivy and all, the program is not horrible but nontheless, I'd obviously rather spend the extra money to go to a program that would maximize my chances of getting employed shortly after graduation.

On the other hand, whenever I check the gradcafe's admission results for biostatistics, I see 5 pages of results of people who applied to Brown's PhD and/or MS biostatistics programs, vs. only 5 results for Georgetown..

Also, it seems like Georgetown's curriculum is more heavy on the epidemiology part (which I like, as my specific interest would be in cancer epi and public health), as opposed to Brown.

In addition to all this, Georgetown has an internship/practicum element to their curriculum whereas Brown doesn't, as far as I can tell.

While I am aware that I am in a very privileged position to pick between two outstanding schools, it is still very difficult to make a decision and I've been dwelling on this for the past couple of weeks now with no answer. Basically, if money wasn't a big factor in the equation, I would choose Georgetown (outrageously expensive) but since Brown would significantly slash my total costs, I am in this pickle.

Anybody have any suggestions or advice? Any opinions/thoughts would be appreciated.

Thank you!

 

[bayessays]

Brown is new but a well-regarded program. Unless perhaps you are staying in DC, you'll probably be better or at least equally well off at Brown. I wouldn't say an internship is important - you can get your own internship where you get paid instead of paying tuition for one. You'll be able to do cancer research and epidemiology stuff after either program, so decide for yourself if a couple extra classes is worth $31k. Also keep in mind that DC is going to be significantly more expensive than Providence, so that might be another $20k right there. 

[StatApplicantlalala]

Hi @simianvirus !

If you applied to Brown via SOPHAS, how did you get your decision? Did you get a direct email from them? please let me know. Thank you. Also, did you apply to their AM or ScM program? 

 

[rosebud123]

you may find this interesting https://statsbylopez.com/2014/01/28/why-biostatistics-at-brown-was-the-best-thing-for-me/

[SimianVirus]

On 2/20/2018 at 6:04 PM, StatApplicantlalala said:

Hi @simianvirus !

If you applied to Brown via SOPHAS, how did you get your decision? Did you get a direct email from them? please let me know. Thank you. Also, did you apply to their AM or ScM program? 

 

Hey,

I received an unofficial email from an official at the university and a couple of weeks later, got an official letter of admission but now my decision is also available to see via SOPHAS. I applied to their ScM.

[SimianVirus]

On 2/21/2018 at 12:48 PM, rosebud123 said:

you may find this interesting https://statsbylopez.com/2014/01/28/why-biostatistics-at-brown-was-the-best-thing-for-me/

Oh wow, thank you very much for this, it's pretty helpful!!

[SimianVirus]

On 2/19/2018 at 7:04 PM, bayessays said:

Brown is new but a well-regarded program. Unless perhaps you are staying in DC, you'll probably be better or at least equally well off at Brown. I wouldn't say an internship is important - you can get your own internship where you get paid instead of paying tuition for one. You'll be able to do cancer research and epidemiology stuff after either program, so decide for yourself if a couple extra classes is worth $31k. Also keep in mind that DC is going to be significantly more expensive than Providence, so that might be another $20k right there. 

Thank you for your input, bayessays! I'm still trying to make a decision lol