UT Austin vs. Duke

[SkyHighway]

I have been accepted at UT Austin (funded) and have been waitlisted by Duke. As you may think, I want to work with Bayesian Statistics, and I wanted to know your opinion about the pros and cons of both programs. Is Duke better than UT Austin? Should I accept UT offer and withdraw from Duke's waitlist?

Edited March 3, 2019 by SkyHighway

[Cavalerius]

@SkyHighway Were you accepted into the PhD program in SDS or in McCombs at UT Austin?

[Stat Assistant Professor]

UT Austin is a solid program with some good academic placements (they have placed some PhD graduates at postdocs at UC Berkeley and Princeton). However, Duke is also probably the best school in the world specifically for Bayesian statistics. If you really want to go to Duke,  I would just wait it out until early April. You don't need to officially accept any offer until April 15.

Edited March 3, 2019 by Stat PhD Now Postdoc

[SkyHighway]

@Cavalerius I am sorry for the lack of information. I was accepted at McCombs.

@Stat PhD Now Postdoc Thank you for the advice. I thinking about rejecting all offers, except UT, and wait for Duke until the last day, but I do not know if this could cause any damage to my image with the rejected institution since I would wait until the last moment.

[Stat Assistant Professor]

3 hours ago, SkyHighway said:

@Cavalerius I am sorry for the lack of information. I was accepted at McCombs.

@Stat PhD Now Postdoc Thank you for the advice. I thinking about rejecting all offers, except UT, and wait for Duke until the last day, but I do not know if this could cause any damage to my image with the rejected institution since I would wait until the last moment.

You can turn down offers and accept one at any time before/until April 15. It shouldn't cause any harm to your image (the only things that would seriously damage an applicant's reputation would be stuff like finding out they falsified information on their application or engaged in research misconduct like plagiarism). Adcoms will most likely not even remember your application next year when they have another few hundred they need to go through.

[Bayesian1701]

I would go ahead and reject offers if you know you aren't interested.  You can decide to wait until April 15th and that would be fine.  However, I would send out an email asking about your waitlist status in early April.   I was in a similar boat and I waited on Duke until late March and is what I would recommend you do unless you know you wouldn't take an offer from Duke. Duke is better than UT Austin, but you may not make it off the waitlist.  

[SkyHighway]

@Stat PhD Now Postdoc Thanks again for your response! That makes sense. Maybe I was worried about something that will not have any impact on my future.

@Bayesian1701 Thank you for sharing your experience. I will do the same and hope for the best!

 

Edited March 5, 2019 by SkyHighway