Duke vs. Berkeley fall 2019 (Masters)

[wannabeGS]

Goals/Interests:

• Econometrician/Biostatistician, or a Statistician/Data Scientist with domain/research focus in the biotech venture capital industry. (Or, some ‘correct’ combination of these or related labels that might be more appropriate…)
• Beyond market/industry research, I would also like to focus on understanding the underlying statistical methodologies and techniques being applied in medicine/biotechnology/health science (i.e. machine learning's application etc. etc.…)
• My goal is to convince a biotech venture capital firm that they could benefit from employing a statistician/data scientist with these particular domain interests/research experiences. Ideally, I would love to have experience on the funding side of early stage start-ups in the hopes that I could build on my academic + industry experiences in order to one day veer down an entrepreneurial path of my own (…ideally in the biotech sphere)  
• Location: Ideally VC firms in 1. NYC, 2. SF or LA (or… firms with a combination of both NYC and a California location…) 
• Also, I want to note these are my “perfect-world/have-my-cake-and-eat-it-too” scenarios. I recognize they are lofty
• Should note, re-evaluating obtaining a PhD at some point in the future would not be unthinkable (especially if it might tie in well with the other above-mentioned goals)
• On a side, I feel I have a decent tie back to NYC having interned in the city, and having completed the course-work equivalent of Columbia University's major requirements in their joint Mathematics-Statistics major. (Completed through a non-degree post-baccalaureate program after graduating with a degree in economics from a separate institution). I mention this as I am not sure whether Berkeley or Duke has higher employer standing in NYC...and whether or not it will matter given I already have (what I think) is already a decent tie back to the city 

Berkeley

• States the program prepares for industry rather than PhD
• One year
• Capstone: team-based learning experience on real-world problem
• I think strong industry placement
• Incoming class of 40
• No financial package, mention of guaranteed research assistant positions, or internship requirement
  • I would assume because the program is so short/condensed

Duke:

• States the program is attractive to industry employers and for bridging to Ph.D.
• 2 years
• Financial package, guaranteed TA and RA positions, required thesis or portfolio of work, required internship
• Bootcamp orientation
• Research Assistant-ship may or may not be used in thesis requirement
• Incoming class of 40
• Alumni review:
  •  statistically rigorous, globally recognized faculty, Bayesian and ML approaches, modeling and computation (creates better career options), small class size, class projects with real data, in-house career counseling and advising, collaborative and collegial environment
• Areas:
  • PhD/Research, Data Science, Health Data Science, Finance & Economics, Marketing Research and Business Analytics, Social Science & Policy
• Formal Mentoring in the first year (faculty) meet once a month
  • 3 faculty serve as advisory role, at least 2 full-time primary faculty in Statistical Science, 1 committee chair
• Admission statistics look very similar to Berkeley’s
• Strong Industry and Academic Placement

My intuition:

• Duke is a better fit.
• I feel two years would be ideal in gaining the technical skills + research experience + internship experience I am seeking (and I am not in a break-neck rush) 
• It seems there is more emphasis on mentor-ships, and on academic + career development
• Prestige in industry seems equivalent at Masters level (maybe Duke is ‘winning’?)
• Prestige in academia – at the Masters level – seems 'Duke > Berkeley'
• Duke seems to be slightly more expensive on an annual basis (after factoring in the financial package offered)
  • (however, I would be paying twice as much as I would for Berkeley in total because I would be paying for the extra year at Duke that I already desire…which ultimately is OK with me)

Question/Advice:

• Any advice, thoughts, questions on anything mentioned would be greatly appreciated!
• Or, if you know of anyone that might be worth speaking to, please PM me!
• The Big Q: Am I wrong in assuming that Duke is the clear choice for me given the goals I’ve mentioned? Is there something I am completely missing about Berkeley that I should be taking in? Or, is my take utterly wrong in every possible way ??)

Other relevant Threads:

https://forum.thegradcafe.com/topic/89766-ucb-vs-duke-vs-yale-vs-usf-analytics/

• Duke vs. UCB vs. Yale vs. USF Masters

https://forum.thegradcafe.com/topic/39107-stats-program-by-tiers/

• (Not sure if this by master or PhD? If it was mentioned in the thread somewhere and I missed it, then I apologize!)

[Geococcyx]

I recall that Berkeley's masters program is specifically designed to be very applied and business-focused.  That is generally a good fit for your goals, but you seem to suggest that you want to be doing some research, and I'm not clear that you'll really be involved in that there -- does it get mentioned on the website as being an option at all?

If your interest in research did eventually make you interested in a Ph.D., I do think (based on my recollection of Cal's masters being quite applied) that Duke is a better fit.  I was at Duke's visit this past week, and I recall that at least one current master's student was there as a Ph.D. program acceptance -- plus, I've heard that Duke often tries to take a couple students from its master's program into its Ph.D. program.  

I am not an expert, so I can't give any formal conclusions, but location-wise, I wonder whether the Triangle might even be better than Silicon Valley for biotechnology specifically.  I would hazard a more confident guess, though, that Durham is more affordable than Berkeley/the bay area.  

If you're looking for a (pretty biased) vote, I vote for Duke, but as I hope I've noted clearly, I don't really know that much about anything relevant here, so listen to the more experienced posters preferentially.

[wannabeGS]

Hi Geococcyx, 

Thank you for your response. With respect to research at Berkeley, I garnered the following from their page:  "In extremely rare cases, a thesis option may be considered by the MA Chair. Typically, this will be when either the option has been offered to the student at the time of admission, or if the student arrives with substantial progress in research in an area of interest to our faculty." (https://statistics.berkeley.edu/programs/graduate/masters). I was not offered the opportunity to pursue a thesis, however. 

With respect to everything you mentioned...I agree! Out of curiosity, is Duke still in the running for you? Maybe we'll both be there soon! 

To the wide Grad Cafe community - does anyone have any dissenting views?? (Affirmations of Duke still welcome ?) 

Thanks!