Stats MS Choice Stanford vs Chicago

[JosephXX]

Hi everyone!!

Recently I have been admitted to the Stat MS program at Stanford & U Chicago and am struggling. I will try to advance to PhD after MS, but I don't know which school will offer me a better chance? I heard that Chicago has a good PhD prep and many research opportunities.  I am not sure how Stanford is. But Stanford Stat ranks higher than U Chicago... 

 

Chicago

 

Pros: 

- Tuition reduction (25%)

- Good preparation for PhD

- More research opportunity

 

Cons:

- Not as well-known as Stanford

- Location is not as good.

 

Stanford University

Pros:

- 1st in the country

- So many well-known professors, a potential for recommendation letters and research opportunities

 

Cons:

- Not sure about placements

- A lot of MS students, not sure if the professors will be willing to offer research opportunities.

- Maybe the PhD prep is not as good as that in Chicago.

 

Edited March 12, 2019 by JosephXX

[hnn12]

Both are amazing schools and you can't go wrong with either. IMO, it depends on what area of Statistics you want to pursue. Chicago is very, very theoretical and their curriculum contains a heavy amount of maths, so it is great if you want to focus on statistical theory. You can double-check what I have said by looking at the list of faculty members at Chicago. Stanford, on the other hand, is very strong in Machine Learning and you can find great opportunities to have hand-on experience in ML at one of the companies / startups in the Bay area. Overall, I think that Stanford is more balanced between theory and application, and it is a better choice if you are not yet sure about the kind of research you want to do in the future. I have a friend, who did his MS in Statistics at Stanford. He got a summer internship in data science at Adobe. Now, he is doing his PhD in Statistics at Chicago. You can be assured that Stanford has an excellent record in sending their students to top PhD programs. 

[JosephXX]

8 hours ago, hnn12 said:

Both are amazing schools and you can't go wrong with either. IMO, it depends on what area of Statistics you want to pursue. Chicago is very, very theoretical and their curriculum contains a heavy amount of maths, so it is great if you want to focus on statistical theory. You can double-check what I have said by looking at the list of faculty members at Chicago. Stanford, on the other hand, is very strong in Machine Learning and you can find great opportunities to have hand-on experience in ML at one of the companies / startups in the Bay area. Overall, I think that Stanford is more balanced between theory and application, and it is a better choice if you are not yet sure about the kind of research you want to do in the future. I have a friend, who did his MS in Statistics at Stanford. He got a summer internship in data science at Adobe. Now, he is doing his PhD in Statistics at Chicago. You can be assured that Stanford has an excellent record in sending their students to top PhD programs. 

Thanks, hnn12, that information is very helpful to me! I'm sorry that I forgot to mention that I was going to study machine learning & its applications. I might do a Biostat Ph.D. after my MS, where I was hoping to go to Stanford Or Johns Hopkins... But Thanks man!

[theduckster]

In addition to what hnn12 said, I will mention that Chicago's program is two years long and has both a thesis requirement AND consulting, whereas Stanford's program is ordinarily one year long and has no thesis requirement.

If you don't already have research experience, Chicago is hands down better for a PhD IMO - it will give you a fair amount of experience that will help you get into some very good schools.

Edited March 12, 2019 by theduckster

[Gauss2017]

I would go to Stanford. The long term opportunities are much better especially for machine learning.  Also on Monday it is supposed to be 78 at Stanford   

[JosephXX]

32 minutes ago, theduckster said:

In addition to what hnn12 said, I will mention that Chicago's program is two years long and has both a thesis requirement AND consulting, whereas Stanford's program is ordinarily one year long and has no thesis requirement.

If you don't already have research experience, Chicago is hands down better for a PhD IMO - it will give you a fair amount of experience that will help you get into some very good schools.

Thanks for the reply! I think Stanford it is 2-year program (at least they said that). I have 2 years of experience in statistical analysis in brain networks and has published some ordinary papers over the topic. I definitely have some experience but my concern is if Stanford professors will be willing to offer opportunities or not LOL

Edited March 12, 2019 by JosephXX