Choosing between University of Toronto and CMU for Statistics PhD

[Sergio.zz]

Hi everyone, 

I just received the PhD offer from CMU stats department, and I am so happy with that. However, now I am facing a difficult decision between choosing to stay at University of Toronto for my PhD (where I did my undergrad)  or go to CMU for a new adventure.

My current research interest is more about: 1. Applied Bayesian inferential methods. 2. Statistical Computations. 3. Machine learning and Data Science. And my future plan is to find a faculty position in statistics.

The pros for UofT: 

1. I am an international student, so staying at uoft makes it more possible for me to get the PR card in Canada, while the PR card in US is a bit impossible...

2. I did my undergraduate study at here, so I know the faculties at this university very well. And I have been matched with my preferred supervisors whom I have already worked with and felt good working with, while CMU currently did not match me with any supervisor yet.

3. There will be five years of full funding package which includes full-tuition plus 20k stipend per year for UofT, while CMU's offer only describe my full funding package for one year (full tuition + 3.1k stipend per month), and based on their student handbook it seems like the funding from CMU usually only lasts for four years...

 

The pros for CMU:

1. Higher ranking in Statistics, especially in Machine learning and Data Science.

2. Based on the suggestions from my professors, if I want to continue my career in academia, it seems like it would be better for me to not go to the same place for both undergraduate and PhD... But I am not sure how important that factor is

3. Probably the winter at Petersburg will be more approachable than in Toronto...

 

Could anyone give me some suggestion on how to make this choice? Any suggestions is appreciated! Thanks so much!

[Stat Assistant Professor]

Congratulations on your acceptances! University of Toronto and Carnegie Mellon are both excellent schools. The Department of Statistics & Data Science at CMU is particularly strong in the areas that you listed as interests -- not to mention its proximity with the CMU Machine Learning Department which is also world-class. So this would be an excellent choice for your particular interests.

I am not as familiar with UofT, but for the field of Statistics, I don't think it really matters if you go to the same school for your PhD as your undergrad. I know several people who did this, and they are currently in great academic jobs right now (and this is including not just people who went to Stanford, Harvard, or Berkeley for both their undergrad and grad, but also folks who did both their Bachelor's and PhD's at schools like University of Florida). So this isn't really an issue, IMO. If you are interested in academia, you should aim to work with a PhD advisor who can help you publish/submit papers *before* graduation, so you can be competitive for postdocs and TT Assistant professorships. 

As for the immigration stuff, it should be noted that even in the current political atmosphere, there is no H1-B quota or cap for university workers in the U.S. So usually, American universities have a lot of free reign to hire people irrespective of their immigration status. And if you are reasonably productive in research and your teaching is adequate, then your job is very secure, and there should be very little difficulty transferring from H-1B status to green card. But this pertains mainly to faculty -- international PhD students typically can't become PR's as easily unless they marry an American citizen.

Edited February 12, 2020 by Stat PhD Now Postdoc

[bayessays]

CMU is a top department and will fully fund you throughout your studies.  $3.1k USD per month in Pittsburgh is going to give you a much better quality of life than $20k CAD per year in Toronto - it's over twice as much money with the exchange rate in a city that is a little cheaper to live in.

Toronto has some impressive faculty and you can be successful coming out of there, but CMU is probably going to be a stronger department overall.

If the immigration concerns are big for you, and if you really like the faculty you're working with, Toronto is a solid department and it would be reasonable to go there.  But from the point of view of finances and prestige, CMU might be a little better.  QS world rankings, which should be taken with a grain of salt, rank CMU as #10 and Toronto as #14 worldwide.