Duke vs NCSU

[leannaD]

I have been fortunate to be admitted by both these schools for their Statistics PhD programs. My aim is to secure a good postdoc after my PhD, and enter academia after that. I am also more inclined towards biostatistics applications and would probably aim for postdocs/tt positions in biostats.

I know that Duke has a slightly higher rank as per USN, but the personalized medicine cluster at NCSU and its collaborations with UNC Biostatistics really attracts me. Duke seems heavily geared towards Bayesian statistics, which is ok, but I have a stronger interest match in NC State. 

Is it giving up a lot, if I choose NCSU over Duke? Thanks in advance.

[bayessays]

NCSU is a great department and you'll be in good shape there - lots of renowned professors. It would be totally reasonable to choose it over Duke. One big difference obviously is that NCSU has a huge department.

[Stat Assistant Professor]

If the NCSU graduate coordinator has not already done so, you can ask for a list of job placements from recent years. They should be able to provide it. Duke's placements are readily available here: https://stat.duke.edu/people/phd-alumni

I think NCSU would be fine, personally. I am currently collaborating with a postdoc at University of Chicago who got their PhD from NCSU.

Grad students who are interested in academic careers should be focused on publishing papers in statistics journals and machine learning conferences like NeurIpS, ICML, and AISTATS as early as possible (and getting teaching experience as instructor of record if they are specifically interested in pursuing careers at teaching-focused institutions). Most students won't really do much or any research while they're completing coursework (the first 1-2 years of the program), but you should be thinking about it early if you want to pursue academia. I think a nice thing about Duke is that they require the first-year students to take a Readings in Statistical Science seminar each semester of their first year, so they can become acquainted with the most recent statistics literature earlier. But even without this, there are many other things grad students can do to get a "head start" (e.g. attend seminars, do independent study, get involved early with interdisciplinary research, etc.).

Edited March 14, 2020 by Stat Postdoc Soon Faculty

[mikstabio]

Sorry to bump into this thread, but a quick question: Is NCSU considered a notch above or more "top-tier" than Minnesota and PennState Stats? Or would one place these big state schools in the same tier?

[Stat Assistant Professor]

1 hour ago, mikstabio said:

Sorry to bump into this thread, but a quick question: Is NCSU considered a notch above or more "top-tier" than Minnesota and PennState Stats? Or would one place these big state schools in the same tier?

As far as academic placements go, I would consider Minnesota and NCSU to have stronger placements than Penn State. There are several UMN alumni who are faculty at my PhD alma mater, and they hired one more faculty this past year who also came from UMN. I also know of several alum from UMN at other solid places like UIUC, FSU, etc. And at the place where I am a postdoc (an Ivy League school), there is an Assistant Professor who has a PhD from NCSU. I also know of several PhD alumni from NCSU at places like UC-Irvine and Rice University.

EDIT: I am not aware of any publicly available list of placements for UMN or NCSU, but I am aware that several prominent professors (e.g. R. Dennis Cook, Hui Zou, Brian Reich, Subhashis Ghosal) place very well for academia. You can check out their CV's/websites to see where their former students have gone.

Edited March 15, 2020 by Stat Postdoc Soon Faculty

[MathStat]

While I am obviously biased since I did my undergrad there, I think Duke is very special since it is wayyy easier to collaborate with faculty there and get started on research early. Unfortunately, many programs hold you back with classes in the first 1-2 years (some classes arguably useful and important, others...not so much...). However, I see Duke stat phds get started on research straight away and even have preprints by the beginning of their second year! 

NCSU is a very strong university, however, I did not like the huge size the program and the fact that the DGS told me no prof really wants to do research with you before  you pass exams (something that happens at even bigger name places as well...). 

Edited March 17, 2020 by MathStat

[leannaD]

Just how big of a problem is NCSU's size? I've seen several forum posts indicating that their size could be an issue. Students I spoke with there painted pretty sunny pictures of the department, saying that everyone was taken good care of. Does the bigger size imply that there is little to none one-one advising?

Edited March 17, 2020 by leannaD

[bayessays]

From a quick look at the first 4 profs I could think of at NCSU, they have 10, 12, 19, and 2 current PhD students each.  Most people at Duke seem to be 3-5 students each.  I'd imagine that would have some impact on the competition for advisors and how much time you get with them, but obviously asking current students about the environment would be most informative.