MS in Statistics University of Minnesota vs MA in Statistics Wake Forest University

[StatMasterCat]

 Hi all,

I'm an international applicant and luckily I got admitted to several master's programs. I finally narrowed it down to two options and want to ask for some advice before I make a huge decision! 

I'm planning to apply to Ph.D. Programs after getting a master's degree but also don't want to rule out the possibility of getting a job with just an MS degree. The reason why I didn't apply to Ph.D. program this year is that I did not take enough math courses and my GPA was just mediocre. Since the admission is more competitive for international students, I wanted to do a master's first to make my profile look better. 

Plus, I only took Linear Algebra, Probability, Analysis, Mathematical Statistics, and some other stat courses from my undergraduate. I wonder taking proof-based math courses at a graduate school would significantly improve my future profile.

Any comments will be appreciated. Thanks!
 
 
University of Minnesota 

Pros:
1. Not a huge MS program: about 25 master's students (cause I saw some programs with 50+ master students)
2. Location (city and more job opportunities if I just decide to get a job after my MS) 
3. Higher ranking and faculty (not sure if it does mean anything for MS though)
4. Tuition is reasonable for international students. (about $30k per year)

Cons:
1. Cost of attendance (I received a partial scholarship from Wake Forest, and my rough estimation is that I would need to spend extra $15-20k per year including health insurance if I choose MN over WFU)
2. I'm a bit worried about what if I won't be able to obtain research experience at this program because it's a big department with a lot of Ph.D. students.
 

Wake Forest University (They don't have a Ph.D. program, only offer MA)

Pros:
1. Partial scholarship: I would still need to pay $10k in tuition per year though
2. Small program with 10-15 math/stat students.
3. Research experience: I saw some professors there have published papers with their MA students.

Cons:
1. Location: correct me if i'm wrong! but it seems a bit like the middle of nowhere to me ?
2. Un-ranked program: does this affect anything if I just go the job market with the MA degree from a lower ranking program?
3. Not MS but MA (does it matter? not sure)
 

 

 

[bayessays]

I'd be biased towards the option that will save you money. Wake Forest is a respectable school and think the thesis option could be very helpful for PhD admissions in future. It's not in as big of a city as Minneapolis, but it's not the middle of nowhere and there are bigger cities in North Carolina within a few hours (also much better winters).  I don't think the ranking is a big enough deal to be worth the extra money, especially considering you probably can form closer ties with professors at Wake Forest. The MA/MS distinction is meaningless.

[shuggie]

I applied to Wake Forest this cycle and had some interaction with the department. They were easily one of the best departments I spoke with, very nice, and clearly have their students in mind. If they had a PhD program, I would have attended in a heartbeat. If you are uncertain about doing a PhD I think the program at WFU is a better option. Being a terminal MS program you might get more support their than at UMN, but don't quote me on that. Also the statistics faculty at WFU is growing and seems pretty diverse for a joint Math/Stat department. I was told there were some sparse RA opportunities in interdisciplinary areas like econ and public health. You'll also have the opportunity to take graduate math courses like Measure Theory and Functional Analysis.

I went to school in a moderately sized metropolitan area and studied in Budapest for a semester. In my experience there are definitely pros to studying in a dense urban area, but it's far more important to make sure you have strong work environment on campus and at home. When the going gets tough, where you live doesn't matter as much.

[StatMasterCat]

@bayessays Thank you for the input! As an international student, I really didn't have much information about this school. There are not many people who know about Wake Forest University in my country even though it is a great school and a lot of people know about UMN. It's probably because there are less than 10 people(from what I heard) who are attending this school from my home country but there have been a lot of people who have attended UMN. May I ask you one more thing? you don't think ranking or name does matter that much for MS programs unless it's not programs like Stanford, Harvard and etc?. it's better to choose the option that will save me money?

@shuggie That's good to hear that you had a good communication with the department and it seemed they care about the students! and I agree that terminal MS program should benefit me in many ways. May I ask you where you decided to go? and congrats on your admission

[bayessays]

UMN does have a good statistics department, but Wake Forest is a very respected university. In fact, it is rated as the 27th best university in the US, while UMN is 70th.  So people will recognize the Wake Forest name and I think will view it positively, and it does look like very good preparation for a PhD program as well.

[StatMasterCat]

@bayessays Thank you so much! that's really helpful information  

[shuggie]

19 hours ago, StatMasterCat said:

 

@shuggie That's good to hear that you had a good communication with the department and it seemed they care about the students! and I agree that terminal MS program should benefit me in many ways. May I ask you where you decided to go? and congrats on your admission

I would recommend talking to Dr. Robinson at WFU if you have any questions about the program. I also spoke with Dr. Jadhav who was equally helpful. I'm trying to to decide to between FSU and ISU at the moment. I'm leaning towards FSU for research reasons, but ISU has a strong program that I would be happy in.

[StatMasterCat]

@shuggie Thank you! I will definitely reach out to one of the professors. I also got an offer from FSU but it was without any financial aid ? they both seemed like great programs. I hope you make the best decision for you and I don't think you could go wrong with both of the options! congrats again!