Stats PhD: UCLA or Michigan?

[PLessPoint05]

Interested in Bayesian and ML especially with application to climate science with hopes of tenure tracking after PhD. Currently deciding between UCLA or Michigan and praying to the lord above to hear back from Washington. 
 

Advice? Perspectives? Reapply? Anything is welcome. Thank you!

[statfan]

The statistics department at UCLA is not as prestigious as Michigan's and Michigan is generally perceived to be a step above UCLA. That said, Michigan's program should set you up pretty well for academia given their historical strong academic placements. You will have enough time to figure out your research interests and you'll definitely find some professors' research interesting since both programs have many research areas.

[bayessays]

Michigan for sure.  Outside of the fact that it is universally considered a stronger department, Michigan's generous stipend in Ann Arbor will give you a lot better quality of life than at UCLA.

[statsguy]

I'd only go to UCLA if Michigan winters were an absolute-dealbreaker for you. But since you applied to UMIch I assume you took that into account. To conclude, Michigan all the way.

Edited March 25, 2021 by statsguy

[trynagetby]

I almost chose Michigan and I applied/reviewed UCLA (didn't get in lol, but I don't think I'm being sour grapes). But If you take a look at the top professors at UCLA and their fields of work, (with a few exception like handcock) you'll see that Michigan has multiple professors working in the same area and the best one is often of the same reputation as the UCLA counterpart (if not higher). 

I wouldn't consider Michigan weaker than Washington for comparison perspective.

Edited March 26, 2021 by trynagetby