Choosing the Stat PhD program: TAMU vs Penn State

[casual_learning]

Hello,

 

although my application results are not completely announced yet, but I have been admitted to the Statistics PhD program at TAMU and Penn State and I want to make a choice between those schools in advance before the remaining results come out. Since those two programs exhibit a broad range of research topics and the life at Penn or Texas seems obviously different, it is hard to choose between those programs. 

 

Basically I am interested in statistical learning and causal inference both theoretically and with their applications to personalized medicine. While there are a considerable number of faculty members researching into machine learning at both programs, it seems that causal inference/sampling theory/measurement error models have been studied a little bit more actively at Penn State. And it seems that Penn State has a broader range of research topics(such as algebraic geometry, topological data analysis etc) than TAMU does, since the latter seems to have a focus on Bayesian methods. Since I am open to topics other than the ones aforementioned, Penn is more attractive. Furthermore, it seems that the graduate assistantship from PSU has no TA duties.. though I have to search for further information regarding that matter..

 

However, there is one faculty member at TAMU who has an interest of research at the very topic I am also interested in, which makes me hard to choose. And anyway, TAMU also has a nice Stat PhD program. Furthermore, the location of TAMU is definitely nicer than that of PSU since the former has a better accessibility to the metropolitan cities such as Houston or Austin while PSU is relatively isolated in a rural area.

 

With all things considered, it is so hard for me to choose which to go between those two programs. Any advice is welcomed. Thank you for your time reading this!

Edited March 26, 2021 by casual_learning

[whiterabbit]

Research-wise, I'd be hesitant to make a decision based on a single advisor at TAMU, if you haven't already gotten some sort of commitment from them. I know of the 4 (!) people I initially thought I'd want to work with in my department, half of them turned out to be no-go's for various reasons. 

[bayessays]

I don't think there's a clear choice so I'd go somewhere where you will have at least a few options you'll be happy with and also a place where you'd enjoy living more as the two towns are very different environments.  I definitely agree with @whiterabbit. I almost went to a school with only one advisor option, and he left for another university after one semester so I'm glad I did not make that mistake!

[Ryuk]

I did my undergrad in the stats department at TAMU, so feel free to ask me any questions you think I might be able to help with! I interacted with quite a few faculty, but not all of them. I definitely know the area pretty well.

I literally can't say anything about Penn State, but I know that the relationship between the stats and math departments at A&M seems to be pretty strong. They are in the same building and I found it extremely easy to take classes and talk to professors from the math department. I say this because it might increase your options as far as research topics go. 

[StatsG0d]

On 3/25/2021 at 9:15 PM, casual_learning said:

Since those two programs exhibit a broad range of research topics and the life at Penn or Texas seems obviously different, it is hard to choose between those programs. 

Speaking as someone who has been to both campuses, they are not very different. Both are college towns existing only because there's a university there. Heck, both cities have the word College in their names. While it's true that College Station is more connected than State College, it's still 1.5 hours to Houston, and you're unlikely to actually make that trip often (unless you're a TA for their online courses which are offered in person in Houston, and the lectures are posted online).

On 3/25/2021 at 9:15 PM, casual_learning said:

Basically I am interested in statistical learning and causal inference both theoretically and with their applications to personalized medicine. 

I don't think either of these programs have notable faculty in this area. Have you applied to / gotten into UNC biostats, Washington biostats, Harvard biostats, and/or NCSU stats? These are the places to be for working in this area IMO.

On 3/25/2021 at 9:15 PM, casual_learning said:

And it seems that Penn State has a broader range of research topics(such as algebraic geometry, topological data analysis etc) than TAMU does, since the latter seems to have a focus on Bayesian methods. 

I don't agree with this statement at all. Carroll (their most famous faculty member by far) doesn't really do Bayes. TAMU has a lot of faculty working in spatial statistics and for various reasons Bayesian statistics kind of is the standard in spatial. TAMU has a large diversity of research interests (clinical trials, genetics, spatial, nonparametric, semiparametric, econometrics, etc.). Both departments are very large and are pretty comparable in terms of prestige / diversity of research interests.

Secondly, and you're not the only person on this forum and elsewhere making this mistake, Bayes is a paradigm--it's just a different way of thinking / conducting statistical inference. For example, there's deep learning, and there's Bayesian deep learning. One of the most utilized methods for ML in text analysis is Latent Dirichlet Allocation, and the method is fundamentally Bayes even though none of the people on the paper would likely classify themselves as Bayesian. It's totally OK if you think "I'll never be interested in Bayes stuff," but don't make the mistake of thinking that Bayes is a research area in and of itself. It can be, but it is not always.

I agree with @whiterabbit and @bayessays regarding choosing a place based on one advisor. Honestly, you'll probably find that you'll change your research interests as you move about the program because you'll be exposed to new things and, suddenly, area X doesn't seem so exciting. I have many friends who knew nothing of genomics, took the elective, and then made it their entire dissertation because they loved it so much. It's good to have a good idea of what you might like to do, but it's also good to keep an open mind.

 

[statsday]

I’m a first year PhD student at A&M and I like it a lot.

I go to Houston pretty often and Austin occasionally. I’m very liberal and lived in Boulder before moving to College Station. College Station is conservative but it’s not an issue. 

If you are interested in a particular professor you can ask Andrea to set up a zoom call with them. Do you mind me asking which professor you’re interested in working with? 

Edited April 5, 2021 by statsday