Cornell CS PhD vs UIUC Stats Masters??

[confusedcow]

I'm super grateful for my opportunities, and I feel like this is a bit of a weird dilemma to have, but I would love to to hear everyone's thoughts!

Long story short (maybe not that short), I'm currently working as a software engineer, and I have come to the unfortunate realization that I'm not the biggest fan of writing code, so I'm interested in doing research. I have a CS undergrad and a pretty decent applied ML background, but I'm interested in pursuing more "theoretical work." However, I am also a confused human who needs to try something before deciding whether or not they like it (aka what I think I want and what I actually want can be very different things). Since I don't really have any experience with theory, my research direction is pretty unclear. I also barely took any math courses in undergrad so I feel a bit under-qualified to pursue a more "theorem and proof"-based research style.

Cornell CS PhD (funded)

• a great program! am I crazy for thinking about turning it down??
• potential advisor does not seem like the best fit in terms of research interests, but he does seem flexible to new ideas
• I think a few professors do really interesting work, but they did not seem super keen on taking me as a student due to my lack of theory/math bg
• I'm not sure if I actually like CS or if I'm just familiar with it? I've tried systems + applied work and felt m e h, and theory seems like the last thing to try
• so far from any cities (or airports)

UIUC Stats Masters (also funded)

• gives me opportunities to focus on learning and figuring out what I want to do
• I'm open to pivoting and focusing on statistics, but I feel like I might be throwing away my experience in CS
• the courses seem really interesting, but what if I don't like them or what if I fail out LOL
• not as "reputable"? definitely not as rare of an opportunity as Cornell PhD I think
• would require either reapplying to PhDs in 2 years or transferring into UIUC Stat PhD in one year (if they take me)
• also in a cornfield, but my SO is there!

Thanks for reading :)) I'd love to hear your initial impressions, and let me know if there's something really obvious that I'm missing l o l i've been overthinking this way too much and my brain is tired

Edited April 1, 2021 by confusedcow

[Ren76]

Ooh interesting. As far as which is the better program/opportunity, I'd have to say the Cornell program, hands down (in my uninformed opinion). But if you're not sure you want to do a PhD in cs, or you think you'd be unhappy with the fit of the Cornell program, it's not crazy to consider something else. Since they're both funded programs, they both seem like good options.