Choosing a PhD program: UC Berkeley vs. U of Michigan Biostatistics

[Anonymous Dino]

Hello

I have recently received acceptances from some Biostatistics PhD programs (a surprising result, although admittedly, there were maaaaaaany rejections along the way) and am having a hard time deciding between (UC) Berkeley and (U of) Michigan. My topics of interest surround Stats, Optimization & TCS for biological applications so topics like causal inference, high-dim-data and algorithm development is of strong interest. I lean slightly towards academia over industry, but not much (maybe 55/45?), so I wanna keep both paths open. I’d say that my current strengths vs. limitations list goes as follows:

• Coursework: Michigan - Rigour, challenging coursework & Quals don’t particularly faze me and I actually appreciate the growth and learning that comes with all three (alongside the necessary hard work). This said, I don’t have a Masters, so I’d have to take the MA coursework + the PhD coursework at Berkeley. I see this as a plus to my skillset in the long run and like Berkeley’s PhD coursework & flexibility more, but am worried that if a PhD ended up taking 6 yrs instead of 5 because of this, that I wouldn’t get funding the last year, whereas Michigan’s trajectory doesn’t seem contingent on having a Masters. I don’t want to feel like I’m rushed from day one. 
• Financials: Michigan - Michigan’s 38.976 a year (including summer) seems to go a comparatively long way in Ann Arbor, as opposed to Berkeley’s 41.000-44.000 a year (including summer) 
• Location: Berkeley - Weather appeals to me + I vibe with California/Berkeley culture more
• Prospects: Equally good - From online forums, it seems I’d have a slight edge applying industry from Berkeley, and a noticeable edge applying to academia from Michigan in Biostats, but since I’m less into stat-gen and have closer ties to theory, I don’t think coming from Berkeley would turn many eyes away (correct me if I’m wrong).
• Research Fit: Berkeley - The Biostats dept. at Berkeley has stronger ties to the Stats dept., and I’ve found stronger fit here based on my research interests.
• Service Requirement: Equally bad - Both seem to require ~20 hrs/week time commitment throughout graduation. I see teaching as a valuable experience (which I enjoy and actively make time for), but grading wouldn’t really add much value to my skill set, so I’m not excited about positions that are mostly about grading, and the associated time-sink. 

Luckily, these are well-known schools, so hoping that ppl can add their opinions / insights on how you’d weight these factors or things I didn’t consider. I feel like outside of funding (funding amount, and potentially, funding duration), it seems like Berkeley is a better fit for me but it seems most people would prefer Michigan, so was also wondering if there were advisor suggestions I should check out based on my interests. Also, I’m not excited about the idea of struggling to make ends on top of working towards a PhD, so was wondering if ppl had some perspective on Berkeley’s stipend. Berkeley’s first-year guaranteed housing if applying before April 20th does seem like a slight help tho. Thanks for your advice!

[bayessays]

At least in the near past, people with a Master's usually finished a year faster at Michigan.  I wouldn't worry about anything you mention in this paragraph - if you're working on your dissertation at either of these schools, I can't imagine any situation in which they don't fund you unless you start taking like 8 years.

Obviously the warm weather is a huge factor, but Ann Arbor is a very nice place to live. I'd visit both if you can.

They're both good programs - I don't think you can go wrong.  Both are schools that have good stat programs with lots of faculty to draw from - Berkeley does have stronger ties to stats department just because of the way the department is designed, but there are definitely people in biostat at Michigan working with stat faculty.

I'd ask students about the requirements - a 20 hour a week teaching assistantship is often 5 hours or less, at every program I've ever seen.  Once you start your dissertation, your "research assistantship" is usually just doing your dissertation.  

[stxnre]

I haven't been to Ann Arbor, but >41k/12 months for Berkeley should be doable. Studios are expensive, but a house/apt with roommates (but everyone has singles) should be okay for the area. A nice thing about the bay is that, if you want to do something fun or have a nice day trip, you are already in the area! There is a lot you can do to relax.

[bayessays]

Building on stxnre's observation, I think that you basically have to think about the financial situation in terms of what you'd have to give up. I think you'd be able to have a nice studio apartment downtown and eat out regularly in Ann Arbor, versus Berkeley where you'd almost certainly have to have roommates and you might not have the money to enjoy the area as much.

[Anonymous Dino]

These are all super helpful responses. Both school’s preview days are coming up soon, so I’ll definitely make sure to look into these follow-ups more. Thanks for the thoughts!