UNC Chapel Hill vs PENN STATE for Statistics PhD

[Joanna Tran]

Hello all, 

I am considering between penn state and unc for statistics PhD. For Penn State, I got university fellowship, which means I don't need to do TA/RA job in the first year and do TA/RA duty in the second year with $32000 a year (year 1 and year 2 only). Penn state also guarantees that I will get summer stipend ($8000) if I stay on campus. For UNC, they don't have university fellowship for statistics department this year. Thus, I only get 21000 for 9 months with TA jobs. They also give me the first year research fellowship for $9000 and I have to work in the lab. That means, at UNC, I have to do TA and lab work in my first year and only do TA (only 21000) for upcoming years. 

I am considering these two schools because they are both top 20 in stats (UNC tie 11th and Penn State tie 19th). However, I am not sure which school is better for statistics. I am also thinking that Penn State gives me really good fellowship, while UNC does not. 

Can you all please give me the opinions of Statistics programs at these two schools? Although Penn State has lower overall ranking than UNC, these two schools seem to be quite similar and equal in statistics program. Am I correct? Should I choose the school with higher ranking or the school that really wants me and gives me good fellowship? Does Penn State lean towards applied and computing things and UNC lean towards theory more? 

P/s: I prefer to do research about data analysis and computational statistics since I prefer to work as a data scientist in industry. Thank you!

Edited April 10 by Joanna Tran

[Joanna Tran]

I appreciate any information and opinion from you all