[Biostat PhD] Michigan vs Columbia vs Minnesota ?

[dianlove]

Hello, I'm Korean and I have never lived in the U.S., so if anyone help me, I'll really appreciate that.

I got a admission letters from Univ. of Michigan (Ann Arbor), Columbia University and Univ. of Minnesota for PhD program in biostatistics. They also offered graduate assistantship, including full tuition and stipend (approximately $2000 per month) and I should make a decision until March 10.

I'm interested in bioinformatics, so many people said that I should choose Univ. of Michigan.

However, I heard that passing a qualifying exam is really hard in Michigan, so I'm really worried about that.

I also heard that biostatistics department in Columbia has a number of collaborated works, which will be advantages when I get a job in the U.S.

Any comment will be a great help.

(Also, please understand grammatical mistakes ;-) )