CUNY vs Columbia (Stats masters)

[Hockstolm]

What is the general opinion comparing these programs? Both Hunter and Baruch/Zicklin have a statistics masters. Columbia is obviously a top school but I have read some not-so-great things about their MA in Statistics program (of course Columbia's PhD has a much better reputation). Is Columbia worth the additional tuition, at the very least an extra $30,000?

 

A related but more general question: if I decide in the future that I want to do a PhD, do you think having the Ivy name would be a big help or CUNY would be a detractor in applying to top programs?

 

If it makes a difference I am more interested in applied stats.

[Hockstolm]

Does anyone have an opinion they're willing to share? The other options I'm considering are the online programs offered by Texas A&M, Iowa State, and Penn State. These are appealing because they're flexible and highly ranked like Columbia but are less than half the cost.

 

Any thoughts?

[DMX]

If you want to do PhD later on I would save the extra 30K and go to CUNY. But make sure you can get some solid research experience from the program.

 

If you want to do industry I would say go to Columbia.

[Tronathan]

Something to pay attention to is the curriculum for the individual programs. Baruch leans far to the applied side and specifically for business applications. If you went on to a typical PhD program this might not look good and you may have to take a lot of masters level theory courses, effectively starting over.

Hunter, on the opposite side of the spectrum, looks like it is really a Math degree with some specialization in Statistics. Most of the faculty is math. This would probably be better for PhD applications but you would be less prepared for private sector work right after the MS if you decide against the PhD.

Columbia has more course options and looks more like a typical statistics MS but I would be wary of taking on lots of debt. 30,000 alone isn't too much to handle but that is on top of what you would be paying at CUNY.

What about other options nearby that have a typical statistics MS but at much lower cost? Maybe Rutgers, UConn, Stony Brook? Or is moving not an option?

[Shostakovich]

Something to pay attention to is the curriculum for the individual programs. Baruch leans far to the applied side and specifically for business applications. If you went on to a typical PhD program this might not look good and you may have to take a lot of masters level theory courses, effectively starting over.

Hunter, on the opposite side of the spectrum, looks like it is really a Math degree with some specialization in Statistics. Most of the faculty is math. This would probably be better for PhD applications but you would be less prepared for private sector work right after the MS if you decide against the PhD.

Columbia has more course options and looks more like a typical statistics MS but I would be wary of taking on lots of debt. 30,000 alone isn't too much to handle but that is on top of what you would be paying at CUNY.

What about other options nearby that have a typical statistics MS but at much lower cost? Maybe Rutgers, UConn, Stony Brook? Or is moving not an option?

 

I also agree with this notion. Baruch and Columbia are more of Finance departments, and I know that Columbia sends out MS Stats offers to MS Financial Engineering applicants who don't make the cut for that program. A lot of students and even some faculty are very industry-minded as Columbia is a target school for wall street banks. I would suspect that the Baruch program might be similar (perhaps worse in terms of going into academia since it's in their business school) so I might pay the 30K extra and go to Columbia if it were down to those two schools. But if other schools (like Rutgers/UConn/Stony) have more theoretically oriented programs at significantly lower cost I would definitely consider that path more.

[Hockstolm]

Something to pay attention to is the curriculum for the individual programs. Baruch leans far to the applied side and specifically for business applications. If you went on to a typical PhD program this might not look good and you may have to take a lot of masters level theory courses, effectively starting over.

Hunter, on the opposite side of the spectrum, looks like it is really a Math degree with some specialization in Statistics. Most of the faculty is math. This would probably be better for PhD applications but you would be less prepared for private sector work right after the MS if you decide against the PhD.

Columbia has more course options and looks more like a typical statistics MS but I would be wary of taking on lots of debt. 30,000 alone isn't too much to handle but that is on top of what you would be paying at CUNY.

What about other options nearby that have a typical statistics MS but at much lower cost? Maybe Rutgers, UConn, Stony Brook? Or is moving not an option?

 

Thanks everyone for the responses. I am already working full time in Manhattan with a good job and would like to get my masters part time which makes other nearby programs unviable, even though something like Rutgers would be a great option. Since I'm already working I'm looking for knowledge rather than a network. I think it's most likely that I will stop at a masters as I'm not strongly drawn to academia, but it would be nice to keep that option open.

 

The $30,000 difference is likely an understatement. CUNY would be under $11,000 whereas Columbia is $48,500-$56,000 depending on how long it takes to complete. That also doesn't account for tuition inflation which at Columbia has historically been 5%. And again, I haven't heard great things about Columbia's MA program.

 

The online programs I'm looking at are closer to $20,000 and are rigorous, and I'm not opposed to the format, but like most I'd rather attend in person all things being equal.

[DMX]

former columbia MA stats person here. Feel free to PM me with any specific questions regarding columbia's program.