Stats PhD: stuck between UNC, UMN, & PSU

[tabis]

Hi, 

So I've been accepted to a couple of stats phd programs, and narrowed it down to the three below.

Rankings is not that much of a concern, and the three seem to be close enough.

In terms of research interest I'm pretty much open to anything at this point (in other words I don't have anything in particular ), but I'm more interested in applications.

Money is certainly a concern, but stipend is about the same and living costs are fairly similar from what I've seen.

I'm interested in going on to industry/government for now but haven't completely ruled out academia.

 

UNC

pros

- Good weather

- More renowned faculty than the other 2?

- Good location to prepare for industry, but program/courses seems focused on theory

- Good biostat department (if I get interested in that route)

cons

- Seemingly small department, not many research options?

- A bit rural, but better than PSU

 

Minnesota

pros

- Good location (city)

- Good biostat department

cons

- Seemingly small department, not many research options?

- Terrible winters

 

Penn state

pros

- Ideal department and faculty size, lots of research options?

- Wider range of courses compared to the other 2

cons

- Awful location, though not completely discouraged

 

 

Please correct me if I'm wrong about anything mentioned above.

I haven't been able to visit any of the departments, and will not be able to before making a decision.

For now I'm leaning towards PSU, solely based on the fact that it seems there are more potential research options to choose from. Do you think this is the right choice, or is there anything I'm overlooking?

 

Any thoughts would be appreciated, thanks!

[Caesar]

I would pick UNC without a doubt. There are plenty of research options.  I considered applying to UNC, Duke, and NCSU based on the Statistical & Applied Mathematical Sciences Institute (SAMSI) alone.

 

http://www.samsi.info/

[bayessays]

If you're interested in applications, know that UNC has many faculty working on probability theory, and that it might not be the best fit.

[tabis]

If you're interested in applications, know that UNC has many faculty working on probability theory, and that it might not be the best fit.

 

Yes, my main issue with UNC is that if I go there, it seems my options may be limited to Probability theory, OR applications, or maybe ML.

[JZappa]

I disagree that UNC is just Probability, OR, or ML. I'm a student there now and we have several really good professors working on all sorts of applied things. I know we at least have a couple people doing applied statistics (Prof. Ji comes to mind), time-series, fiducial inference, and a lot of people doing biostats, and some other related fields. Also UNC is definitely not rural. Raleigh is a 30 minute drive away, there is RTP (which you can use for funding opportunities i.e. lots of available internships), and Durham is maybe a 5 minute drive as well. Plus the fact that we have SAMSI means there are an abundance of chances to do good applied work with a lot of other people. If you can definitely visit campus and talk to people about things, applied stats isn't really my area so I can't completely attest to exactly how good we are but it seems like the majority of our non-probability/OR professors are very applied.

[tabis]

JZappa sorry for the wording, my intended message was that there probably is less to do (non-academically) in Chapel Hill compared to Minneapolis, though of course internship opportunities abound at the RTP.

 

And I didn't mean to say that UNC is only Probability, OR, or ML, it's just that my rough perception is that it's a traditionally strong theoretical department jointly administered with its OR division, so while I know there should be people working on other areas it's kind of hard to imagine myself diverging from theory/OR. Anyway, thanks for your comment and I'll do some more digging.

[student12345]

I am currently on the reserve list so I hope you do not choose UNC

Kidding aside, I am myself interested in theory. I don't know anything about the non-theory faculty at the department so I cannot help in that regard. I assume your stipends are all livable? And Minnesota's department isn't too small