Opinions on UIUC vs. OSU

[OhioStateStudent]

Hey guys,

 

What are you opinions on UIUC vs OSU for a Statistics PhD?

 

 

I know that the answer may be a bit dependent on my own interests, however, I don't want to (at least initially) skew your opinions.

 

 

Which would you attend and why?

[are_we_there_yet?]

I currently reside in Illinois (Chicago) and would not, under any circumstances, attend UIUC.

 

The financial status of Illinois is the worst of any state in the US and shows no signs of improvement. Higher education (read graduate stipends) are easily cut during times of financial uncertainty and you would not want to end up partially through a PhD program without funding. Ohio's finances are in far better shape.

 

The graduate student union at UIUC is proudly reactionary, having voted to strike twice in the past five years. If you feel that your time is well spent not attending class / doing research / fulfilling your teaching obligations in order to protest a financially corrupt state system... then you'll fit right in. However, if you are like me and really don't want to get wrapped up in the politics of graduate affairs, preferring to work rather than walking around with a trite slogan on a stick, go to OSU.

 

Clearly there are other, more important reasons to choose one program over another, research interests and department "culture" being at the top of my list. Were there a professor at UIUC with whom I absolutely HAD to work, with no one else doing the same calibre of work at OSU, then UIUC is the clear choice. That being said, you need to consider how much extraneous B.S. you want to put up with during the course of your PhD studies. My tolerance is quite low.

 

Best of luck with your decision!

[creed_the_third]

I thought that the graduate students that are most in risk are those not in STEM fields? The recent (during the fall) strike was about about tuition wavers for College of fine and applied arts, not LAS that the stat department belongs to:

http://www.uigeo.org/faa-tuition-waivers/

Edited March 26, 2013 by creed_the_third

[erb8884]

I'm going to OSU for their Statistics PhD program. I don't know if you attended the Graduate Information Day, but I was really impressed by their program and their current students. I don't know anything about UIUC though, so I can't really help you there.

[Tronathan]

I currently reside in Illinois (Chicago) and would not, under any circumstances, attend UIUC.

 

The financial status of Illinois is the worst of any state in the US and shows no signs of improvement. Higher education (read graduate stipends) are easily cut during times of financial uncertainty and you would not want to end up partially through a PhD program without funding. Ohio's finances are in far better shape.

 

The graduate student union at UIUC is proudly reactionary, having voted to strike twice in the past five years. If you feel that your time is well spent not attending class / doing research / fulfilling your teaching obligations in order to protest a financially corrupt state system... then you'll fit right in. However, if you are like me and really don't want to get wrapped up in the politics of graduate affairs, preferring to work rather than walking around with a trite slogan on a stick, go to OSU.

 

Clearly there are other, more important reasons to choose one program over another, research interests and department "culture" being at the top of my list. Were there a professor at UIUC with whom I absolutely HAD to work, with no one else doing the same calibre of work at OSU, then UIUC is the clear choice. That being said, you need to consider how much extraneous B.S. you want to put up with during the course of your PhD studies. My tolerance is quite low.

 

Best of luck with your decision!

 

I don't know about specific schools or programs or the economic situation of the states overall but... the state of Illinois has cut spending on higher education less than Ohio and less than almost every other state in the country during the recession. This is true both looking at cuts as a % and the raw $ amount of cuts.

 

http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=3927

[student12345]

Hi all, I was wondering if you had any opinions regarding state finances and their possible impact on funding for Florida and North Carolina. I already know California is bad right now, haha. I've only been admitted to public universities thus far and you folks seem to know much more about the economy than I

Edited March 26, 2013 by kimolas

[OhioStateStudent]

Hey erb8884,

 

I went to the graduate information day.

I'll be honest - I was not so impressed, mostly because I felt like the faculty presence was severely lacking (only about 7 professors came out of ~22 in the department).


Does anyone know how these two departments are viewed? I would imagine roughly similarly, but does any ideas?

[Shostakovich]

Hey erb8884,

 

I went to the graduate information day.

I'll be honest - I was not so impressed, mostly because I felt like the faculty presence was severely lacking (only about 7 professors came out of ~22 in the department).

Does anyone know how these two departments are viewed? I would imagine roughly similarly, but does any ideas?

 

That seems pretty standard for an info day, 7 profs out of 22 showing up. I don't think what percentage of professors show up to the info day should be a metric for how good the program is, it could be that they are representing different research areas of the department and the 7 that showed up did a great job of covering them

 

I've heard only good things about OSU and could be wrong but thought it has a big "name value" in the Statistics discipline. UIUC maybe not so much... Anyway I don't know too much about the two programs, but personally I'd go to OSU without too much thinking unless you're already decided on a research area that UIUC is stronger at. Good luck!

[OhioStateStudent]

I guess to put that number in perspective, at UIUC I met with 6/10 faculty in one-on-one meetings for ~30 minutes each.

 

 

 

Is OSU more highly regarded than UIUC? I thought that UIUC was thought of as more prestigious than OSU. It is certainly ranked higher as an overall institution.

[Shostakovich]

I guess to put that number in perspective, at UIUC I met with 6/10 faculty in one-on-one meetings for ~30 minutes each.

 

 

 

Is OSU more highly regarded than UIUC? I thought that UIUC was thought of as more prestigious than OSU. It is certainly ranked higher as an overall institution.

 

I meant that OSU seems to be better known in Stats, and I could be wrong about that (but it does look like OSU is better ranked, perhaps has a bigger department, etc.). If the UIUC faculty is more approachable and you feel like the program is a better fit for you, then that's definitely a huge plus.

[OhioStateStudent]

So in your opinion OSU is more well known for stats that UIUC?

In the rankings OSU is at ~27, and UIUC is at ~33, so I suppose the rankings corroborate this view.



I've looked at the placement of each program, but they seem to be fairly similar (hard to tell because UIUC has more placement data than OSU does).


Whod've thought this would be such a tough decision!