UMich vs Brown biostatistics

[tugboat]

Hi all, I was accepted into University of Michigan and Brown's biostatistics masters programs. I was originally learning towards Brown because they offered me a 25% tuition scholarship and it's a nice small department doing interesting work. However, after doing some comparing, I am back at square one.

 

Brown

Pros: 25% tuition scholarship, graduate coordinate says that department usually finds RA/TA positions for incoming students, but these positions are being researched now and won't know till later, small department of few students so possibly more individual attention, Providence is a nice, beautiful historic city close to Boston and NYC.

 

Cons: cost of attendence will be around $68,000 (where tuition is $5,576/course with usual courseload of 3 per semester minus 25% of that) which includes tuition, mandatory fees, health insurance, etc.

 

UMich

Pros: top 5 program, internal PhD applicants have priority regarding admissions decisions, looks like tuition and fees will be cheaper even without funding ($19,799/sem for full-time out of state) but I am not sure if that includes everything.

 

Cons: no funding and not sure if it is possible to take on TA/RA positions since these are part of the funding packages that were offered to those who were lucky enough to get funding

 

Which program do you think will be better in the long-run in terms of cost? I have no problems with either programs as both as very good in biostat, but I am concerned about the cost.

 

Any advice is appreciated, thanks!

Edited April 14, 2013 by tugboat