muzili Posted February 13, 2014 Posted February 13, 2014 Also waiting to hear about fellowship. Will you consider Minnesota over OSU? I really consider Minnesota as a top choice, but received no results from there
Chrome Posted February 13, 2014 Posted February 13, 2014 Also waiting to hear about fellowship. Will you consider Minnesota over OSU? I really consider Minnesota as a top choice, but received no results from there It'll depend on the kind of funding available. I am anxiously awaiting results from NCSU and Minnesota.
muzili Posted February 13, 2014 Posted February 13, 2014 I mean if judging from the strength of departments, maybe Minnesota is better than OSU? But since Minnesota has already sent out a round of offers, I guess it's not likely to get admitted for me...
Stat Assistant Professor Posted February 13, 2014 Posted February 13, 2014 (edited) IMHO: I think OSU and Minnesota are pretty comparable programs for stats (Minnesota a lot more reputable for biostats). I think academic and industry placement are both decent, so if I were deciding between these two programs, it'd come down to funding and "fit" for me. The US News and World Report rankings are rather weird -- it seems like some schools like Yale, Columbia, and Florida are ranked lower than they should be on this list, while others are ranked higher than they should be (e.g. I don't think Duke is better than NCState, UMich, or UWisc, seeing as these latter programs have much broader focus than just Bayesian stats). The top tiers on the USNWR and the NRC rankings are more-or-less accurate. But below UChicago (for stats) and UW (for biostats) on the USNWR, the rankings are a bit dicey, and if I were admitted to any schools below the top tier, I'd visit the departments and then make decisions based on financial support, fit, and academic/industry placements. If the job placements are really strong, then it would come down to money and "feel" I get from visiting. Does anyone have any thoughts on this? Edited February 13, 2014 by Stat Applicant
muzili Posted February 13, 2014 Posted February 13, 2014 Can you give the website of the USNWR and the NRC rankings? For international students who cannot visit departments on their own, it's really headache to make decisions..
Stat Assistant Professor Posted February 13, 2014 Posted February 13, 2014 (edited) Sure. Take these with a grain of salt though. From what I've heard, there is considerable disagreement amongst current statistics scholars over these rankings, below the top tier ones I mentioned (i.e. below Chicago for stats and below Washington for biostats, there'll be some disagreement on USNWR). And it also depends on sub-area too -- some schools are much stronger in one particular sub-area than others (e.g. Duke is probably better than some of the tier 1 for Bayesian statistics specifcially, CMU is better than everyone else for statistical machine learning, etc.) USNWR does not segregate statistics and biostatistics, so you'll have to click on the individual university to make separate lists for stats from biostats. USNWR: http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-science-schools/statistics-rankings NRC: http://chronicle.com/article/nrc-statistics/124660/ Ultimately, where you want to go should factor in: fit (e.g. if you REALLY want to do machine learning and got into CMU, that's probably the best place for it... or if you are particularly interested in social science statistics, UW is a better choice over Berkeley), funding, typical time to completion, and job placement of recent graduates. Edited February 13, 2014 by Stat Applicant
Stat Assistant Professor Posted February 13, 2014 Posted February 13, 2014 Since some people are on waitlist or haven't heard back... in addition to acceptances/rejections, could people please also post what schools they're *definitely* withdrawing applications from and/or declining offers from? This would likely be helpful to some people who can then contact those departments. Thanks y'all! Appreciate it.
lidon Posted February 13, 2014 Posted February 13, 2014 I think you'll find disagreement over the top tier as well. Based on conversations I've had with faculty, I would probably list the top five (pure stat) as Stanford, UPenn, UC Berkeley, UChicago, and Washington. In particular, UPenn appears to be very underranked and Harvard appears to be very overranked. But how do you really assign a single number to an entire department anyway?
Stat Assistant Professor Posted February 13, 2014 Posted February 13, 2014 Good point, lidon. Other things matter too, like who your adviser is, how well-connected they are, and what your area of research ends up being. I've heard that right now, social network analysis and random graphs are "hot" areas, so departments making hiring decisions may opt to go with someone who does probabilistic graph structures even if their pedigree is a "lower ranked" school. Pedigree does matter, but it is not the only thing. For me personally, I care most about job placement, funding, and fit (I'm more of an applied stats person with interests in machine learning, computation, and algorithms).
AnUnladenSwallow Posted February 13, 2014 Posted February 13, 2014 I suspect the 150 number from last year may have been PhD only, and the 300+ they're quoting for 2014 includes MS applicants as well. But there's no question that applications are way, way up across the board, maybe as much as 20-30% over last year alone. Oh, that makes sense! Do you think biostatistics as a field is really starting to take off now?
muzili Posted February 13, 2014 Posted February 13, 2014 TAMU：Our review process is going on at this time. Letters will be sent offering financial support to a few Ph.D. students at the end of February.
clurp Posted February 13, 2014 Posted February 13, 2014 I got an offer from UNC Stats. My first one so far.
persistent_homology Posted February 13, 2014 Posted February 13, 2014 Out of curiosity: would anyone take Cornell over CMU? They've offered me a really nice fellowship that makes it tempting. But my interests are firmly in machine learning, and so it seems crazy not to go for CMU.
Stat Assistant Professor Posted February 13, 2014 Posted February 13, 2014 I'd visit both depts. Are there enough stat faculty at Cornell who do machine learning that can supervise a thesis? Could you get opportunities to do machine learning research too? Cornell's CS department is world-class so it's possible you could get similar opportunities there as at CMU. I'd want to visit Cornell to see if there are enough opportunities to do interdisciplinary stats/ML research, and then compare that to CMU.
statisticsfall2014 Posted February 13, 2014 Posted February 13, 2014 There's good faculty at cornell for machine learning I'm sure. i know before applying, I spoke to Giles Hooker, who is very involved in machine learning. http://stat.cornell.edu/people/faculty/giles-hooker
Stat Assistant Professor Posted February 13, 2014 Posted February 13, 2014 awesome. I didn't apply to Cornell, but I def think it's a good idea to attend visit day at both CU and CMU before ruling out Cornell... especially since cost of living in Ithaca will be cheaper than cost of living in Pittsburgh and CU is giving you a lot of money.
persistent_homology Posted February 13, 2014 Posted February 13, 2014 Thanks for the thoughts, I am not sure I will be able to attend the open days, living in the UK what they offer towards travel will not cover it. awesome. I didn't apply to Cornell, but I def think it's a good idea to attend visit day at both CU and CMU before ruling out Cornell... especially since cost of living in Ithaca will be cheaper than cost of living in Pittsburgh and CU is giving you a lot of money. According to this http://www.areavibes.com/cost-of-living-calculator/ithaca,+ny-vs-pittsburgh,+pa/ pittsburgh is 8.4% percent cheaper to live in, although even after accounting for this their offer has an edge because they offer free health insurance. Are any internationals going to open days?
mittensmitten895 Posted February 13, 2014 Posted February 13, 2014 Oh, that makes sense! Do you think biostatistics as a field is really starting to take off now? Don't forget we just had a whole International Year of Statistics to celebrate the growing importance of statistics in our society. It amounted to a year-round recruitment event elevating the profile of applied statistics among the general public. I don't know about you, but my friends and family emailed me bazillions of news items about "sexy" statisticians and the rosy job outlook -- that PR team definitely earned their keep. Furthermore, trends in medical care and public health are coming together to increase the need for biostatisticians specifically trained in the field rather than those with a more general education in pure stat. If you want to consider bioinformatics as a sub-field of biostatistics (I personally don't, but people do), there are also huge technological advances driving the expansion.
Stat Assistant Professor Posted February 13, 2014 Posted February 13, 2014 Oh wow, I had no idea Pittsburgh was that cheap! My mistake. I think I was probably confusing Philadelphia with Pittsburgh... haha. Ithaca is pretty nice area though, if you enjoy open air, gorges, waterfalls, and state parks. Not sure about Pittsburgh.
AnUnladenSwallow Posted February 13, 2014 Posted February 13, 2014 Don't forget we just had a whole International Year of Statistics to celebrate the growing importance of statistics in our society. It amounted to a year-round recruitment event elevating the profile of applied statistics among the general public. I don't know about you, but my friends and family emailed me bazillions of news items about "sexy" statisticians and the rosy job outlook -- that PR team definitely earned their keep. Furthermore, trends in medical care and public health are coming together to increase the need for biostatisticians specifically trained in the field rather than those with a more general education in pure stat. If you want to consider bioinformatics as a sub-field of biostatistics (I personally don't, but people do), there are also huge technological advances driving the expansion. Oh man, where was I? I had no idea about the International Year of Statistics. That's awesome though. I have heard some things about having a high demand for biostatisticians from friends for sure. But yeah, that's a good point about the increased need due to medical care/public health advances. It seems like it'll be a really great field to be in.
effhorses Posted February 13, 2014 Posted February 13, 2014 Since some people are on waitlist or haven't heard back... in addition to acceptances/rejections, could people please also post what schools they're *definitely* withdrawing applications from and/or declining offers from? This would likely be helpful to some people who can then contact those departments. Thanks y'all! Appreciate it. I just declined Iowa State's offer and already withdrew applications from a couple schools that haven't released any decisions yet. Still waiting on Carnegie Mellon, Michigan, UCLA, Northwestern and Columbia and don't plan to withdraw any of those for the time being.
Stat Assistant Professor Posted February 13, 2014 Posted February 13, 2014 In case anyone is still freaking out: University of Iowa's PhD application deadline is Feb. 15, so there is still time to apply. I was considering this until I received personalized e-mails from professors at Florida and Rice U., so I am going to pass now. But just throwing this out there.
coffeehouse Posted February 13, 2014 Posted February 13, 2014 I just got waitlist for CMU phd in stats. My only other offer is Minnesota. Looks like I'll have to wait til April. They did promise me full funding if I'm off the waitlist. Can anyone fill me in on the funding details? TA duties/teaching duties? Etc.
Stat Assistant Professor Posted February 13, 2014 Posted February 13, 2014 Rejection from Harvard finally arrived in the mail. Congrats to those who got it!
skyrer Posted February 13, 2014 Posted February 13, 2014 I just got waitlist for CMU phd in stats. My only other offer is Minnesota. Looks like I'll have to wait til April. They did promise me full funding if I'm off the waitlist. Can anyone fill me in on the funding details? TA duties/teaching duties? Etc. How did you get confirmation of waitlist for CMU?
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