Statistics: NC State vs Santa Cruz

[finalrez]

I've basically narrowed down my decision to these two PhD programs, but like many others here I'm having trouble making up my mind.  Santa Cruz makes me a little nervous because it's a relatively new (unranked) program, and it is more expensive than NC State.  On the other hand, the department seems to be working on some very cool stuff (mostly non-parametric Bayes as far as I can tell).  I'm interested in computational methods and the Bayesian focus is an attraction.  Also, I thought it might be easier to get lost in NC State's program because it is so much larger.

 

Here's some of the things that I'm wondering about:

• Stability of funding -- particulary, is NC State funding typically provided at the advisor or the department level?
• Attrition rates and relative difficulty of first year exams/oral defense
• Placement rates in academia or industry.  I wasn't able to find much information about either program

Any other advice?  Thanks in advance --

Edited April 5, 2014 by finalrez

[Y.T. Safire]

NC State has a huge department. I believe there will certainly be a group of faculty members doing Bayesian statistics there.

 

My friend did some research as undergrads there during the summer of 2012. It was related to GPU and she was responsible for rewriting C code based on the given R code such that parallel computing could be done. 

[Stat Assistant Professor]

NC State has excellent industry placement, so you would do well there. I am not sure about UCSC... you should ask the DGS for job placement information, or a list of PhD graduates (then you can search for them on Google and/or LinkedIn).

Edited April 5, 2014 by Applied Math to Stat

[chrissytine]

On a somewhat unrelated note, I've lived in both locations for over 7+ yrs each (Raleigh and Santa Cruz). Hands down, Santa Cruz is the place to be. The quality of life is insanely better in SC. I still go back to Raleigh to visit family and wonder why I ever lived there. I realize that there are other factors at play, but I'd much rather spend five years in SC than Raleigh. Just another thing to consider....good luck!

Edited April 5, 2014 by chrissytine

[cyberwulf]

NC State is a much stronger program than Santa Cruz. It depends on what your career goals are, but if you're looking down the academic path NCSU is likely to be a better launching pad.