Choosing Harvard over CMU... huge mistake?

[DMX]

I was very lucky to have been accepted into a few schools, and now I am choosing between Harvard and CMU. My interest is in machine learning. I have to make a decision without visiting (international student).

 

I know CMU has a much better CS reputation than Harvard, but I am drawn to Harvard for several reasons:

 

- Had a chance to interview with the professor who would be my advisor, and we got on really really well.

- Harvard CS is getting a huge boost in funding from Steve Ballmer (http://www.seas.harvard.edu/news/2014/11/ballmer-to-support-computer-science-expansion)

- Boston >> Pittsburgh

- Better overall brand (understand that one shouldn't look at this for PhD programs, but it doesn't hurt)

 

CMU seems like the obvious choice. It has a whole department dedicated to my field. CMU's CS is top 4. My CS friends think I would be crazy to turn down CMU for a much lower-ranked school... but I can't shake off the feeling that I would be happier at Havard

 

Can anyone offer advice?

Edited February 7, 2015 by DMX

[.letmeinplz//]

If you believe Harvard is the better fit and you would feel happier there, it is the better choice for you.

Boston is >> than pittsburgh in cost of living and rental prices, yes you are correct.

Overall brand is less important than the department brand for graduate school. You are studying computer science, not general studies.

But like I said, if Harvard is the better fit it is the better school for you.

[phdreally]

@DMX - another important consideration is fellow students. You are much more likely to find better quality students (especially with a focus on machine learning) at CMU. You will be spending a lot more of your day to day time with the students, and therefore in that aspect, higher ranked universities are better.

[CSallday]

From the results section, it looks like you got an unofficial result from a POI and they send official results for Harvard next week. Quick side question: did you contact with a professor before being admitted to Harvard?

[thissiteispoison]

I think of Harvard as sort of up-and-coming in some fields of CS. They are small, but have some really neat research going on. If rankings matter to you, I honestly expect Harvard to rise over the next decade. In any case, not a mistake if the research at Harvard is more relevant to your interests and the faculty are better matches. 

[mb298]

My advisor said to me (he is an extremely famous person in the field, undergrad and phd at MIT, was in CMU as a professor for 10+ years before coming to my college) when I was making my list, that Harvard's overall reputation makes it comparable to the top 4 CS programs. 

 

I would go for Harvard definitely because you don't just choose a school when you choose a phd program. Cambridge's overall academic atmosphere should make up for the difference in rankings, and, according to the same very magazine that ranked Harvard 17 places behind CMU also ranked Harvard a stunning number TWO globally in CS, while CMU is no where to be found on the first place of that list... 

[PanicMode]

Hi, I'm at CMU and I work a lot with the ML department. One thing you're going to get at CMU and not at Harvard is access to a strong body of other excellent ML, LTI, CS, Neuro, RI, etc researchers. Everyone here collaborates all the time and you would have access to not just one or two great ML reseachers. Also, Pittsburgh is a pretty good living city. It's cheap and it has great resources. Besides, you're going to be working your ass of for 5 to 6 years, you wouldn't see much of Boston anyway

[.letmeinplz//]

Hi, I'm at CMU and I work a lot with the ML department. One thing you're going to get at CMU and not at Harvard is access to a strong body of other excellent ML, LTI, CS, Neuro, RI, etc researchers. Everyone here collaborates all the time and you would have access to not just one or two great ML reseachers. Also, Pittsburgh is a pretty good living city. It's cheap and it has great resources. Besides, you're going to be working your ass of for 5 to 6 years, you wouldn't see much of Boston anyway

CMU is definitely an amazing CS school that doesn't get talked about enough because Stanford (the Google) and MIT (Gordon Freeman?) dominate the conversation of top tier CS schools. Of the 2 schools OP listed, CMU would be my first pick, add in Stanford and MIT I would still pick CMU from what I've researched about the schools (I have obviously not applied to any of these schools though).

 

It is the OPs loss if he is only doing it on overall reputation. If you are in CS you should want to go to the best CS school, not the best overall school.

[kmarino3]

You also don't have to make this decision right now. If you asked, I am pretty sure that CMU would let you set up Skype or phone interviews with POIs or even help you do that. You might find that you get along with one of them really well.

[thr0waway]

You should talk to current students at both schools before making your decision.  Ask them a lot of questions about their lives, department requirements, specific professors, etc.

[Adamah]

I had the same choice last year when I applied to PhD programs. I chose CMU. A few things to consider:

 

1) CS rankings do matter, especially in academia (and obviously, it's the program ranking that matters). A professor at U Mich told me that when I asked him about their hiring process for new faculty. When it comes to reputation, there is a big gap between the "Top 4" and other universities. The Harvard name will help you pick up girls at a bar. The CMU name will gain you respect among your peers. (A couple caveats to this: First, I don't think it should be that way in either direction, but that is the reality we live in. Second, Harvard does still have a good name in CS, and CMU does still have a good general reputation in the US.)

 

2) Pittsburgh is a much better city than you seem to think. I also thought that Pittsburgh would not be a great place to live (and I was comparing this against Stanford), but I've really enjoyed it here. It has a great academic community, a lot of culture, the people are friendly, and the city is very safe. Plus, living expenses are about half price compared to Boston, so you can live like a king here on your stipend. I would complain about winter, but you'd get way more of that in Cambridge.

 

3) The people at CMU, both the students and the faculty, are simply great people. When I visited Stanford and asked students why I should go there, they said "because it's Stanford!" When I visited U Mich, nearly every presentation had a reference to the university being top-10 in X many subjects. When I visited CMU, the university's ranking was hardly mentioned. At one point I even asked a student if CMU Robotics is indeed the top program in the country, to which she replied "that's what I've heard." In short, there is no pretentiousness at CMU.

 

4) Advisors are a very important factor. You should make a list of faculty at CMU that you'd like to speak to and send it to the coordinator. I'm sure they'll schedule Skype talks with them.

Edited February 18, 2015 by Adamah

[controlc]

It goes without saying that you should obviously pick Harvard after CMU's egregious blunder with its false-admits of ~800 MS students to their CS program...

 

On a more serious note, it's hard for me to find a logical reason to pick Harvard over CMU for a CS Ph.D. program especially after you stated that "[CMU] has a whole department dedicated to my field." My impression is that you want to go to Harvard just because saying "I go to Harvard" sounds sexier.