To study ML at CMU versus U of Chicago

[hamulmyo]

Dear all,

I was accepted both at the University of Chicago and at Carnegie Mellon University in their PhD Program in Statistics. These two programs are actually my favorites in the pool of those to which I applied.

I participated to the visit days and had a great time at both places. I found that CMU is one of the best place to study statistical learning(say ML). On the other hand, U of Chicago is also competitive program to study ML, and located in the Wonderful city.

 

My research interests lie mainly in ML. I would like to study both theories and applications of ML.

However, I want to keep my research interests open.

 

Both schools are excellent and students have excellent placements. I cannot lean towards anywhere, but have no choice but to choose one.

Advice, comments or suggestions are most welcome!

 

Thanks

Edited April 2, 2015 by hamulmyo

[cs_phd]

any day CMU.

ML is great there.

[ar_rf]

Ten or even five years ago, this probably would've been an easy decision to go to CMU. But Chicago has been hiring a lot of faculty in ML and related fields recently (including Lafferty, who is one of the top people to work with in the field), and I suspect that their near-future hires will continue that trend. Also, don't forget that TTIC is just down the street and offers great access to a variety of more compsci-minded ML researchers. The department is a bit late to the game, but they are making a big push into those areas and now is a good time to benefit from that.

 

Chicago is also a much better place to live than Pittsburgh, and is one of the best cities to live in period. Going somewhere where you can be happy living for six years is important.

 

CMU is obviously very strong at ML, but to me this would be an easy choice.

[MLHopeful]

If you think you may be interested in applications of ML, I'd take a close look at the research of the Chicago ML folks to see if there's work of that type that you find interesting. Chicago as a whole is a pretty theoretical department, and they have a far weaker CS department than CMU. Lafferty, for instance, seems to now be more driven by theoretical issues as opposed to developing new algorithms. Of course, I feel like CMU may be more applications oriented, although I'm not as familiar with their department. 

 

Of course, Chicago is perhaps a slightly more "prestigious" program, and in a better city (although Hyde Park is pretty dull). They're also a far richer department, which is nice, and not something I considered before viewing. They're both great programs though, so you can't really go wrong. 

[hamulmyo]

Ten or even five years ago, this probably would've been an easy decision to go to CMU. But Chicago has been hiring a lot of faculty in ML and related fields recently (including Lafferty, who is one of the top people to work with in the field), and I suspect that their near-future hires will continue that trend. Also, don't forget that TTIC is just down the street and offers great access to a variety of more compsci-minded ML researchers. The department is a bit late to the game, but they are making a big push into those areas and now is a good time to benefit from that.

 

Chicago is also a much better place to live than Pittsburgh, and is one of the best cities to live in period. Going somewhere where you can be happy living for six years is important.

 

CMU is obviously very strong at ML, but to me this would be an easy choice.

 

Thanks!

 

Then, are you going to decline the offer from CMU?

[ar_rf]

I guess I should also disclose that I have lived in Chicago for the last six years, so I have a pretty strong bias towards Chicago over Pittsburgh. Others might not have the same preferences that I do.

 

 

I wasn't in this situation though, as I was not accepted at Chicago. I will be attending Michigan over CMU next year though. It was a hard choice and I loved both programs, but Michigan won out due to some great conversations with faculty and a location preference for Ann Arbor.

[mathasi]

Don't underestimate the city of Pittsburgh! I did my undergrad at CMU and am quite sad about leaving Pittsburgh (for Chicago, funnily enough). It's an incredibly affordable city, with a lot of history, and a vibrant community. If you have any questions about life in Pittsburgh, I've been here for 6 years (4 studying, 2 working) and would be happy to answer any questions you have!

[statisticsfall2014]

Pittsburgh is a great city

[StatsG0d]

To say that Pittsburgh is markedly close to Chicago in terms of a nice place to live is preposterous. Pittsburgh is a fine city, but it's no Chicago. It's difficult to compare a city with a 300k population to that with a 2.3M population. Chicago has great public transit, a pretty cheap cost of living relative to its size, and many things to do. It even has beaches off Lake Michigan. 

[bayessays]

To say that Pittsburgh is markedly close to Chicago in terms of a nice place to live is preposterous. Pittsburgh is a fine city, but it's no Chicago. It's difficult to compare a city with a 300k population to that with a 2.3M population. Chicago has great public transit, a pretty cheap cost of living relative to its size, and many things to do. It even has beaches off Lake Michigan. 

 

This definition of "a nice place to live" is preposterous.  A lot of people don't want to live in a city with 3 million people.

[StatsG0d]

This definition of "a nice place to live" is preposterous.  A lot of people don't want to live in a city with 3 million people.

 

Haha I suppose that's true. Clearly, I have a biased opinion.

[stats_applicant]

This definition of "a nice place to live" is preposterous.  A lot of people don't want to live in a city with 3 million people.

Agree with this.  I like both places a lot and they're really not comparable -- comes down to personal preference.