PhD in Operations Research: Cornell ORIE v.s. Columbia IEOR v.s. Berkeley IEOR

[uiop]

Hi all,

I felt extremely lucky to get accepted by these three operations research programs in the US, but now am having a hard time deciding which one to choose (they are all good programs in OR, actually all my top choices...)

In terms of research interests, I like discrete optimization, both theory and real-world applications. There are at least three strong faculty members doing work in discrete opt at Cornell. Berkeley seems to have only two professors working in this area, but they are both well-recognized. At Columbia, many faculty members' research interests include discrete opt but they also work on many other theory or applied areas like applied probability, business analytics etc.

In terms of locations, Columbia and Berkeley definitely outperform Cornell. I haven't been to Berkeley but I heard it's a nice college town and also it's quite convenient to get to SF from there. The California weather is great too. I toured Columbia last year when I was visiting a friend there and its location is amazing. The idea of spending 5 years of PhD studies in NYC is very attractive. I actually did my undergraduate studies in the middle of no whether. So even if I choose Cornell, the location won't cause too much trouble for me (but I do want to move to somewhere bigger).

Anyone has any thoughts on these three programs? Thanks a lot!

[predoc]

Although I know nothing about these programs, one thing you should ensure before deciding is whether the professors working in your research interests are even looking to take new students. For example, one of my top choices had three faculty members in my area of interest, but after talking to a grad student there, I learnt that none of them had vacancies in their group.

[OhSoSolipsistic]

What applications are you interested in? From a broad perspective the east coast has more overall activity (academia, internships, careers, etc.) in transportation, gov, military, financial, and other human system operations besides those that are heavily focused on the tech/AI/internet industry. There's some healthcare HCI/HSI presence out here too. I've worked as a transportation HSI researcher in the bay area for several years, so there is non-tech industry stuff out here but not nearly as much. I personally would choose Colombia, but I'm only superficially familiar with its Industrial Engineering/Operations Research program.

Edited February 28, 2017 by OhSoSolipsistic

[jungjalapeno]

On 2/26/2017 at 11:16 AM, uiop said:

Hi all,

I felt extremely lucky to get accepted by these three operations research programs in the US, but now am having a hard time deciding which one to choose (they are all good programs in OR, actually all my top choices...)

In terms of research interests, I like discrete optimization, both theory and real-world applications. There are at least three strong faculty members doing work in discrete opt at Cornell. Berkeley seems to have only two professors working in this area, but they are both well-recognized. At Columbia, many faculty members' research interests include discrete opt but they also work on many other theory or applied areas like applied probability, business analytics etc.

In terms of locations, Columbia and Berkeley definitely outperform Cornell. I haven't been to Berkeley but I heard it's a nice college town and also it's quite convenient to get to SF from there. The California weather is great too. I toured Columbia last year when I was visiting a friend there and its location is amazing. The idea of spending 5 years of PhD studies in NYC is very attractive. I actually did my undergraduate studies in the middle of no whether. So even if I choose Cornell, the location won't cause too much trouble for me (but I do want to move to somewhere bigger).

Anyone has any thoughts on these three programs? Thanks a lot!

Congrats! I have offers from Columbia IEOR and Cornell ORIE in the US. I am planning to visit both this month at their open house and decide after that. I am interested in continuous optimization and machine learning, I look forward to talking to professors there before deciding.

[Dawnbreaker]

A couple years back, I ended up visiting both programs. I was particularly unhappy with Berkeley IEOR, for the following reasons:

1. Berkeley is vert strong in Stats, EECS, and Math. All the star faculty are in those departments and not IEOR. If you want to do theory, you'll be competing with students in CS theory, which will be a very hard fight. Similarly Statistics and Math departments have great students doing optimization and probability theory. Thus, there is absolutely no reason for someone to choose IEOR over Stats, CS, or Math; and thus all students there seemed to have an inferiority complex.

2. As for the applications, again IEOR doesn't seem to be doing anything very impressive. The west coast scene is mostly driven by the software industry, and focus primarily on CS and Statistics.

Bottom line, the IEOR dept of Berkeley is heavily overshadowed by the other departments there. I am not aware of any students in IEOR who work with outside faculty, and if they do, chances are that they will switch programs. Given these factors, I would advise against Berkeley IEOR, especially given that you have an offer from Columbia which arguably has a stronger IEOR department, and would likely provide better moral support.

[uiop]

On 2/26/2017 at 11:24 AM, predoc said:

Although I know nothing about these programs, one thing you should ensure before deciding is whether the professors working in your research interests are even looking to take new students. For example, one of my top choices had three faculty members in my area of interest, but after talking to a grad student there, I learnt that none of them had vacancies in their group.

Hi predoc, thanks for your advice! Yes it is definitely an important factor to consider and I will try to talk to the faculty members during the visit days. Thanks~

[uiop]

On 2/27/2017 at 11:53 PM, OhSoSolipsistic said:

What applications are you interested in? From a broad perspective the east coast has more overall activity (academia, internships, careers, etc.) in transportation, gov, military, financial, and other human system operations besides those that are heavily focused on the tech/AI/internet industry. There's some healthcare HCI/HSI presence out here too. I've worked as a transportation HSI researcher in the bay area for several years, so there is non-tech industry stuff out here but not nearly as much. I personally would choose Colombia, but I'm only superficially familiar with its Industrial Engineering/Operations Research program.

Hi OhSoSolipsistic (nice name!)

thanks for the advice! I'm definitely interested in OR applications to tech/AI/Internet industry but I also want to try out healthcare, transportation, finance applications etc. so I guess east coast might be better for me? There are also plenty of opportunities in tech/AI there i assume?

[uiop]

On 3/1/2017 at 11:10 AM, jungjalapeno said:

Congrats! I have offers from Columbia IEOR and Cornell ORIE in the US. I am planning to visit both this month at their open house and decide after that. I am interested in continuous optimization and machine learning, I look forward to talking to professors there before deciding.

Hi jungjalapeno. It's nice to know that you are also visiting these two programs! I guess I'll see you in both of the open houses this March  

[uiop]

On 3/4/2017 at 11:03 PM, Dawnbreaker said:

A couple years back, I ended up visiting both programs. I was particularly unhappy with Berkeley IEOR, for the following reasons:

1. Berkeley is vert strong in Stats, EECS, and Math. All the star faculty are in those departments and not IEOR. If you want to do theory, you'll be competing with students in CS theory, which will be a very hard fight. Similarly Statistics and Math departments have great students doing optimization and probability theory. Thus, there is absolutely no reason for someone to choose IEOR over Stats, CS, or Math; and thus all students there seemed to have an inferiority complex.

2. As for the applications, again IEOR doesn't seem to be doing anything very impressive. The west coast scene is mostly driven by the software industry, and focus primarily on CS and Statistics.

Bottom line, the IEOR dept of Berkeley is heavily overshadowed by the other departments there. I am not aware of any students in IEOR who work with outside faculty, and if they do, chances are that they will switch programs. Given these factors, I would advise against Berkeley IEOR, especially given that you have an offer from Columbia which arguably has a stronger IEOR department, and would likely provide better moral support.

Dear Dawnbreaker,

Thank you so much for the great insight!

To be honest I was a little bit turned off by Berkeley already before I saw your reply. The cost of me visiting is very high (time and money) and I need to pay for most part of the transportation (they reimburse 300usd which covers only around 60% of the travel cost) and all of the lodging (hotels are expensive there). I'm still debating whether I should cancel my visit or not.

What was the other program you visited? Cornell or Columbia? 

Thanks!

[FinnL]

I received a PhD offer from Columbia (but not IEOR) and went to Columbia for a campus visit last week. My potential advisor has a strong connection with the professors from IEOR department, and I had the chance to meet with one professor from IEOR. Though I am not familiar with the department, I feel there are many possibilities here. Do you know there is a Data Science Institute here? They are uniting professors from different backgrounds to utilize the "big data" and bring more insight. Many professors in IEOR has contributed a lot to the institute. It's really a promising place for me.

Also Columbia's location is great. Chances are you might live just a block away from your advisor, because many people live in the school housing due to the notorious housing price in Manhattan...Maybe it's bad... but I just want to say it's like a small community of faculty and students here and the security within the campus neighborhoods is great I think. Generally you don't have to worry about the rent as a PhD student.

I am not familiar with Berkeley IEOR. But I had a feeling that if I received its offer (in my major) I would definitely choose Berkeley... It's always my dream school. California dreaming! Anyway I hope you'll get some different perspectives of Columbia here. I think I will accept Columbia's offer in the end.

Best wishes!

[jungjalapeno]

On 3/7/2017 at 0:19 PM, uiop said:

Hi jungjalapeno. It's nice to know that you are also visiting these two programs! I guess I'll see you in both of the open houses this March  

Just booked my tickets! See you there. 

[jungjalapeno]

Hey people.

 

Have many of you decided on your program? I'm trying to decide between Columbia IEOR vs Cornell ORIE by next week.