Berkeley vs Stanford Stat Ph.D.

[flabbergasted]

Never in a million years would I have expected that both of these amazing schools would accept me. I got my Stanford Statistics Ph.D. acceptance in early February and nearly had a heart attack. I was completely sure I'd end up there until I got my Berkeley acceptance a few days later. I've been deciding back and forth between these two schools for weeks now, and I honestly still can't make up my mind even though we're weeks away from the April 15 deadline. I've talked to friends, family, professors, etc., all who have given me various pieces of advice, mostly in support of Stanford. Some of my friends are telling me I'd be crazy for turning down Stanford: It's the number 1 ranked Statistics program and has the name-brand recognition that Berkeley doesn't quite have. Some of my professors have been telling me the biggest-named Statisticians are there (Tibshirani, Diaconis, Candes, etc.) and that I wouldn't get such a huge exposure to cutting-edge research in Statistics anywhere else. It seems crazy for me to not go there.

... However, I've been set on pursuing my Ph.D. at Berkeley since entering college, and it has been my dream school for years. I think turning down Berkeley's offer would hurt me just as much as turning down Stanford's. I'm very into Stat theory (stuff like random matrices, random processes, etc.), and I think Berkeley's program is known for being (slightly) more theoretical. I don't have much interest in applied statistics (you can tell I'm much more geared towards academia than industry). My gut instinct is to go to Berkeley, but that would go against the vast majority of the advice given to me. And honestly, I can't give a more compelling reason why I want to go to Berkeley except for my gut instinct that I can't explain. 

I visited both schools and had an amazing time at both, so the visits didn't really make me lean towards any particular program. I know I can't go wrong either way, and I think I'm mostly just writing this post to let off a bit of steam. If anyone is familiar with the two programs (even with the smallest things that I may not have even considered) and could offer any information that could either convince me that I'm crazy for not going to Stanford or convince me that I should go to Berkeley like my gut instinct is telling me to, I would very much appreciate it. 

(I also have offers from UPenn and Michigan Statistics, but I think I will be turning those offers down very soon in case there are people waiting on their waitlist decision... Unless someone can convince me that I should go to one of these schools instead?)

Best of luck to the rest of you as you're making these very tough decisions!

Edited March 28, 2017 by flabbergasted

[fluffyj]

Damn congrats. Do you mind sharing your stats/application profile? As a future applicant, I'm curious to know.

If you haven't already found this, Berkeley's stats program has a wiki run by students with detailed info about the program. I agree you can't go wrong with either choice and I've heard both schools are very strong for theoretical stats.

[notasworried]

Wow, I'm a current student at Stanford (graduating after this quarter), and Stanford's Statistics Department is really one of the best in the nation. I'm kind of jealous, congrats! You can't really go wrong, although I might be a little biased towards Stanford... Let me know if you have any specific questions!

[throwaway9999]

43 minutes ago, flabbergasted said:

Never in a million years would I have expected that both of these amazing schools would accept me. I got my Stanford Statistics Ph.D. acceptance in early February and nearly had a heart attack. I was completely sure I'd end up there until I got my Berkeley acceptance a few days later. I've been deciding back and forth between these two schools for weeks now, and I honestly still can't make up my mind even though we're weeks away from the April 15 deadline. I've talked to friends, family, professors, etc., all who have given me various pieces of advice, mostly in support of Stanford. Some of my friends are telling me I'd be crazy for turning down Stanford: It's the number 1 ranked Statistics program and has the name-brand recognition that Berkeley doesn't quite have. Some of my professors have been telling me the biggest-named Statisticians are there (Tibshirani, Diaconis, Candes, etc.) and that I wouldn't get such a huge exposure to cutting-edge research in Statistics anywhere else. It seems crazy for me to not go there.

... However, I've been set on pursuing my Ph.D. at Berkeley since entering college, and it has been my dream school for years. I think turning down Berkeley's offer would hurt me just as much as turning down Stanford's. I'm very into Stat theory (stuff like random matrices, random processes, etc.), and I think Berkeley's program is known for being (slightly) more theoretical. I don't have much interest in applied statistics (you can tell I'm much more geared towards academia than industry). My gut instinct is to go to Berkeley, but that would go against the vast majority of the advice given to me. And honestly, I can't give a more compelling reason why I want to go to Berkeley except for my gut instinct that I can't explain. 

I visited both schools and had an amazing time at both, so the visits didn't really make me lean towards any particular program. I know I can't go wrong either way, and I think I'm mostly just writing this post to let off a bit of steam. If anyone is familiar with the two programs (even with the smallest things that I may not have even considered) and could offer any information that could either convince me that I'm crazy for not going to Stanford or convince me that I should go to Berkeley like my gut instinct is telling me to, I would very much appreciate it. 

(I also have offers from UPenn and Michigan Statistics, but I think I will be turning those offers down very soon in case there are people waiting on their waitlist decision... Unless someone can convince me that I should go to one of these schools instead?)

Best of luck to the rest of you as you're making these very tough decisions!

Congrats on both admissions ! Would you mind share your profile ?

Edited March 28, 2017 by throwaway9999

[flabbergasted]

23 minutes ago, throwaway9999 said:

Congrats on both admissions ! Would you mind share your profile ?

Well, I'll be a little vague so that I can't be identified, but I went to a top 5 undergrad university (if you believe the US News rankings... Hint: It's the one that doesn't have a dedicated Statistics department). I had a good GPA, not exceptional (greater than 3.7) and majored in Math (hence why I'm more into the probability theory type stuff). I was really planning on applying to Math Ph.D. programs, but someone convinced me that Stats Ph.D. programs would be less competitive and that I would still be able to focus on the type of research that I'm interested in at a Stats program. 

As for GRE, I got 170 quantitative, and >90th percentile the rest. I also took the Math subject test (required for Stanford) and got around 800 (80th percentile). That test was a lot more difficult than I thought it would be... My score is actually below the average subject test score listed for Stanford's Ph.D. program! That's part of why I was so surprised when I got my acceptance. 

Other than that, I don't know whether I did anything that would really make me stand out. I worked as a research assistant, did two Math REUs over the summers... the typical stuff that a Math major interested in graduate school should have. My recommendation writers were mostly math professors who I took a few classes from, but they didn't know me too well. I did have two graduate math courses that I didn't completely bomb, if that helps. 

Edited March 28, 2017 by flabbergasted

[flabbergasted]

27 minutes ago, notasworried said:

Wow, I'm a current student at Stanford (graduating after this quarter), and Stanford's Statistics Department is really one of the best in the nation. I'm kind of jealous, congrats! You can't really go wrong, although I might be a little biased towards Stanford... Let me know if you have any specific questions!

Thanks for the offer! I'll message you with a few questions later if you don't mind.

Edited March 28, 2017 by flabbergasted

[abstract_art]

19 minutes ago, flabbergasted said:

Well, I'll be a little vague so that I can't be identified, but I went to a top 5 undergrad university (if you believe the US News rankings... Hint: It's the one that doesn't have a dedicated Statistics department). I had a good GPA, not exceptional (greater than 3.7) and majored in Math (hence why I'm more into the probability theory type stuff). I was really planning on applying to Math Ph.D. programs, but someone convinced me that Stats Ph.D. programs would be less competitive and that I would still be able to focus on the type of research that I'm interested in at a Stats program. 

As for GRE, I got 170 quantitative, and >90th percentile the rest. I also took the Math subject test (required for Stanford) and got around 800 (80th percentile). That test was a lot more difficult than I thought it would be... My score is actually below the average subject test score listed for Stanford's Ph.D. program! That's part of why I was so surprised when I got my acceptance. 

Other than that, I don't know whether I did anything that would really make me stand out. I worked as a research assistant, did two Math REUs over the summers... the typical stuff that a Math major interested in graduate school should have. My recommendation writers were mostly math professors who I took a few classes from, but they didn't know me too well. I did have two graduate math courses that I didn't completely bomb, if that helps. 

You have a >3.7 gpa from one of the best schools in the country (that's known for grade deflation), a perfect gre quant score, 80th percentile on the math gre (Stanford's listed average is probably skewed by internationals so your score is probably above average for domestic students), two summers of REUs and additional research, and you've taken graduate classes. I'm not sure if you're judging yourself as not having an amazing profile because you're comparing yourself to other math majors who're applying to math phd programs, but for statistics your profile is about as good as it gets! And you probably would've fared well applying to math phd programs too from the looks of it. I don't have any real input since both programs are great and there really isn't a wrong choice for you. If there's nothing related to specific research interests that draws you more to one school than the other, my suggestion would be to choose the program you think you'd be happier at socially/ outside of the classroom (e.g. do you like berkeley or palo alto more, is the stipend significantly better at one school, were the other perspective students at one school more fun to be around, etc).

[flabbergasted]

2 hours ago, marmle said:

You have a >3.7 gpa from one of the best schools in the country (that's known for grade deflation), a perfect gre quant score, 80th percentile on the math gre (Stanford's listed average is probably skewed by internationals so your score is probably above average for domestic students), two summers of REUs and additional research, and you've taken graduate classes. I'm not sure if you're judging yourself as not having an amazing profile because you're comparing yourself to other math majors who're applying to math phd programs, but for statistics your profile is about as good as it gets! And you probably would've fared well applying to math phd programs too from the looks of it. I don't have any real input since both programs are great and there really isn't a wrong choice for you. If there's nothing related to specific research interests that draws you more to one school than the other, my suggestion would be to choose the program you think you'd be happier at socially/ outside of the classroom (e.g. do you like berkeley or palo alto more, is the stipend significantly better at one school, were the other perspective students at one school more fun to be around, etc).

Thank you for the kind words. I'm actually not sure I would have done that well with math programs. I have friends and classmates who have subject test scores above 90th percentile, great GPAs, and generally are extremely intelligent in math, and they couldn't even break into the top 5 math programs. Math programs are incredibly competitive, and I'm very grateful to have applied for Stats programs instead. My professor actually told me he was worried that my subject test score would be too low to get into the top programs (which thankfully did not happen), but I did spend some time debating on whether to submit my scores or not. As for my graduate classes, I actually didn't do terribly well on them, which I hear is a death sentence for your applications. Thankfully that didn't turn out to be the case either.

[Wzz]

Congratulations! I do not have any real advice, as I'm sure you have more information than I do to decide between the two, but I would recommend making the decision on who are you going to do research with. I feel that research interest is among the few aspects that can make a difference between these two amazing programs. Also, if I were you, I would not take the "dream school" aspect into account, because once you start the program you will focus more on the present than the possible alternative. I have the same feeling to some school as you do to Berkeley, but my rationale for giving it up is that I will spend more time in PhD than the time I spend dreaming about the dream school. So, make the decision conditioning on the fact that you already get into both. However, I'm not suggesting against Berkeley. Do you know people in each program that rejected the other? Maybe they can give you some reasons that help you convince yourself. 

[flabbergasted]

Does anyone have any last minute comments or insights? April 15 is right around the corner, and I'd really like to make my decision as soon as possible in case there's anyone on the waitlist, but I cannot decide for the life of me. Every time I feel like I'm leaning one way, something happens to make me doubt my choice. At this point it seems like I might just go with my gut decision as April 15 comes to an end, but I'm really trying to avoid that.