Applicant seeking advice on biostatistics programs

[deleted599291]

Hi everybody!

I'm looking for a little help with choosing a biostatistics graduate program.

My top two choices are University at Buffalo's biostatistics MA program and Yale University's biostatistics MPH program.

It seems to me that Buffalo's department is generally ranked higher and, as an MA program rather than an MPH, may be more appropriate for preparing for a career as a biostatistician. However, Yale's School of Public Health seems pretty impressive, and their small class sizes are very appealing!

Does anybody have any opinions or information that you could share to help me make my decision?

Thank you!

Also, I recognize biostatistics may not be a major focus on this forum, but I appreciate any advice!

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[doinitswell]

Hi! Have you already applied and been accepted to those programs? If so, congratulations!

In my opinion, when it comes time to apply for a job in your field, it's more about the experience and skills you have than the name of the school. It sounds like both of those programs are great so I'd go with whichever one offers more classes that are specific for what you want to do with biostats and has faculty that you'd want to collaborate with for research.

Good luck!

 

[stmaan01]

Generally speaking, the MS/MA biostats course means taking less public health classes, like policy, environmental health, epi, etc. If you go the MA route, your classes will be more focused on statistical theory, probability theory, regression, clinical trials, etc. Now, that doesn't mean that you wouldn't/couldn't take more public health electives in an MA program, but it will in general be more focused.

As you will likely see in other posts on this site, the MPH is considered more of a professional degree, making you prepared for jobs in public health. MS/MA on the other hand are more academic degrees, meaning they are more research based. It depends on what you would like to do with your biostats degree. If you are at all interested in getting a phd in biostats, then you absolutely should go the MA route. If you are more interested in doing analysis for a local public health, or being a SAS programmer for some pharma company, then either degree is fine.

A couple of other things to consider. First, tuition may be different among the two programs, obviously because they are from different schools, but maybe also because of the degree type. I know that at my school, MPH students have to pay per credit, while MA/MS biostat students pay the general graduate tuition. This means that MPH students end up paying quite a bit more. I'm not if this extends to other schools as well.

Another thing to consider is funding. Generally, funding is very limited in MPH programs, while MA/MS biostats prpgrams can usually offer more in the form of TA's/RA's. It would be wise to look into that, unless cost is no matter to you 😉

Finally, I will just tell you that at my school, there is a significant difference in rigor associated with the MPH and MS programs. What kind of math background do you have? The MS program has much more theory, proofs, calculus, mathematical notation, etc. than the MPH program. Obviously, this may not extend to either of the programs that you are looking at, but it may be something to consider.

I hope this helps!

 

[deleted599291]

Hi! Have you already applied and been accepted to those programs? If so, congratulations!

In my opinion, when it comes time to apply for a job in your field, it's more about the experience and skills you have than the name of the school. It sounds like both of those programs are great so I'd go with whichever one offers more classes that are specific for what you want to do with biostats and has faculty that you'd want to collaborate with for research.

Good luck!

Hi doinitswell,

I have been accepted to both of these programs; thank you!

Thank you for the advice; I'll carefully look over the classes I would take with both programs and the research experiences of the faculty to determine which program will give me access to the skills I need for the career I want!

Thank you!

 

[deleted599291]

Generally speaking, the MS/MA biostats course means taking less public health classes, like policy, environmental health, epi, etc. If you go the MA route, your classes will be more focused on statistical theory, probability theory, regression, clinical trials, etc. Now, that doesn't mean that you wouldn't/couldn't take more public health electives in an MA program, but it will in general be more focused.

As you will likely see in other posts on this site, the MPH is considered more of a professional degree, making you prepared for jobs in public health. MS/MA on the other hand are more academic degrees, meaning they are more research based. It depends on what you would like to do with your biostats degree. If you are at all interested in getting a phd in biostats, then you absolutely should go the MA route. If you are more interested in doing analysis for a local public health, or being a SAS programmer for some pharma company, then either degree is fine.

A couple of other things to consider. First, tuition may be different among the two programs, obviously because they are from different schools, but maybe also because of the degree type. I know that at my school, MPH students have to pay per credit, while MA/MS biostat students pay the general graduate tuition. This means that MPH students end up paying quite a bit more. I'm not if this extends to other schools as well.

Another thing to consider is funding. Generally, funding is very limited in MPH programs, while MA/MS biostats prpgrams can usually offer more in the form of TA's/RA's. It would be wise to look into that, unless cost is no matter to you 😉

Finally, I will just tell you that at my school, there is a significant difference in rigor associated with the MPH and MS programs. What kind of math background do you have? The MS program has much more theory, proofs, calculus, mathematical notation, etc. than the MPH program. Obviously, this may not extend to either of the programs that you are looking at, but it may be something to consider.

I hope this helps!

Thank you for all of the great advice stmaan01.

I have a decent mathematical background (essentially a minor in mathematics with three graduate courses in statistics), but I lack experience with analysis courses (i.e. advanced calculus); I suspect that if this is necessary for coursework, then I will probably be advised to take an undergraduate course or two during my program.

I don't know yet if I want to go for a PhD, but a career in statistics probably benefits from developing as many research skills as possible. It seems to me like an MA/MS is a better route than an MPH, though Yale's MPH does seem to have a decent amount of coursework in just Biostatistics.

Also, the cost of the two programs is drastically different. Yale is more than twice the cost of Buffalo, though Yale does give me a greater potential for funding (the opposite of what seems possible, given the degrees).

Thank you again for your advice; I'm going to study the offerings of each programs as carefully as possible for the next month and a half!

 

[stmaan01]

Well good luck! I'm sure you will be happy wherever you end up.

Just in case you are interested, there's a really good math/stats grad school forum at thegradcafe.com. There are a ton of posts about biostats, and some really knowledgable commenters. It might be of some use with your research.

http://forum.thegradcafe.com/forum/48-mathematics-and-statistics/

 

[deleted599291]

Well good luck! I'm sure you will be happy wherever you end up.

Just in case you are interested, there's a really good math/stats grad school forum at thegradcafe.com. There are a ton of posts about biostats, and some really knowledgable commenters. It might be of some use with your research.

http://forum.thegradcafe.com/forum/48-mathematics-and-statistics/

Thank you for the advice!

I'm actually already following that board as well!

Information on biostatistics seems a little lost to me, being that it's a quantitative program generally within a school of public health. However, I'm pulling up some useful information by reading both of these forums!

 

[Stories]

Thank you for the advice!

I'm actually already following that board as well!

Information on biostatistics seems a little lost to me, being that it's a quantitative program generally within a school of public health. However, I'm pulling up some useful information by reading both of these forums!

The quantitative arm of public health work (generally, epidemiology) is heavily statistical where the majority of newly developed biostatistical methods are used. Often, it has to do with bioinformatics from -Omic technologies (genomics, metabolomics, exomics, proteomics) which have greatly increased the size of datasets.

 

[deleted599291]

The quantitative arm of public health work (generally, epidemiology) is heavily statistical where the majority of newly developed biostatistical methods are used. Often, it has to do with bioinformatics from -Omic technologies (genomics, metabolomics, exomics, proteomics) which have greatly increased the size of datasets.

I apologize if my comment wasn't clear; I was referring to information about biostatistics departments on graduate school message boards, not the discipline's place in public health.

 

[Dribble]

Yale also seems to have some great research opportunities, and personally I think that the smaller class size is a big plus.

 

[Lil Mick]

I know this is a bit late, but I looked at a lot of PhD programs for stats and math when I applied MD/PhD. If you're hoping to go on to a PhD, I'd recommend the MA, though for some PhD programs in stats, it's not necessary (there are folks with only BS/BA who get in). Look at research experiences and the expertise of the faculty. Most departments vary in their strengths within the field, and their courses will reflect areas of strength (some more -omics and big data focused, some strong in clinical trials...). Send me a PM if you want to talk more 🙂