Hi all - I had to decide by today between Colorado SPH (Applied Biostats) and Pitt (Epi) and I've decided on CSPH.
A bit on how I arrived at my decision, and I also want to discuss prestige a bit. I visited both campuses and both were solid options, main differences being cultural/environment on campus (primarily down to surrounding regional culture, though, I believe), tuition (out-of-state significantly higher in Pitt), and I suppose overall approach at Pitt appearing much more streamlined. The latter I think has to do with the fact the school has been around longer. Not that Colorado is disorganized on the admin end as I have read about on this forum (or heard about from an alum) in its first few years after opening. But it is more "laid back", I guess (as opposed to..erm.."suited up"). Again... that might be more of a regional culture thing.
Rutgers was the only other program I applied to, but I couldn't attend the visit day because it was on the day I was traveling to Pitt and was notified about the latter further in advance. Which was fine because I am from NYC and was more interested in going to school in a different region than the metro area anyway. However, I was also offered 10k there, which makes it about equal with CSPH's cost of attendance.
I've actually been to Denver before so I'm familiar with the area, at least how it was about 8 1/2 years ago. I started undergrad there and left primarily due to health concerns which would have been difficult to address away from home and still financially dependent on my parents. I always felt compelled to go back, though. I was concerned about all the talk about housing getting more expensive and the area generally gentrifying and becoming crowded - the same things I am trying to move out of NYC for lol.
However, when I visited, it seems most students don't have too much trouble finding housing or work even though it's somewhat common to come in nervous about that stuff. When I met with my adviser, I asked about scholarships and she said she would "speak to someone" about offering me an in-state tuition scholarship. A few days later I was offered one. TBH I did not expect follow through on the "I'll talk to someone". This scholarship only is for the first year, and I would have to establish residency after 1 year to maintain it... which I would have wanted to do anyway (and reduced rates for Year 2 would be nice). I get the sense they are trying to attract more out-of-state admits, because the difference between in-state and out-of-state tuition is lower than the other schools I've applied to/looked at. Also, I found some old #s for the school that suggest the out-of-state tuition used to be higher. I was also surprised at the number of out-of-state students at the admitted students day.
Another thing that influenced by decision was when I spoke to a Biostats (MS) student there, he also was deciding between the same two schools and was from the western PA area, yet still chose to relocate for school. He (and students in general) did not seem too anxious about finding work or paying off loans or anything like that, and the laid-back atmosphere in general (compared to where I'm coming from, at least, lol) I think would be a good fit for me personally.
I possibly could have tried for more prestigious schools but I instead prioritized location, cost of living (i.e. long-term and career-wise, not just as a student), fit, and so on. I think there is some truth to the notion that the Eastern US is more "image-conscious", and reputation is not necessarily high on my list of personal/lifestyle values - another reason I considered relocating in the first place. So I did not feel the need to focus on school rankings too much, though I am aware that rankings-wise, the schools I applied to are still solid options. Additionally, I think that the Biostatistics skill set is desirable enough in most of the US that school prestige would not be as relevant, nor would the more expensive programs necessarily have a larger ultimate payoff.
I hope this can be of help to someone, because it was so difficult for me to find info about Colorado in particular throughout the application process! Not to mention, the MPH Biostats program apparently has only about 20 students - though I think that is a plus going forward wrt personal attention and such.
That being said, I am still nervous about whether I am making the "right" decision (not only financially, but also about whether relocating to another region entirely is going to work out), though that is probably normal for most of us in this situation (?)
Good luck to everyone who is still in the process of deciding!
Thanks in advance!
...so maybe that had something to do with it as well.
