<p>I have recently been receiving my acceptance letters from various universities, and have found myself at a total impasse as to which one to select. I was just wondering if anybody had any personal experience or advice to give that would prove helpful in any way, which would be most appreciated :)</p>
<p>I am pursuing a Ph.D. in biostatistics and am currently looking at UC Berkeley, University of Washington, and UCLA as the final four choices of schools that I have been admitted to. All are offering me decent stipends, with the notable exception of ISU, which has presented me with a NSF-IGERT grant that is beyond generous (30k/year, free tuition, free travel). I also grew up in Ames, and am conflicted with really wanting to get out of the midwest and passing up great opportunity (as well as a chance to obliterate my loan debt ;)). Both Washington and Berkeley are top, top schools in my field, and UCLA is not far behind. ISU has recruited me HEAVILY and even visited my home (it turns out the head of the dept lives down the street, weird). </p>
<p>What really is the kicker is that I live in Australia currently, and visiting schools is a near impossibility. Does anyone with familiarity with any of the programs or the campuses in general have any advice, any would be amazing.</p>
<p>Thank you!</p>