I have been admitted to Duke and Purdue, both funded, for CS PhD. I am finding it very hard to reach a final decision.
Duke is way above Purdue in over-all ranking while Purdue(19) is higher than Duke(25) in CS ranking. The adviser at Duke is better suited for me.
Can anyone help me out? Does private schools provide better opportunities than public ones? Also Duke’s CS department is smaller than Purdue’s. Which one is better?
Congratulations. Yours is a nice problem to have.
There’s not much difference in 19 vs 25, or private vs public. My D is currently at one of the largest public PhD-granting schools, yet her circle is very small.
Identify your area(s) of interest, then identify potential advisors at each school. Read their papers, contact them, visit them, ask questions. Then you’ll be in a better position to make the decision. Note that PhD programs have to compete for good students too.
Overall ranking doesn’t matter for a PhD - what matters is the department’s reputation in the field. That said, there’s really not much difference between #19 and #25 - both are excellent top-ranked programs.
If the adviser at Duke is better suited for you then it sounds like Duke is the place to go. You should make your decision based on departmental fit and factors like that.
Don’t make this decision based on a marginal difference in where the departments are ranked. These rankings are often a function of the size of the department and not necessarily of its quality. Schools that employ more professors will have a higher research output and will therefore be ranked higher regardless of whether or not individual professors are more productive. I think you want us to tell you that it’s ok to go to Duke and it absolutely is.
Yes. That’s what I wanted 
The adviser at Duke has also briefed me about the kind of work that he do. It feels like they really want me there. On the other hand, no such thing from Purdue.