UIC vs Stony Brook vs Johns Hopkins

[S_Dimitrov]

My results until now:
Accepted in:
- UIC , Mathematics, Statistics and CS PHD program.
- Stony Brook, Applied Math and Statistics PHD program

Waitlisted: Johns Hopkins University, Applied Math and Statistics PHD program.

UIC and SB offers are almost the same, but as I see, the living expenses(apartment, food, etc.) in NY are considerably higher than those in Chicago. However, SB is better in almost all the rankings for Applied Math. SB is also good in Quantitative Finance and it's near Wall Street. Nevertheless, I don't read very good things for QF program of SB(for ex. https://www.quantnet.com/threads/suny-s ... ance.2679/)
For Johns Hopkins, I don't know anything(at undergraduate level, it is far better than UIC and SB, but the Applied Math and Stat dept is not cited as one of the top depts of the school, at least in the USNews ranking). I am confused what to choose.
Any opinions expressed here will be appreciated!

[unitofobscurity]

For what it's worth, Stony Brook is in New York State (on Long Island) but is beyond reasonable commuting distance to New York City, whereas UIC is in downtown Chicago. Hence, there is not really a "close to Wall Street" bonus for math-finance in the same way as NYU, which is within walking distance to Wall Street and has fostered industry connections for many years. And, the living expenses on Long Island are not anywhere near Manhattan levels.

All three programs are similar in that they are very respected in specialized areas. UIC has awesome logicians, Stony Brook has awesome geometers, Hopkins has strong connections to the defense sector, et cetera. If I were in your position, I would just make sure wherever you go has at least a couple well-regarded professors doing research that interests you.

[S_Dimitrov]

However, Long Island seems to be quite expensive in comparison with Chicago:
http://www.bestplaces.net/cost-of-livin ... d-me/50000
Thanks for the answer!