next »

[3211iccanobif]

So I got into two awesome PhD programs in the bioscience-type field and am trying to decide. One is at a top institution on the East Coast and the other is at a leading medical school. I click with potential advisers at both places and am fully funded. Also, both schools don't weed out students at quals. I've been working on the decision for some time now and would appreciate some advice.

My ultimate goal is to help build up the entrepreneurial research community in the Mid/Mountain West through acting as an interface between academia and industry.

East Coast cons:
- more pure research (and narrow questions)
- competition that may prevent collaboration (secrets)
- I don't like big cities on the East Coast (the congestion, materialism, & culture)
- isolated ivory tower (out of tune with the real world & disconnected with industry)

East Coast pros: (name, start-up money, networks)
- name recognition will get me anywhere I want to go
- the profs are in the big boy network
- continue the research I've been doing
- possible access to funding if I start a company there
- access to a huge population of VCs, entrepreneurs, & companies
- develop skills to get NSF, DOD, & DOE grants
- get my skills to the point where I can be a super strong researcher

Med School cons:
- newer program, weaker in curriculum than the other option
- small biotech entrepreneurship community
- no industry advisory board
- less program name recognition (known as a top med school)

Med School pros: (social innovation opportunities, applied research, & location)
- applied & translational research experience: working with professionals in academia & in the hospital
- opportunity to help build up a bioscience entrepreneurship ed program for other grads
- location near the outdoors & closer to home
- opens doors for doing research in hospitals later
- can get involved in humanitarian aid (distributing excess medical equipment)
- humble & modest collaborative colleages
- treated like an employee more than a student
- opportunity to take a funded semester elsewhere if I want to beef up my course load w/ specific classes

What do you think? How important is the institution name? What about the importance of living where you can build important networks in science & industry? What kind of a difference does it make if your PI is an MD/PhD or if he/she is a top academic who use to work for the current head of the NSF?

[asteria]

I am far outside of your field, but my initial response is that you seem like you would be unhappy living on the East Coast, as you have already judged it to be more materialistic and dreary, and to have a distasteful "culture"--whatever that means. The last thing you want to do is tie yourself down for years to a place you hate. You would risk becoming out of tune touch yourself, perhaps.

[nanoputian]

Is your perception of the East Coast based on this school's city/town? If not, can you visit the East Coast city/town before making a decision? Even if your generalizations about the East Coast are true (I'm not weighing in on if they are/aren't), the feeling a city has on the micro/neighborhood level is quite different than the city as a whole, and much different than an entire coastline.

It does sound like the East Coast school might be a better choice, but if you hate the place you live and the people you live with, you will have a very challenging graduate school experience.

[hegemony]

If you're female, you might also want to see what the women in the programs think of support for women -- are there mentors?  Does the president of the institution think women are naturally bad at science?  Etc.

[wannabeaphd]

Looks to me like the cons for the East Coast school aren't actually that negative... Honestly, I wouldn't want to live on the East Coast long-term, but the school sounds much better. Then again, I'm from the west coast, so my geographic ideal may differ from yours. In short, +1 for East Coast School.

[prytania3]

There's the East Coast and then there's New England, which is beyond obnoxious.

But at school, you would be in a micro world.

[dellaroux]

Don't shout. We can hear you just fine without all the bolding.

There's also more to the East coast than meets the eye.

 

[3211iccanobif]

Thanks guys for the input. The East Coast school's kinda been the dream school for a long time & I experienced culture shock in this city when I visited to interview. I'm from the Midwest and was also really offended by the ignorant questions people asked about our geographic area (eg. Do you have electricity and running water?). So my bias against the Coast is brand new from my visit.

I'm fortunate in the gender case. I think I'll be fine as a woman there. Half of each class is female and although only 2 profs in the department are women, I will likely work under one of them.

I tempted to take the leap and treat it like an adventure, especially since, as one of you said, I will be in a tiny microcosm of the city. I just need to get out into real nature at least once or twice a month.

[juillet]

I'm from a big city on the East Coast and have lived in several large East Coast cities, and I'm halfway surprised at the reaction you got.  On the one hand, I do know that my perception of the Midwest (having only ever been to Chicago) is farms, and tractors, and other such ignorant things.  On the other hand, I know about the big cities in the Midwest, cognitively I know that most of the people in small towns don't live on farms, and I know a lot of people from there...it surprises me that someone asked you if you had running water!

In any case, I would think that would be an isolated incident in your life there.  The culture shock will also go away after a while, although if you are miserable in the city that will not go away.  I also know that there are student groups at my university that sponsor skiing and hiking trips, and I know a few outdoorsy people in my program and other programs that get away for outdoorsy-type things (I'm a city girl at heart, so I don't go on them).

From my perspective Choice 1 sounds like the best choice overall.  I also want to note that the greater name recognition may help you on the business front.

[dellaroux]

If you're in the biosciences, the East Coast area is also the strongest employer in everything from labs to start-ups to established pharmas.

HU, MIT, and Yale all have "apron" areas near their campuses where bioscience and tech firms wander over, snag capable grad students and start their careers for them. (only half-joking, that is why the firms locate there, though).

It's quite true that there are major misperceptions about other regions of the country, but those go both ways. Having been raised in the Midwest I've seen both sides of that: very, very kind people, whose percpetive understanding of the more difficult and arcane parts of upper-level scholastic work existed in both places.

Communicative styles differ (you will be speaking three times as fast within three years, and your friends at home will have to learn to "inner-listen" to keep up, just as you will have done by then).

The extensive, longer history (the continental shelf on dates drops two hundred years from what is "old" in the midwest) make for a different perspective, but you will be near some of the best (and worst) people, objects, and opportunities you will ever encounter in life, and you will learn a ton from them.

You will also join what I call the "Midwest Mission to the East Coast...": we're here to get people to smile at each other, and stop at stop signs...