<p>I hope all of you got accepted at a place they like, or that you can make an easy decision where to go. For me, it is difficult to decide. For example, I got admission to Rockefeller University. The program seems fantastic, they offer an incredible stipend and on- campus housing. The faculty is great, and NYC is not a bad place to live, either :)</p>
<p>However, I heard that the atmosphere at Rockefeller is quite competitive. Since I have not yet visited, it is difficult for me to judge. Rockefellers main focus is on being an excellent research institute, with many post-docs working on cutting edge topics. It is a great opportunity to be part of it, but I wonder how life is for graduate students? Does anyone know how students are treated and how the mentoring is? I am afraid that new students will maybe sink among all the post-docs, who are far more experienced.</p>
<p>I also heard that the program is very intense, and that people demand a lot. Please do not get me wrong, I know that graduate school is demanding, and I am prepared to work a lot, but I hope that its possible to have some fun, too. For me, it is also essential to have nice colleagues, with whom you can engage in leisure activities. Nice atmosphere is very important for me.</p>
<p>Most of my concerns are based only on hearsay, so I have no idea if it is true at all. I hope some of you can share what they know about Rockefeller, and that you can tell me that I stress myself for no reason :) After all, I would really love to attend Rockefeller!</p>
<p>My current PI used to work there and he actually loved the place. He told me it has a great atmosphere… but then again his experience as a faculty member could be completely different than the Rockefeller experience as a grad student. </p>
<p>Also, I’ve heard for “people” that basically every top-notch biomedical research institution (Havard, MIT, Stanford, Berkeley, etc.) is “cutthroat”, “demanding”, “an intense atmosphere” or “soul-crushing”. I’ve also heard from the same people that these same places are “student-friendly”, “student-centered”, “collaborative”, “stimulating”, “supportive” etc. I think a lot of perceptions of high-level research programs depends on the individual students and also the labs they chose. Some labs are great to work in, others really are “soul-crushing” and others work really well for some people but are completely wrong for other people. </p>
<p>My philosophy through this whole process is to 1.) Find a school with a bunch of labs I’d be interested in working in, doing really fascinating science, in a city where I’d like to live 2.) When I’m a student, take a very serious look at the atmospheres in those individual labs and do the very best job I can finding an environment that fits me well. </p>
<p>I’d be interested in hearing from anyone with my familiarity with Rockefeller about the atmosphere though, since it’s near the top of my list. Let’s keep the rumor mills churning!</p>
<p>I don’t know anything about Rockefeller specifically, but I am of the heretical opinion that there aren’t really that many differences in terms of culture between most top biomedical sciences PhD programs. Anywhere you go, there will be PIs who care passionately about mentoring graduate students alongside those who don’t. But after you join your lab, the attitudes of most of the PIs in your program toward mentoring students will be totally irrelevant for you – you will have picked your PI, and maybe you will have picked 2-4 PIs to be on your advisory committee, and hopefully you will have other PIs you can go to for advice or help, but outside that, nobody else matters.</p>
<p>For what it’s worth, I’m in a lab with more postdocs than graduate students, and I don’t feel that my education is harmed by having the postdocs around – in fact, I feel exactly the opposite. The more smart, thoughtful people in my lab, the better, as far as I’m concerned, and my PI doesn’t really treat graduate students differently from postdocs.</p>
<p>Rockefeller a is better place for post-docs than grad students - there is not as much emphasis on graduate students and training compared to some other schools, like Columbia or Harvard. That can be an advantage of universities with a large student body - they are more focused on their students’ careers.</p>
<p>I suspect that Rockefeller is just as competitive and “cut throat” as other high caliber schools, but other schools are more focused on training and supporting their graduate programs and students.</p>
<p>Im planning on applying to Rockefeller in the biomedical phd program, I wanted to know if did finally decide to join there and how do you like it so far, I am currently completing my MS -Bioengineering. I think I will have good recos, 3 conference abstracts, 1 paper. I have not given my GRE yet,my MS GPA is 3.84. I also won a scholarship during my MS.
what are my chances are to get in?
Are the stipends enough to cover expenses in NY?
What does housing typically cost? Ive never lived dormstyle and im not looking forward to it!
Im also planning to apply to harvard and cal tech.</p>