<p>Okay, is decision time!
Berkeley or Duke for Developmental biology? I have offer letters from both.
All comments welcome.</p>
<p>im an undergrad bio (cell and molec) major at duke - what labs are you considering working for?</p>
<p>McClay and Poss mainly</p>
<p>I don't think you can go wrong with any of these two places. You should probably consider where you would rather live. They both have very good a very good program.</p>
<p>I haven't heard too much about the Poss Lab but McClay is definitely reputable instructor and PI in the bio department. Like bo435 said, both Duke and Berkeley have very strong biological research programs so you might want to choose by more subjective measures. You may want to look into or consider the following:
1) location - Haven't been to Berkeley but I am pretty sure it beats the heck out of Durham.
2) however, if cost is an issue, Durham is gonna be more affordable than Cali.
3) do more faculty Duke or Berkeley have research programs that interest you. You may go into rotations thinking you're gonna do 1 thing but end up doing another, or you may not get along with the PI/group you intended to work for, in that case, having a backup lab that equally interests you is important.
4) curriculum differences? you probably know more than I do in this area - you may want to consider if you have to take relative few or a lot of classes and see what you want.
5) can you leave the program with a terminal MS if things dont go according to plan.
6) average years to completion. My take on bio here at Duke is it takes more than the average 5-5.5 years reported by some other schools. I know several grad students in their 6th or even 7th year.
7) job prospects after graduation. Although I am from Duke, I feel that Berkeley has better faculty placement among the top universities. I was initially interested in getting a PHD in bio myself and when looking for prospective labs, I noticed Berkeley is pretty well represented at many top programs' faculties but Duke not so much. I may be wrong about this but certainly it couldn't hurt to consider this.</p>
<p>Anyways, congrats on both, and gl choosing! If you have any specific questions about life at Duke, please feel free to ask me.</p>
<p>Thank you leejwwc</p>
<p>I don't think you could go wrong at all at either choices, but personally, I'd have to lean towards UCB.</p>
<p>Yeah, hard to say. I did not apply to Berkeley but if I did I might lean towards them myself. Good luck and let us know what you are planning.:)</p>
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Like bo435 said, both Duke and Berkeley have very strong biological research programs so you might want to choose by more subjective measures.
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<p>I think this is the key thing right here. Berkeley is tops in pretty much any graduate area with good placement in other unis, but I can't imagine Duke wouldn't be pretty fabulous too. </p>
<p>Why don't you go to the school that's really different from what you've experienced before?</p>
<p>Another consideration to add to the great list in post #5: The Bay Area is probably the leading center of the biotech industry, assuming this is a direction you might go (have no idea here). Again, can't imagine the R-D area wouldn't be pretty fabulous in this regard, but the Bay Area is where a lot of biotech started and it's a big center.</p>
<p>They are both very different schools from were I am now. State school in the midwest.</p>
<p>My guess is: Difference (Berkeley, midwestern state school) > Difference (Duke, midwestern state school). Depends a lot perhaps on which midwestern state school. After considering the issues raised in posts above, if all else is equal, I'd go with the bigger difference. But only a visit will really give you that feel. If you do go to Berkeley, check out Northside.</p>
<p>I visited both schools. I liked UCB campus and setting better. But is that a good reason to pick a school?
Duke and UCB are both offering me the same amount of $, which is good for North Carolina, but not to good for California. Is that a deal breaker?</p>
<p>I would not say deal breaker. You are not in grad school (or I should probably say science) for the big money. Did the students at UCB seem to be able to live off the stipend? There are probably housing options for grad students available. As far as liking the campus and setting better, that is a good enough reason if it means you would be happier living and working in that environment for 5+ years.</p>
<p>Assuming all else is more or less equal, I guess your decision is whether the greater liking you have for the UCB campus is worth the lesser purchasing power you're gonna have with the dollars they're giving you. </p>
<p>For me, what would make or break that is whether it's a question of skimping on lattes I am going to have to drink or whether you're dabbling with not being able to survive well. Oops, double-posted with New User and he/she said this much better than I did.</p>
<p>I can't help you with this comparison, having never been to Duke. I think there is not a whole lot more beautiful than Berkeley during a temperate early evening. The person I was with last time I was there said, "god, this is so beautiful, I feel like I am at a beautiful resort." Of course, we weren't on Telegraph. ;)</p>
<p>The question is how little is too little?</p>
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But is that a good reason to pick a school?
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<p>When I chose grad school, I narrowed it down to which schools were at a level of quality I wanted. And then I picked based on what cities/places the cities were located in. And it went exactly the way it should have; I loved grad school partly just because of what city was the location for the school I attended. God yes, this is a good reason to pick one school over another, since you're at such a high level of quality.</p>
<p>This is going to be a dificult decission! There are many things that I like about Duke. It is a smaller program, so I think I would get more one-on-one with the professors, and the research that I think I want to do is more in-line with that being done at Duke. On the other hand, because UCB is a larger program it may present more opportunities. I wish I could attend both, a semester each, and then decide.</p>
<p>If the research is more along the lines of what you want to do, that is a serious consideration to choose Duke over Berkeley. Subjective measures aside, that is THE reason why you are going to grad school - to hone and develop your skills in a serious area of work. If you have reservations about the type of work you are doing, you may not be happy even if you are in a more interesting city, etc.</p>
<p>Uh, if Duke is doing the research that you really know you want to do, go to Duke. If Duke is doing research in an area where you're pretty sure you want to be active, go to Duke. If you kind of think the research Duke is doing is more in the area you want to do, but you are not really sure and you want the chance to "dabble around," well, then it's a harder decision. Berkeley will offer more options for dabbling it would seem. </p>
<p>In other words, leejwwc in his/her last post hit it right on the head. I don't get why you didn't bring this up before, though, since it seems it would be at the forefront of your decision-making.</p>
<p>I think it would depend on how sure you are about what you really want to do. I do not mean this in a negative way, but I know a lot of students fresh out of undergrad have an idea of where they want to go but completely change their mind after a couple of rotations. If you applied to Duke because you thoroughly researched the PIs, know their research well and know that it matches your career goals by all means that is the school for you. If what you "really wanted to do" changed three times in the course of an interview weekend, a bigger school with a wider range of labs might serve you better in the long run. Again, good luck with your decision.</p>
<p>The problem is that I also changed my mind as an undergrad of what type of research I wanted to do. I though I was absolutely sure when I started, but changed my mind as I was exposed to other things. That is also where I am now. Fairly sure of what I would like to do, but always open to new things. That is why Duke is not an obvious choice as suggested by RealityCheck2.</p>
<p>I am strongly considering attending Duke (cmb) too. I do not know if you are worried that there are not enough faculty choices at Duke or if you are not sure about developmental. I am assuming the later. I do not know if they told you guys this at your departmental recruitment weekend, but it sounds like you can easily switch departments (school wide policy). Hence if you went to Duke and decided you wanted to do neuroscience instead of developmental for example, you easily can switch departments.</p>
<p>You probably have more option in terms of potential faculty at Berkeley, but I am sure you could also find faculty doing interesting stuff at Duke. As you probably know, most students switch research areas after grad school any way, so you can always do a post-doc in the area you become interested in. If Duke does not have a PI in the area, UNC may have it. There are a lot of collaborations between UNC and Duke. You probably can not do your entire thesis at UNC, but I am sure they would let you spend some time in a lab there if your project required it. You also have access to UNC faculty for your committee, which may be helpful when you are trying to find a post doc, if Duke did not have a researcher with your precise research interest.</p>