<p>Stanford is awesome, and decision-making was tough. I guess I didn't really click with the professors I met there. One of the profs that I wanted to meet but couldn't was Irv Weissman, who's at the stem cell institute. One of Irv's current students showed me around that building, which for the time being is not on the main campus, and we talked...it sounds like he is getting virtually no support and has been poorly advised/advanced by his thesis committee. Uncool - especially since his committee members are other people I might want to work for! Also, my old dev bio undergrad TA, who is insanely brilliant and hard-working, is now in Stanford's program. I didn't see him the entire weekend and found out that he was struggling and had just postponed his qual. If they ate him alive, what chance do I have? ...so probably not Stanford. Bo, are you probably headed to Stanford?</p>
<p>i think so. I've been in boston for way too long; think it's time to leave</p>
<p>Snowcapk,</p>
<p>Don't you think that most PI's who are in Weissman's position (around 70 and super famous) are super busy? These are not labs that you join for the facetime with the PI. This is like the Horvitz or Jaenisch lab at MIT. These are amazing advisors but their time is in high demand (and their names look very nice on the CV). </p>
<p>Also, I think that Stanford, MIT, and Harvard are all on the same level as far as difficulty or intensity is concerned. Give yourself credit...you deserve to get in to all of these places and that means you are capable of doing well at all three. Don't let fear of failure factor in to your decision. </p>
<p>in the spirit of full disclosure I am going to stanford next year (decision b/t there and MIT).</p>
<p>Good luck with your decision</p>
<p>Snowcapk + tvgrad,</p>
<p>I didnt apply to Stanford so I cant comment about that. I did want to comment about tvgrads stereotyped PI. Not all big named PIs have labs that function that way. I currently work for a big name (NAS member that started the yeast genetics field). My boss is ~70 and I get more face time than I want (he is always around). Seymore benzer at caltech was another example (sadly he just passed away). A lot of the big shots do have lab environments that you described, but definately not all of them. I think most of them running labs that way tend to be younger. When they reach 70, in my experience, they tend to not want to worry about running such a large lab and they are starting to think about retirement. Hence you get a lot of head on time with the PI and the training you are probably looking for as a grad student. I think the lab dynamic largely depends on your PIs personality, mentoring philosophy and size of lab. I have also worked for non big shots that had such large labs that you never saw the PI.I just wanted to bring this up before this stereotype got too out of hand.</p>
<p>News strait from the website: </p>
<p>NSF expects to post the names of 2008 GRF Awardees and recipients of Honorable Mention in late March or early April, 2008</p>
<p>We might be waiting awhile to hear!!</p>
<p>How do you guys feel about Berkeley relative to Harvard and MIT, generally and for structural bio?</p>
<p>Mtlve, yeah, my current boss is awesome and fits your description very nicely. Very sad about Seymour, he had one son ~ our age :( As far as the NSF announcement, I remain optimistic: maybe the public posting will come a few days after they notify the recipients? Heh wishful thinking I'm sure.</p>
<p>Tvgradschool, I definitely understand that's the trend. I would not necessarily work with another super-PI in grad school, because I would like to receive some mentoring. However, I am totally cool with getting that help from postdocs in the lab rather than the PI. The postdocs in my current lab are very approachable and if anything "butt in" to my work, asking to know the recent progress in detail and making suggestions. (It sounds like postdoc help wasn't an option for our friend in Irv's lab, meaning that he was deeply, thoroughly boned if he ever needed advice.) ...so I would work for a big-shot adviser with no time if I thought the lab environment was right. Funny you should mention Horvitz and Jaenisch - any inside information on the vibe in those labs? I interviewed with Rudy and he seemed very nice, but how are his students?</p>
<p>So I just got into JHU Pharmacology program...anyone else planning to go there...my other options are Duke, UPenn and Columbia. Should I be considering those?? Please give me your inputs? If it were you, what would you choose?
Thanks in advance.</p>
<p>I would seriously consider UPenn. The resources at the school is amazing, and Philadelphia is a much better city to live in than Baltimore. Columbia is great too, but looking at the resources and environment of the two schools, Penn seems to be MUCH better funded.</p>
<p>bioangle,</p>
<p>for structural biology, berkeley is one of the best places along with scripps and rockefeller. ALS is just right up the hill from campus, and at top of my head, i can count at least 5 faculty who make their living by solving structures in different systems. MIT has lost some good people over the years, and now it is perhaps their weakness. There r some good people at Harvard. so i would choose between berkeley and harvard, and maybe give the edge to berkeley.</p>
<p>bo435,
JHU seems to have better resources that Penn and Duke and also far more funding. Please correct me if I am wrong.</p>
<p>Mcbartist,</p>
<p>I think as far as NIH money is concerned Penn med is better funded than every school in the U.S. except for Harvard. Having lived in Philadelphia for the last 5 years (my sister lives in Baltimore) I can chime in and say that I haven't met very many people that prefer Baltimore to Philadelphia. It is bigger, there is more going on, and it is very easy to get around without a car. Baltimore is definitely less expensive though. Penn Hospital is located within walking distance of the downtown Philadelphia area, and it is surrounded by the Penn/Drexel bubble. JHU hospital is seperate from the main campus of the school so that takes away some of the feeling of being at a large university campus if you are spending a lot of time at the hospital. I get the sense that you think that Hopkins might be a better name than Penn, which is definitely not true and I am fairly certain no one would consider you differently having gone to one vs. the other. I think you have a good choice either way, however, if you are at all basing your decision on the social life/atmosphere at these two schools, I think that you might want to strongly consider Penn over Hopkins if everything else is equal in your mind. Hope this helps.</p>
<p>Hey tvgradschool,
Thanks a lot for your input. It really helps as I cannot decide between JHU and UPenn. Thanks again. :)</p>
<p>Hey tvgradschool, I was looking through the NIH website and it shows that JHU is very close to UPenn in NIH funding.
This info can be found at: <a href="http://grants.nih.gov/grants/award/rank/medttl05.htm%5B/url%5D">http://grants.nih.gov/grants/award/rank/medttl05.htm</a></p>
<p>MCBartist, you won't get anything but biased responses on this forum. I go to JHU, and after stopping at a gas station blocks from Penn in philly, I was robbed of my cellphone. I also have tons of friends that prefer Baltimore to philly as shown by the strong PA and philly contingent here at Hopkins. But I won't trash Philly as the gas station event might have been an isolated incident. As you will be associated with JHU's med school, I beg to differ regarding the prestige argument. Anyways, don't let me or any other poster sway your decision making. I would visit the schools and email the grad students at both schools asking for their opinions. Usually you'll find students that have gone through the same choices and can give you pros and cons on both schools and what won them over between one or the other.</p>
<p>RE Baltimore vs Philadelphia:</p>
<p>Truth be told, when you're looking at the safety and economic condition of the city, Baltimore and Philly are probably very closely comparable, which is to say no, you're not going to be living in the safest place. However, UPenn and Hopkins are both doing a similar thing to/for their respective cities: the schools are buying up block by block of the old run-down neighborhoods and expanding their campuses. Each is the largest private employer in its hometown and can consequently claim to be huge players in the very real economic revival of the two towns. Practically, this results in students being in a growing island of prosperity in towns that are both improving every year and are indeed very livable for us 20-somethings.</p>
<p>Just my 2 cents on the matter.</p>
<p>Is anyone looking at the OHSU PMCB (Program in Molecular and Cellular Biosciences) or UCSD Chemistry and Biochemistry programs?</p>
<p>UCSD Chem & Biochem! <em>waves wildly</em></p>
<p>I'm not actually an applicant; I got my BS and MS from them and still feel a fond attachment to the department. :) If you have any questions, feel free to PM me.</p>
<p>Caldwa,</p>
<p>I interviewed at OHSU, and I got a really bad vibe there. I saw faculty be really mean to each other and to the students. I know a couple people that worked there, and I have heard many stories from them about how poorly they treat their students. </p>
<p>For example, a student did not get along with his/her mentor but the program would not let them switch labs. The student would do all the work and the mentor would not put the student's name on the corresponding papers. The mentor then left OHSU and they would not take the student with them nor would the mentor let the student go to another lab. I do not know if this student ever got into a lab/ got their PhD. The school was well aware of what was going on and they did nothing to help the student. </p>
<p>I would shy away from OHSU for these reasons. UCSD in general has a better name than OHSU. Strangely enough a lot of scientists at the other places I visited did not know the school.</p>
<p>Good luck deciding</p>
<p>
[quote]
UCSD in general has a better name than OHSU. Strangely enough a lot of scientists at the other places I visited did not know the school.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Not that it tells you anything about the school, but I just thought it was funny that after reading this I had to google OHSU to see what school that was.:)</p>