BME MS@UCSD vs. PHD@Stony Brook

<p>I'm in a dilema right now. </p>

<p>MS@UCSD is a 1 year program and The school is top ranked in the BME field. No funding was provided, I'll have to make a loan and that costs about 30K a year. But there will be potentially nice internship opportunities since they are associated with loys of companies.</p>

<p>PHD@Stony Brook is with full funding. 2 professors have shown willingness of letting me into their labs. It'll take 2 year to get a MS before passing qual exam and continue with doctorate.</p>

<p>I'm more oriented to get a job after receiving graduate degree but almost everyone around suggested me getting a PHD, saying that it's hard to get promotion in industry with a master alone.</p>

<p>Any suggestions and comments are welcomed.</p>

<p>Wow. That is a tough choice. Good luck man. How long would the PhD take after the 2 years of masters? how well is stony brook ranked? do you mind being in school and broke for that long?</p>

<p>Thats a little strange that people said you need an PhD for promotions. I think it helps a ton (Im going for it) but with an MS, you can start pretty high at med device companies and they are usually pretty good about moving up...</p>

<p>That is a hard choice you are facing, though. UCSD seems to be the most sought-after program for biomed, but I think Stony Brook is really good too. I wouldnt choose based on internship chances only, you still have to go through a whole application process which can be very variable.</p>

<p>Did you ask around UCSD to see if profs have any projects available?</p>

<p>I heard the same story line too, you need a PhD in biotech industry partly because everyone just seem to have them.</p>

<p>maybe you could go to ucsd and get the masters and see if any internships catch your fancy and if they dont, y dont u reapply to several BME/BME-like phd programs (including ucsd) for your phd</p>

<p>IMHO, it is definitely not worth it to pay $30k/yr to go to grad school! In fact, I wouldn't go to grad school if I had to pay at all, since you already at a high opportunity cost by spending the best working years of your life in school. The sum of the real costs plus the opportunity cost is just too great. Paying for that high of tuition is only worth it for a lucrative professional degree, such as an MD, JD, or MBA. Again, just my advice.</p>

<p>Since it seems like you have good options for research that interests you at Stony Brook, then you should go. UCSD may be higher ranked by US news, but the real question in my mind is how much those rankings matter in a field as rapidly changing as bioengineering.</p>