Columbia or UCSF for Neuroscience?

Graduate School
1

<p>Hi all,</p>

<p>I am an intl applicant to this year's neuroscience programs. I have narrowed the school choices to Columbia and UCSF and would like to know whether anyone have knowledge on the strengths and weaknesses of the two programs.</p>

<p>here is what i have came up with.</p>

<p>Columbia:</p>

<ul>
<li>more people that I am interested in who are studying in neural circuits (i.e. faculty in theoretical neuroscience and faculty that are very good with microscopes and other tools).</li>
<li>has a campus (so expertise in physics, math, cs, which i want)</li>
</ul>

<p>UCSF:</p>

<ul>
<li>in SF. the weather and lifestyle is a huge plus for me. i like to be outside so i prefer this a lot over NYC.</li>
<li>more cohesive program</li>
</ul>

<p>a deep issue for me is how much teaching myself certain subjects can compensate for the lack of researchers or department in that subject. i also wonder how important classes truly are in graduate school...</p>

2

<p>Classes are really not important at all, other than to provide you the theoretical background for you to be able to complete your thesis research. And the amount of time you have to learn broadly across fields will likely be limited.</p>

<p>If there are more PIs at Columbia doing research that interests you, then you should go there, unless the lifestyle factors at UCSF are very important to you (and you know that there are at least a few labs doing research that interests you). </p>

<p>The most important consideration in picking a PhD program in the biomedical sciences should be your ability to find labs (and, eventually, a single thesis lab) that do work you find interesting, that will help you develop as a scientist, and that will enable you to perform productive thesis work. Factors like classes and the “atmosphere” of the program will only be temporarily important, as you will soon join a thesis lab and become more absorbed in life in your particular lab than in your program or your classes.</p>

3

<p>^definitely true. In fast-expanding interdisciplinarity fields, classes don’t really teach you much, given that it takes years to actually develop a formal class.</p>

<p>Speaking of theoretical neuroscience, I definitely know that there is also some opportunities for theoretical neuro down in NYU too.</p>