<p>any comments on it? I am accepted to their PhD program. My previous training in biology was very "traditional" (basically have none quantitative skills & experience) and i want to be competent after finishing my PhD. My research interest is how components of a system interact with each other( systems biology) but I'm open to the system that I study. ANY ANY comments are welcome</p>
<p>i mean competent to carry out quantitative analysis.</p>
<p>Did you speak to the grad students there about this? They’re probably the best people to ask. When I interviewed there, they seemed to indicate that it isn’t absolutely necessary to have a quant background (but it may be helpful). Anyhow, you’ll have 5 years to learn the quant skills which is plenty of time.</p>
<p>I didn’t have a chance to visit the school. But I emailed a postgrad there and, like you said, students without such a background can pick up the skills along the way. I’m wondering about the quality of training I will receive there. Current students may not really be able to tell as they can’t compare their current training with that in other schools they didn’t attend and faculty members probably may not tell both the pros and cons. </p>
<p>I’m an international. In an “ideal” scenario, I will be deciding between the program and the genomic and systems biology at uchicago. If simply shallowly judged by rankings like US News, NYU is far behind uchicago. But as everyone says, rankings don’t tell much, right?</p>
<p>In this case, you should email students from both schools and compare their responses on the level of training if that is what you are concerned about. In general, in grad school, the onus of acquiring new skills is really on yourself. If you want to learn something, you will have to actively seek it out and pursue it. </p>
<p>I don’t know about chicago since I didn’t apply there, but NYU seems to have pretty nice facilities and was actively making investments into their Biology department (hiring new profs, constructing a new building, renovating existing space), which is a good sign. Something else to think about is the school environment. NYU is quite unique in that it is literally in the middle of Manhattan, so there isn’t the same “college campus” feel you get at most universities.</p>