Great MS or mediocre PhD?

Graduate School
1

I used a scattershot, ‘serendipity’-oriented approach to applying to grad school. I got into two highly ranked masters of biotech engineering programs (Penn, 7/112, and Pitt, 15/112) and one shoddy neuroscience PhD program (George Mason, 117/217).

I’d pay out the nose for either master’s, and maybe but no guarantee get a job in the biotech industry (to pay off my crushing loans).

I’d get paid (modestly, for the amount and complexity of work) to be a neuro PhD for 5 years, the graduate and be dumped out with a worthless degree, the same as I was five years earlier, only 32 instead of 27.

What would you do faced with a choice like this?

2

If you think the Ph.D. at GMU is so worthless why did you apply in the first place? A Ph.D. is as good as your research advisor. If there are good people doing funded research at GMU then you can certainly do well after graduating. Rankings are overrated…

3

Do you want to go into industry or do you want to go into academia? I agree that rankings are overrated, but program reputation is important for obtaining jobs in both - moreso in academia than industry, though. What is GMU’s reputation like in your field? Where do GMU PhDs end up? Ask your potential PI at GMU where he’s placed his recent PhD graduates.

If you really think GMU is that worthless then don’t do the PhD - there is a cost to your time as well. But I’d do some investigation first to see whether that perception is true or not.

What you should do I think is also based on what you think will happen next. You said you used a scattershot method of applying to graduate school. Do you think that if you took a more measured, planned approach that you’d get better results - maybe better-reputed or better-fitting PhD programs or funded master’s programs? If you’re a competitive applicant and your main problem is the last-minute style of applying, I would turn them all down and reapply next year. If you think that your results are a result of your competitiveness as an applicant…well, I still might turn them all down and try to improve myself as an applicant, but if you don’t think you can improve much in the next 2-3 years, then choose whichever one is best for career outcomes.