[Help] Ideal Graduate School for me?

Graduate School
1

<p>Dear All,</p>

<p>I'm a recent Graduate from the Midwest and I'm considering doing Graduate school in Immunology (Ph.D.). I'm also considering doing an MBA along with the Ph.D. Some of the worries I have include the fact that many Ph.D.'s are currently underemployed and I would like to avoid that if possible! Before graduate school, I used to live in a city with ~5 million people and I kinda found a city of 250,000 to be a really tiny city. However, I am okay with living in small cities if the university is really a good choice. Cost of living is a factor to me too as I will be receiving a fixed stipend no matter which university I go to.</p>

<p>So which dream school will you pick for me? Please rank the choices!</p>

<p>Harvard
- probably the best school in the world, I love Boston but the city is kinda expensive. I do have loads of friends studying and working in Harvard/Boston so maybe that should be a factor?</p>

<p>MIT
- probably not my top choice but I love Boston and know a couple of friends at MIT</p>

<p>Stanford
- applying for the SOM grad program there... love the weather and topics sound interesting! love the graduate housing too!</p>

<p>Yale
- offers an MBA-Ph.D. program which sounds awesome... the city looks really tiny though, but maybe I can drive to NYC during the weekends.</p>

<p>Northwestern
- Midwest so I have lots of friends there and near Chicago which is a plus. Not sure if the research is good though for immunology.</p>

<p>UPenn
- Dunno much about the city and life in general (care to enlighten me anyone?) But their immunology faculty is truly inspirational!</p>

<p>Rockefeller Uni
- NYC is okay but kinda dirty, hate the winters there. But the shopping is great and the many theaters are awesome! They have a small but good faculty there.</p>

<p>Cold Spring Harbor
- a post-doc in my lab did his Ph.D. there, he liked the place! And it offers a 4 year Ph.D. prog which saves alot of time. </p>

<p>So which uni would you pick for me and why?</p>

2

<p>UPenn is amazing. It was founded by Benjamin Franklin. The school also has the best business school in the country.</p>

<p>With that said, come to philly if you love sports. Our fans are notorious for being the worst, but most die hard fans in the country. </p>

<p>Watch out of north philly- Temple area.</p>

3

<ol>
<li>Apply to all of the above programs that fit your academic needs.</li>
<li>See where you get accepted. </li>
<li>Visit. </li>
<li>Ask again.</li>
</ol>

<p>When I visited PhD programs, I was surprised how different the atmosphere in various departments were, even though they were quite similar on paper. Initially I was at a complete loss how to pick among my offers. After I visited 8 of them, I had 2 clear favorites and I picked from them based on location and reputation.</p>