<p>Right now I have a list of around 12 schools and I feel like that is too many. My current strategy has been to research decent schools that aren't in the northeast or California since they supposedly don't get as many applications. Also I would like a program that has a medical school because of the clinical collaborations that can open up. </p>
<p>Now I'm trying to figure out the quality of the PIs at the universities I'm looking at. Is there a website that lists NIH funding and the like for individual professors? Also I've been hearing a lot about 'journal impact factor' and would like to see how publications rank, I'm not sure how to start looking at this though. Would this be a good way to eliminate some schools? </p>
<p>By the way I'm interested in cancer biology specifically cell migration/adhesion and metastasis formation. If anyone knows of some programs dealing with that I'd like to check them out.</p>
<p>You should look at the professors’ research, and apply to the schools that have professors that match your interests as specifically as possible.</p>
<p>People should be flexible and have a short list of topics they are interested in.</p>
<p>No1 should choose a grad school cuz they love VERY specific topic X and that school has a small grp of proffs who focus on it.</p>
<p>Assuming you will remain interested in said topic is naive so it is best to choose a dept that fits your specific research needs and also has proffs doin research in similar fields that also interest you. I think that would be the prudent decision.</p>
<p>A lot of things factor into your grad school experience and I would say the specific research is only 1/2 the story.</p>
<p>Location (you definitely don’t want to spend 4-8yrs in a town/city you don’t like). Funding. Admissions statistics.</p>
<p>For example, I live in Toronto and it is probably the most multicultural city in the world and is very vibrant. I won’t consider living in small towns or places with a weak social scene or night life. </p>
<p>Things like that help narrow down my short list of schools from ~15 to a bit over a handful.</p>
<p>^ usually those who go on to graduate school have a very specific idea of what they want to study, and oftentimes, admissions committees look for that specificity in applicants (at least those of high tier).</p>
<p>Nonetheless, research degrees (as I assumed what is being pursued by the OP) exist to train those who will research specific topics, and become specialized in their field.</p>
<p>Mastermoe is correct with regards to biomedical phds. Perhaps in philosophy it is normal to specialize at the level of Phd but in the biomedical sciences, virtually everybody does at least one postdoc (even those not going into academia). It is during your postdoctoral period that you specialize. </p>
<p>Bentham, you are approaching this process with maturity and common sense. A lot of things will impact how your next six years or so go- the ability to network, potential programs to be involved in, research fields you may not currently be aware of, the city you live in and your quality of life, to name a few. </p>
<p>The lab you end up in for your thesis (the 5 year portion of grad school) will make a big difference. People who purport to only be interested in one narrow field after just a college education, are being naive. You should find multiple professors whose work is interesting to you. You should be sure that they are well funded and publish in good journals.
To find their funding go to [CRISP</a> - Current and Historical Awards Query Form - NIH Research Portfolio Online Reporting Tool (RePORT)](<a href=“http://report.nih.gov/crisp/CRISPQuery.aspx]CRISP”>http://report.nih.gov/crisp/CRISPQuery.aspx)
To find the impact factor of the journals they publish in, go to pubmed to find some of their last several articles, and google the journal’s name and “impact factor”.</p>
<p>12 schools is too many, and I would imagine that schools in California and the Northeast get the highest number of apps. Perhaps you might want to consider the midwest or the south, if you are concerned about facing the really stiff competition of UCs and Boston area schools.</p>
<p>I guess I shouldn’t have written that is the specific field I want to research in. I have been making sure there are other areas of research that I would like at the universities besides the ones mentioned. I had gotten excited about that specific research though after going to a conference a few weeks ago and also having someone in the lab I’m at doing this type of research for his post doc.</p>
<p>Thanks for the information on funding and impact factor. I’m hoping to cut the number of schools to around 6 that I really want to attend by August, so that I can start writing my statement of purpose before classes start.</p>
<p>I guess the best thing to do to cut schools would be to take the ones you think you’d like to go to the most, and use those as a starting point. What I did to narrow my choice was to look at the “Programs/Degrees Granted” section, open up all the programs that I might have an interest in, and look at what research the faculty were doing that might interest me.</p>
<p>Some of the stuff will be hits, more will be misses, but after about three or four schools, you should have a fairly good ‘core’ of what you think you’d like to research. Pick two or three topics, find schools that have two or more of these researchers, and then ask yourself, “Which would be the best fit for me?” in terms of the research.</p>
<p>I agree with another thread that it’s probably bad to have tunnel vision going into a PhD, but it’s good to have a field you’d like to go into, and several strong interests in the field.</p>
<p>I am also having hard time narrowing down my list as well. There are so many good programs/schools I want to apply to and I searched professors whose research interests are similar to what I want to pursue. </p>
<p>And as people have mentioned here, it is a good idea to have specific research area that would be of interest to you but it is also better to avoid being too specific for being too limiting. Biomedical sciences is broad so applying to programs like these gives you flexibility and choice to pursue research in different areas in the same field. This facilitates the process of finding “fit” with the research specialization later in the graduate years. </p>
<p>My interest is also in cancer biology/immunology and I am applying to mostly biomedical sciences programs as well.</p>