<p>So I have this big dilemma. I have been accepted to both Rockefeller University and Stanford University for the Biology PhD program, and I was wondering if anyone had any ideas why I should choose one over the other. Funding is not a problem at both places, but with the more generous funding at Rockefeller I should be able to live more comfortably there.</p>
<p>Reasons for choosing Rockefeller:
1. Quality of science - it's top for very specific areas which I'm interested in
2. Funding - Housing in Manhattan is heavily subsidized by the university, you pay $510 a month for a studio. Stipend and other fees are ultra competitive (more so than Stanford, and Palo Alto is super expensive as well to live in)
3. NYC is unbeatable for fun and nightlife
4. I have a few friends who go there
5. Students seem genuinely happy there</p>
<p>Reasons for choosing Stanford:
1. Science there is stellar as well, I can name at least 3-4 labs I would be interested in
2. Weather is great; I love to bike, so it'd be a great place to be at and explore nature
3. I have many close friends there, some of whom I haven't met up with in years
4. Students seem genuinely happy there
5. Reputation of Stanford extends beyond the biological sciences - good for impressing people at a bar (not that I'm that concerned with this factor, but it is a factor to take into consideration)</p>
<p>Is the overall level of research at both institutions comparable? Oh, and my eventual goal is to go into research at institutes like the National Institutes of Health (so the lack of teaching opportunities at Rockefeller as a graduate student doesn't really factor as an integral component in my decision)</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>Congrats on having two such wonderful options to choose from! You can’t really go wrong whichever program you choose.</p>
<p>That said let’s look at the unique advantages of each program.</p>
<p>Reasons for choosing Rockefeller:
2. Funding. Housing is affordable. Stipend and other fees are ultra competitive.
3. NYC is unbeatable for fun and nightlife.</p>
<p>Reasons for choosing Stanford:
2. Weather. Great place to bike and explore nature.
5. Reputation of Stanford extends beyond the biological sciences - good for impressing people at a bar (not that I’m that concerned with this factor, but it is a factor to take into consideration)</p>
<p>The other things you listed are comparable at both programs (stellar science, old friends, happiness of current students), so it basically comes down to the following two points:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Would you prefer to have more money to spend, or would you prefer to live in a better place for biking and exploring nature? In short, do you love money more or do you love good weather and biking more?</p></li>
<li><p>Would you prefer to live in NYC for a few years, or would you prefer to go to a more universally well-known school? In short, if you go to NYC you’d probably have more fun over the next few years, if you go to Palo Alto you’d be able to impress people in bars for the rest of your life.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>I’m glad that I’m not the only one with this dilemma, as I’m also trying to decide between these two schools using a similar line of reasoning. </p>
<p>I think that, for me at least, the deal-breaker may boil down to having PIs of the labs that I’m interested in put me in touch with their graduate students to see if the lab would be a good fit for me in terms of PI/lab personality and support, organization, research projects/philosophy, model systems, average time to thesis (lab-specific), collaborations, placement after graduation, sociability, etc. Essentially everything that you ask about the institution, but specific to one particular lab. I didn’t get as much of a chance to do this during interviews, but when I did, I found the students to be much more candid about the info they shared than the PIs, student hosts, and even the lab website. They either made me like the lab even more, or revealed several red flags that told me that I could be there a lot longer than 5-6 years.</p>
<p>Finding 2-3 labs through this process using criteria conducive to your goals will probably be the most effective way of making your decision (it might even be easy if you find that more labs at one institution satisfy them than the other, thus giving you more labs to choose from). You can’t go wrong with either institution; whichever one you attend, you’ll most likely end up happy, doing stellar research, and developing into the person you want to be.</p>