<p>Hi all,</p>
<p>I was lucky enough to be accepted to both of these programs this year (~5% admit rate for both). I'm a graduating senior who has 0 interest in pre-med but has a lot of interest in bio (like, MCB/bioeng/genomics/whatevs), enough to write some pretty convincing statements that got me into the programs, because I also have 0 previous experience in bio, and I got into places (see my username) largely with my mathematical talent (which I have no intention of pursuing as a major).</p>
<p>Anyway, comparing these two programs, I'm not sure which one to choose. Stanford has the brand name, the connections (networking), as well as the more well-known program, and would probably help if I want to go to Stanford for grad school (which at this point is something I really want to do). CoH has the money (cost difference for me is maybe $6000 - driving daily to CoH vs finding housing in Palo Alto, as well as stipend), but $6000 doesn't seem that big a deal if I consider the money I can earn/spend in the future. Also, I've personally talked to the prof I'll be working with at CoH, and we've discussed potential research and such, and it seems pretty interesting.</p>
<p>So my question is, how should I go about deciding? Is the support for interns at one (I'm guessing SIMR) considerably more, or more well organized, or has more potential opportunities, etc.? Thanks!</p>