Weill Cornell BCMB vs. Mount Sinai

[novagirl2012]

Hi All!

 

I am very fortunate to be choosing between two great schools for my Ph.D in biomedical sciences in a great location, NYC. I am having an extremely hard time picking one over the other! My GUT is telling me Mount Sinai; I feel that I would have a better quality of life there. However, for someone who is interested in cancer research, it seems really stupid to turn down Cornell who is affiliated with Sloan Kettering, one of the top cancer research institutes in the country. Can anyone weigh in on the decision? How important do you think the "name" of a school is? Another thing that is important to me is housing. Mount Sinai seems to have much better housing options for couples (I will be moving with my fiancé) in a less "dormy" environment than Cornell, which appears to only offer studio apartments to couples without children. 

 

 

AHHHH I am so torn! Is anyone else in a similar predicament?

Edited March 9, 2015 by novagirl2012

[Giblon]

Honestly, I think that prestige is something that applies more to groupings of schools rather than individually, meaning that if two schools are less than a certain "distance" apart in terms of rankings then it won't matter very much. I think Sinai and Weill are close enough together that the it won't make an enormous difference for your career prospects, and I have no doubt that you'll be able to find interesting cancer research being done in both places.

With that said, I think that the circumstances beyond academics are most important for you. If you believe that Sinai will make family life better, that's important. You mentioned the no-children housing at Weill, which makes me think that you want to keep the possibility of having a kid open in the future. If you think that will be easier at Sinai, I think you won't regret going there.