doublemocha

Hey guys, If you could leave a comment I will really appreciate it. Just wondering what you think in regards to there being a major difference in rank and prestige despite what US news tells us? Specifically I am wondering about the differences in prestige for neuroscience-psychology programs? Thank so so much!

True, but because the topic I would study there is very specific to that species, I would be concerned that if I chose not to work with primates, I would not know what direction to go after that. What are your thoughts and experiences? Thanks so much btw!

I vote Vandy

Ok, so I desperately need insights, I have been thinking on this for a month and nothing is coming to me, hopefully you guys can help, you have no idea how much I will appreciate it, even if you can just vote, that will be great! A couple of things first: I am going to get my PhD in psychology (neuroscience sub field) and have experience working with rats in a neuropharmacology lab I want to become a professor in psychology Here it goes: School A: Has the best funding by far; 30,000 a year; plus I can live there for free by house sitting for someone. It is also one of my favorite locations in the US. This school is ranked in he top 20's for my field. The lab is better known and within the top in the field with several post-docs but PI's are more hands off. The area of research they are pursuing has not been a huge interest of mine and I know nothing about that area. They are also working with primates, which is very different from my previous experience. My main worry here is that I am going into a field in which I would have to master more techniques and that I would not be able to bring that work with me into an academic position. In addition, I am concerned that working with primates may limit me to only higher ranked schools and i am not certain that I want that lifestyle. With the type of techniques and subjects that they use, I believe that I would be too expensive for a lesser ranked school to hire me. Overall, because I know little about this area, things could turn out very well and I could pick up fast or I could be drowning. However, this experience sounds more fun overall but I am unsure of how this would be affected in the long term. School B: funding is 20-25K a yr; but no free housing there! The location is not horrible, but I would never wish to live there if there was not an incentive (Its super cold)! The school is ranked in the top 5 of my field. The lab is less known because I would be starting off with a very new faculty member and would be her first graduate student. I see this as good and bad; good because I would see what its like to start up a lab and get 1 on 1 attention, bad because she has a less developed network and no post-docs. The mentors personality is also very upbeat we click, which is a plus. The implications of this work are more interesting to me and something that I have experience in, however, I am not as interested in the molecular aspects of her work (which is half of it). As far as techniques and general area goes, I feel that it would be easier for me to grasp. These techniques and subjects (mice/rats) are also highly translatable and I would be able to work more easily at a lesser ranked school if I chose. I also feel that since I would be more likely to grasp these techniques, I would be more likely to have success in an academic career but again, who knows? This experience doesn't sound as thrilling but I can more easily see my career path, perhaps because I already have experience in this area? Overall, there are so many question marks, that I cant seem to make a choice,if anyone has ANY insights, I will be so thankful and will look at your posts and see if I can help too! (Please vote)! Thanks

Ok, so this is the hardest decison of my life because to me there is no "obvious" option and any advice will be very helpful! I have narrowed down my acceptences to 2 schools. Both high in rankings, mentor pubs, etc. School A is the location I have always wanted to live, I love the feel of the school and its students, the stipend is better (26,000) and I have the opportunity to house sit and not pay rent; awesome right? Only problem is that the area of research I would be doing has never been an interest of mine, I know I would enjoy running the studies but would find it hard to be interested in the implications of the work. I also have no background in that area. School B is in a location that I dislike, climate is horrible, the feel of the school and students just doesnt fit me, its a very expensive area to live (plus no free housing there!) and the stpend is lower (20,000) however, I would be very interested in the implications of the research there, but it may be more monotunous to run the studies than school A. Thus, the perfect, unrelaistic scenario would be to take the lab and professor from school B and move it to school A, then everything would be great. Insights anyone??? Could really use opinions here. I should also mention that my goal is to be a Psychology professor.