npe4411

By OSU I should clarify it as Ohio St., also my field is chemistry in case that wasn't clear either. Thanks a lot for the responses everyone! In my case I don't view WashU as a huge step down (it's 33 overall to OSU's 26 and A&M's 19 overall and 6th for inorganic). Once I visit the schools I'm sure I'll have a better idea of what choice to make once I visit everywhere, but it's still an issue that has been bothering me nonetheless (if I get into UT-Austin it is 12 overall). My heart is telling me I would prefer St. Louis by a landslide (multiple friends and family nearby and I like the idea of a bigger city) but my mind is telling me I shouldn't just use confirmation bias through desire to be in the town to cloud my judgment in choosing the best school. I can definitely see both sides of the argument and again I appreciate everyone's input.

Hey all, So I've narrowed down my choices to a few schools - OSU, Texas A&M, and WashU in St. Louis. I would also consider UT-Austin, Purdue and Minnesota (still waiting to hear from them). I'm from Missouri, and the idea of living St. Louis and being closer to family really appeals to me, at least giving me the option to take a short weekend visit for example. However, my uncle who is a chem prof (Ph.D from Berkeley, a lot to live up to right??) said my workload is going to be so much that I shouldn't count on being able to take much time at all for any family visits; therefore I shouldn't base my decision on location at all. My research interests are organic/inorganic, so even though rankings-wise WashU isn't that high (all I can really base things on so far since I haven't visited anywhere), some of the biomedical research going on at WashU really appeals to me, though I also know Texas A&M has one of the strongest inorganic departments in the country. Thoughts on the location situation or the schools in general? Thanks in advance.