harrybond

That's an interesting response. Almost every past graduate student I met were very interested in knowing which program had a higher ranking before asking about anything else. From your experience, do you know of stories where students attended a relatively weaker program for their Masters and succeeded in joining well regarded PhD programs later on? I think joining a respected program for your Masters may lower the risk of failing to get admitted into very good PhD programs. I can see that most past GW Master's students stuck with GW for their PhDs as well, and from what I am able to see, these are not highly regarded programs in the field.

Update: I received a TA position offer from GW. With this offer, coupled with the fellowship, the cost of attending GW will become significantly less than at Rutgers. This has put me in a more difficult situation right now to choose between the 2 programs. Also, I don't really know if being a TA is a good idea, I'm worried that the work pertaining to teaching will be overwhelming and could distract me from my studies. After all, I'm joining grad school to learn first. I would appreciate any advice.

Thank you all for your input. @avflinsch The field I applied to is Chemical Biology and it's in New Brunswick. There is a good number of research topics in this field that match my interests, which is very important to me. Also I don't know much about the place there, the housing rentals, the cost of living etc... Perhaps you could shed some light on these, I would very much appreciate that. I'm planning on visiting the campus in July to have an idea about the place. Thank you all again.

I have been admitted into 2 Master's programs in chemistry, one at Rutgers and the other at The George Washington University. I heard better feedback about the program at Rutgers. The research topics at Rutgers match better with my interests and the research there has a greater impact overall on the field than that conducted at GW. Moreover, in regards of the program ranking, Rutgers leads significantly. However, GW has offered me a fellowship which can make the cost of education there cheaper, albeit not significantly cheaper than at Rutgers. Will this fellowship have a positive impact on my resume and on my application to a funded PhD program in the future? What criteria would one consider most when choosing a master's program? Thank you in advance.