RNAguy

Hi there!

I'm not really sure if you are still looking for any advice on your decision or not, but I'm currently a grad student in JHU's CDMB program and pretty much everything you said about our program is spot on. We do have quite a few PIs working on stem cells in some kind of fashion, and since we also have the Carnegie Institute's Embryology Department on campus here, we can also rotate through their labs. There are a lot of developmental biology labs here.

Relationships with the med school here are pretty much just depends on the lab. My lab holds a joint lab meeting with another lab at the med school, so we are probably one of the more interactive labs with people in the med school. But pretty much everyone has some kind of contact with people at the med school and they are always very receptive to helping out in any way possible or very friendly to start collaborations also. It might not be as close of a relationship as compared to other programs, but there is definitely a relationship between our department and the med school.

And then Baltimore itself is a very fun city to live in honestly. There is a very large stigma that Baltimore is dangerous, but in my opinion, it is blown out of proportion by people who haven't really lived here. Its quite safe in neighborhoods that, as a grad student, you will frequent. There are plenty of fun things to do and it is only a 1 hour train ride to Washington DC, or 2 hours to Philadelphia, so its in a very good location if you want to visit other cities.
I'm not sure if this post is even relevant to you anymore, but thought it couldn't hurt. But congratulations being accepted to both programs, no matter what you are going to be a great grad student. Good luck with everything!

Hi there!

I'm not really sure if you are still looking for any advice on your decision or not, but I'm currently a grad student in JHU's CDMB program and pretty much everything you said about our program is spot on. We do have quite a few PIs working on stem cells in some kind of fashion, and since we also have the Carnegie Institute's Embryology Department on campus here, we can also rotate through their labs. There are a lot of developmental biology labs here.

Relationships with the med school here are pretty much just depends on the lab. My lab holds a joint lab meeting with another lab at the med school, so we are probably one of the more interactive labs with people in the med school. But pretty much everyone has some kind of contact with people at the med school and they are always very receptive to helping out in any way possible or very friendly to start collaborations also. It might not be as close of a relationship as compared to other programs, but there is definitely a relationship between our department and the med school.

And then Baltimore itself is a very fun city to live in honestly. There is a very large stigma that Baltimore is dangerous, but in my opinion, it is blown out of proportion by people who haven't really lived here. Its quite safe in neighborhoods that, as a grad student, you will frequent. There are plenty of fun things to do and it is only a 1 hour train ride to Washington DC, or 2 hours to Philadelphia, so its in a very good location if you want to visit other cities.
I'm not sure if this post is even relevant to you anymore, but thought it couldn't hurt. But congratulations being accepted to both programs, no matter what you are going to be a great grad student. Good luck with everything!