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I like to think that I'm going to treat grad school like a job. Only gonna work from 9-5 with some flexibility of course. Therefore, I feel like I should have enough free time to date, have serious hobbies, as well as go places on the weekends. For example, if I was at UCSB, I could easily drive to LA for a day or the weekend. I'm not sure there is any such option being at UIUC though. Correct me if I'm wrong please. i guess that I'm afraid that I will pass up the better option (which is eating me alive!!). I should be grateful that I was offered such positions and I'm sure I would be happy with either of them. But I will always think about what I missed out on.

Your environment can be a factor in your quality of life, dont want to discount it. But I havent given it that much weight. Im definitely geared towards a research job, yet Im not sure if academia or industry is better for me. This is something i plan to find out early in the PhD. Im lucky that the groups at each school research topics that I am highly interested in. Which makes this decision so hard.

Hi all, I am having the most difficult time deciding between UC Santa Barbara and University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign for PhD in mechanical engineering. Here is a pro/con list for both schools that I made: UCSB -- Pros: Awesome adviser, flexibility in choosing adviser, full funding, great research project which is unexplored, great weather, beaches and mountains, close to LA, will be involved in both computational and experimental work (which I wanted) Cons: Very high cost of living, not as prestigious as UIUC UIUC -- Pros: Known as one of the best eng programs, awesome adviser, full funding, fun research topic which has momentum behind it, surrounded by the best of the best, super low cost of living Cons: pretty bad weather, far from nearest big city, project will be heavily experimental with computational being an option if something arises As you can see, I can't really complain about my situation too much. For me, this is a very hard decision as the research at both places interests me. I'm posting here to hear some of your advice and possibly experiences so that I can make the most informed decision. Thanks!

Thanks thelionking for your response. I've pretty much taken into account everything you mentioned. One thing that I am not considering to be very important to me is the number of publications in respected journals since one of the professors is probably 50 years old (well established) and the other is 30 (just starting his career). It wouldn't mean much to compare the two by number of publications but definitely I have seen the quality of publications and they are both top notch. One other thing I want to mention on this topic is the fact that it's myself who will be determining how many and the quality of publications, not my adviser. I am pretty confident in myself and I know that I can excel wherever I decide to go. If you have anything to say about this I welcome it.

Hi all, I am interested in a mix of experimental and computational fluid dynamics research and have been accepted to a few schools. I have narrowed down my choice to UCSB vs. UBC and cannot decide. Can anyone give any insight as to which school is better in terms of overall fluids research?

Hi all, I am pretty much torn between going to grad school at UCSB or UBC. Both cities are extremely beautiful. I have visited Santa Barbara and just wow! I haven't visited Vancouver but it is consistently ranked as one of the best cities in the world. But more importantly, I am in contact with one professor from each school and they both have described the projects to me and still I am torn (all the projects sound exciting to me). I really have no clue which school to choose. They both are offering good financial packages, flexibility in choosing advisers, flexibility in choosing projects, and most importantly those professors specifically singled me out and chose me as a student who they would think fits good with their group. So I come to ask, what other questions should I be asking myself and the professors to see which school is better for me? If you already have chosen between the two schools, why did you choose one over the other? Thanks in advance!