John Popovic

1) Gatech Pros: - Highly prestigious ECE school - Very strong group of researchers in ECE Cons: -My advisor is fresh out of his postdoc, so no PhD supervising experience yet or connections in academia and also less published papers (he seemed like a nice guy though, and his mentoring style seemed great, in theory). 2) Duke (PhD in Mechanical Engineering) Pros: -I got great comments on my advisor by a current PhD student of his (friend of mine), and his mentoring style suits me almost perfectly. He is also somewhat experienced (been a professor for a little less than a decade). Cons: -Duke's is not as famous as Gatech or UPenn. -At Duke I will actually pursue a PhD in Mechanical Engineering, because my advisor is with the ME department officially (even though he is researching ECE stuff). 3) UPenn Facts: -The prestige is between Duke and Gatech (Gatech>UPenn>Duke) -I liked the mentoring style of the advisor (judging from what he told me), and he is also adequately experienced (same as Duke's advisor). So, just because I do not have any inside info about the advisor, I rank this advisor between the advisors of Duke and Gatech (Duke>UPenn>Gatech). All of these advisors publish quality papers in respected journals. Also, the possible projects offered by all of these advisors interest me the same (not much that is). Moreover, I do not have a preference over Atlanta, Durham and Philadelphia. I plan on following a career in academia after my PhD. Should I choose prestige and fame and an inexperienced advisor (gatech) over a less prestigious school but with a guaranteed great advisor (Duke) or should I choose something in the middle (UPenn)? What matters more for a successful career in academia? Thank you in advance for your answers.