gaoqc

Alright, by popular demand, I'm gonna de-anonymize the schools: the choice is between Columbia (Ivy) and Johns Hopkins (Great School). Whereas it seems like Columbia has a better overall CS reputation, Hopkins has a better NLP reputation, especially in machine translation research. I think I'd be happy doing NLP research at either, but my research fit is better at Hopkins. However, Baltimore is definitely not my favorite place due to its smaller size, lower-quality public transit system, relative lack of cultural/social opportunities, and worse overall cultural fit for me. (And to address @rising_star, it is quite dangerous, especially the northern parts of Charles Village. I got cornered and mugged at gunpoint within my first hour there during a summer internship at Hopkins despite paying attention to my surroundings). Meanwhile, New York is my dream city, and I think Columbia's campus is much nicer, if smaller. I don't mind paying a fortune for a shoebox if the location is great, but the funding is more...precarious at Columbia, despite my fellowship. It is also difficult to get anyone at Columbia to respond to my emails stating my concerns; they said I'd be covered for 3 years, but that the latter 2 will depend on my advisor securing grants. I wanted to clarify what the precise conditions of this were so I could make an informed decision, but no one will respond to me. Hopkins has explicitly guaranteed full tuition coverage and a stipend, even after my fellowship has expired; they also always respond to me within the hour. I agree with juilletmercredi in that location will make a big difference; this is, after all, 5 years of my life. I don't want to hate it in Baltimore. However, NY is definitely expensive, and I could easily visit on weekends with the money I save by going to Hopkins. I could also live in DC and commute to Hopkins, but the apartments in DC near the MARC train station are pricey. Thank y'all for the input thus far! It is much appreciated.

Hey y'all! I'm a prospective Computer Science PhD student interested in natural language processing. I've been accepted into a certain Ivy with a great reputation in a great location, but a location which happens to be extremely expensive, as most east-coast cities are. I've also been accepted into another school (henceforth Great School) whose research interests are a bit closer to mine and with a similar--if slightly lower--level of prestige, and in a much cheaper (but also much more dangerous) location. This is a 5-year program, so I want to make sure I'll be happy where I end up. How should I decide? Ivy's location is more expensive, but it's been my dream to live in an east-coast city for a long time now and this would be my chance. Great School's location is very cheap, but very dangerous. Ivy's overall computer science reputation is better, but Great School's natural language processing reputation is better. Ivy's research interests are close to mine, and there are multiple faculty doing work I'd like to be on. Great School has research even closer to my interests, and tons of faculty doing things I'd kill to do for a living. Both schools are covering my tuition. However, I'm getting approximately the same stipend in both places, and Ivy is in a much more costly location. At the same time, however, I have lived in Great School's city for a summer and absolutely hated everything about the surrounding city, despite somewhat liking Great School's campus. Ivy's faculty seem to have a reputation for neglecting their students, despite being friendly overall; I have had to fight for their attention, but they are always great about answering my questions when they get back to me. Great School has been trying to recruit me hard and they are very accommodating toward my interests and concerns, and they seem much more interested in me as a researcher. The faculty I'd be working with at Great School are cited noticeably more than those that I would be working with at Ivy. This is essentially a decision of quality-of-life versus quality-of-work. Basically, I'm deciding between research quality/faculty compatibility and location/prestige. I know that research should be the most important thing, but Great School's location is just so antithetical to everything I want from my home city. Ivy has a wonderful reputation and a location I've been dying to get to for a long time, but I'm worried that the research experience itself may not be as smooth, despite being amazing overall regardless. Both have great alumni connections in companies I want to work for upon graduation, and it's hard to go wrong with either, really. Any input would be wonderfully and genuinely appreciated. Thanks y'all!