Scallionboi

Great insight--helps ground things. I really appreciate you sharing your perspective. Time to schedule a 100 more meetings with various people haha. Best of luck with your choosing as well! It has been a wild year for this whole process.

After stalking this thread the whole application season, I thought I should finally join in with my own question--for those who have options, what is pushing you in a particular direction for your final decision? Is it an exceptional research fit + mentor match? Finances? Location? Course quality? Reputation of program? Not being able to visit has definitely thrown me for a loop. I thought there would be one clear choice at the end of it all, but I keep going back and forth in my mind as every option has its pros, cons, and unique stressors and pulls. Current status for reference (all PhDs): Accepted: BU Epi (4 years guaranteed funding) UW Epi (nothing guaranteed but have an RAship lined up for several years + some extra departmental money) NYU GPH Epi (5 years guaranteed funding, bit low for NYC CoL) UCSF Epi (1 year guaranteed funding) NYU Med's Vilceck Institute Epi or Pop. Health (5 years guaranteed, highest stipend I've seen from a program. Obviously balanced with living in one of the most expensive cities) Waitlisted: Brown Behavioral and Social Science Feeling crazy lucky and privileged and trying to make my decisions ASAP to not hold up other people's options. I've been running around getting people's thoughts on their own academic journeys after making a chaotic spreadsheet which lists various pros/cons.