charlesandjoy

Thank you for your analysis. The current research interest of the Upenn group is what I am interested in but I don't like the proposal the professor made for future researches. The group from UMCP covers a wide range of research topics and the advisor gives his students freedom to choose from the topic pool during their first two years. I am pretty sure I will find my real interest there. So, in terms of research interest itself, UMCP fits me better. And the possibility of changing research advisor in Upenn is slim Actually, I tend to choose UMCP right now. But....I just cannot give myself any assurance of this choice....

I got offers from both schools in doctorate program and I have been going through a hard decision process. Upenn enjoys relatively higher overall reputation while Maryland is better in Engineering and in my field. As I understand, the professor that will be my research advisor in Upenn is a little bit 'push' and lead a very small group(2 PhDs) and the professor from Maryland is very famous and of course very busy, which means he gives limited directions himself to students and require the independent research from his students. My career plan after PhD degree is to enter industry and start with a job somewhere. Which one do you think would be better choice for me?