Hi guys
This is my first post, I have come to seek hagely advice of the gradcafe gurus!
I have been admitted to PhD programs in Materials Science and Engineering at both UMN-twin cities and UTexas-Austin. I have visitied both campuses and feel that both would be a good fit for me, I am kind of in a dilemma of choosing which one to accept. The main factors I am heavily considering are funding, prestige, advisors, location and job opportunities after graduation.
Funding:
UMN has offered me a fellowship (about 27K per year as stipend) and allows me to choose my adviosr in the first semester. Possibly I will specialize in inorgamic solar cells.
UT-Austin has offered me a RA appointment (~18K per year as stipend) with almost no freedom in choosing other adviors.
Prestige:
the ranking of the MSE program of both universities are pretty the same, yet it seems the Engineering Division of UT-Austin has a higher ranking.
As to the MSE program itself, UMN has a relatively small and elegant program and is well-funded, UTA has a huge program including many faculty in ME, CheE, Chemistry and Physics department and appears to be poorly-funded, I even need to pay dollars on my own to Fedex to have my offer pakage dilivered.
Advisors:
As I mentioned, my advisor in UMN is not decided, but probably I will join a group (5~6 grad students currently) that has more than 10 years of experience in solar cells and many good publications.
My advisor in UTA is a starting assistant professor in plasmonics and is very concerned about his students (~ 5 grad students). Yet his PhD thesis is not quite concentrated on plasmonics (only loosely related), so I think he needs to learn many stuff as well though he has many good ideas in this field.
Location:
it seems that Austin has a pleasant climate and low living expenses, and UMN is cold and closer to my friends.
Job opportunies:
I would like to seek a postion in the industry and seems UTA has a good relation with the local industry. I don't know what is it like in UMN. Anyone can provide me with some infos? I think employabitity would be the killing factor in my final decision.
Thanks in advance for your insight and advice,
Fielen Dank
