risingsun11801

I know what you mean. My boyfriend and I both applied to 12 programs each. We both had 4 interviews, and I've had two acceptances so far and he's gotten 1 so far. (BTW, how long after your interviews did you get rejected? This month of waiting is driving me insane!) After spending so much time and energy and money on applications, I'd hoped to be in a better place than I am now, with more options. It might be because we have both been out of school for 6 yrs+ and adcoms are looking for 22 year old superstars. Who knows. Everyone says that you only need one acceptance, but we are trying to plan a life around this decision and have a lot to think about. It would be nice to have more options available at the moment.

Be sure to ask questions about what it would be like to join the lab, not just rotate there. How many students have they graduated and where are they now? How would they describe their mentoring style- sink or swim? Keeps a close eye on students?
Keep in mind also- the most important source of information about potential labs is current students!

After graduation I started an academic lab job away from home, but hated being there and became so depressed that I quit after 3 months. A few months later, I started working as a contract hire for a phameceutical company, then moved on to an industry job. I finally got another academic job 1.5 years after I quit the first one. I worked there for a few years, then money ran out and I started working another academic job for 9 months before I applied to grad school (stayed for 1.5 years total).
My boyfriend (I didn't know him at the time) worked a lab job right out of college but his PI left the country so he had to get a retail job. After that, he landed a job in industry in his hometown and had to stay there and help his mother/brothers after a nasty divorce. Six years later the house was paid off so he applied to graduate school. I should also mention that the year before he aplied he started volunteering at a local academic lab on his days off.

My point is, if you need to go be with your family, then do so. My dad died my senior year of high school and at the time I wanted to spend a lot more time with his side of my family. Do what is best for you right now- don't stay miserable because of your career. You can find a way back like my boyfriend and I both did. We have both begun a biomedical PhD program in a place we are happy to be. If you have to take more time off than you planned, it will be okay, as long as you keep working on a plan to get back on track. I had a low GPA in undergrad, so I needed a lot more lab experience before applying. My boyfriend had a solid GPA from a good school, so he didn't need as much academic lab experience as me. What's important is to stay up-to-date on your area of interest. Read free articles online, or buy an advanced textbook. I hated my contract job, but I used the company's journal access to read Science and Nature every week to kep up with where things were headed. My boyfriend used a technique at his job in the easiest way possible, but he got an advanced text and read all that he could. When you do apply, admissions committees will be able to tell that you've stayed interested in furthering your education but had some derailments you had to work through.

I personally would not recommend this for grad students. East of High Street is undergrad central with partying, frats, and is a less safe neighborhood in general. If you want to live close enough to walk/bike, stay west of High Street south of campus.

I also applied to Neuroscience programs, but not any of these ones, so I can only comment on the reasons you listed. No guaranteed funding at UT Austin would be a red flag for me. 15K compared to 29K at Houston?? I have undergrad student loan debt and would not want to scrape by for 5 years or have to take out more loans. Another thing that I noticed was you only mentioned one POI at each school- don't these schools have rotations? Ideally there would be at least 3 POIs at each school that seem interesting enough to work with. The mentoring ability of an advisor is far more important than their research area when it comes to grad school. Furthermore, some PIs might be good postdoc mentors but not student mentors. (My current lab does pretty well with grad students but postdocs end up foundering.)

I would suggest UT Houston because I know it's a nice city, there is a ton of research being conducted in the medical complex and opportunities to meet all kinds of people (there are more likely regional meetings for networking compared to SC), the stipend is generous. But, I would make sure there are multiple labs taking students that you would be interested in joining there.

Does your decision have anything to do with being in a long-term relationship? You mentioned your partner did not get into school there- did she get in somewhere else? If so, that should be mentioned as a factor. If you apply again next year, will you have anything substantial to add to your application from the past year? Will you have better letters of recommendation? I wouldn't be worried about having your career pigeon-holed by the type of research you do during your PhD. A postdoc would be where the research subject matters more, as you will be developing your own line of research to extend into your career. However, you mentioned wanting to go into industry. As long as you are learning useful techniques, have a good mentor, developing teamwork and communication skills...you should be fine. If your objections with the school have to do with finances or how students are treated, ect., then I would think about the decision much more thoroughly. You also mentioned that students are graduating with one paper in a top journal- you do realize that these journals require much more effort, and 1 paper would equal 2 or 3 lower-impact papers. One new faculty member here only had 1 paper from his 5 year postdoc, but it was a Nature paper.

TLDR; Your cons don't really sound like reasonable cons, unless there is a LDR decision involved. Go.

Does your decision have anything to do with being in a long-term relationship? You mentioned your partner did not get into school there- did she get in somewhere else? If so, that should be mentioned as a factor. If you apply again next year, will you have anything substantial to add to your application from the past year? Will you have better letters of recommendation? I wouldn't be worried about having your career pigeon-holed by the type of research you do during your PhD. A postdoc would be where the research subject matters more, as you will be developing your own line of research to extend into your career. However, you mentioned wanting to go into industry. As long as you are learning useful techniques, have a good mentor, developing teamwork and communication skills...you should be fine. If your objections with the school have to do with finances or how students are treated, ect., then I would think about the decision much more thoroughly. You also mentioned that students are graduating with one paper in a top journal- you do realize that these journals require much more effort, and 1 paper would equal 2 or 3 lower-impact papers. One new faculty member here only had 1 paper from his 5 year postdoc, but it was a Nature paper.

TLDR; Your cons don't really sound like reasonable cons, unless there is a LDR decision involved. Go.

I know what you mean. My boyfriend and I both applied to 12 programs each. We both had 4 interviews, and I've had two acceptances so far and he's gotten 1 so far. (BTW, how long after your interviews did you get rejected? This month of waiting is driving me insane!) After spending so much time and energy and money on applications, I'd hoped to be in a better place than I am now, with more options. It might be because we have both been out of school for 6 yrs+ and adcoms are looking for 22 year old superstars. Who knows. Everyone says that you only need one acceptance, but we are trying to plan a life around this decision and have a lot to think about. It would be nice to have more options available at the moment.