bluebunny

Hey Guys,

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ok anon1, it is time for some tough love.

I feel like you are really missing the main point about doing a PhD. I tried to emphasize this in my earlier post about RESEARCH FIT. It sounds like you are trying to make this decision based on rank, reputation, city living, family life, childhood dreams, etc. I don't understand how in this entire thread you haven't mentioned a single thing about the PIs you would work with and the work you would be doing (besides a broad field). It took you 8 posts to even mention what field you are in. Myself and many others have said the same thing over and over in this thread--the most important thing is research fit and your PI. You haven't responded at all about this very important piece.

You will be closely involved in 1 lab everyday for the next 5+ years. It is kinda funny (but true), that many people describe their relationship to their mentor like a marriage. You see them everyday for hours, argue over ideas, have to work and write together, have long meetings, bet upset with each other, etc. You will probably see your adviser (or others related to your work) for more hours a week than your fiance. How is this not your MAIN consideration?

You aren't choosing between a top 10 program and a top 100. They are all more or less the same academically, ranking, reputation, etc. Stop thinking about that stuff and start focusing on your relationship to your potential adviser and the future work you would do in each lab. Moreso than anything else, that will be the hugest part in your overall happiness at the school you pick.

Academically: UCLA or UCSD? ...Or equal?

Based on 2012 tax tables, your federal taxable income is $29k - $3,800 exemption - $5,950 standard deduction = $19,250, which gives a tax of $2,450 and a monthly net income of about $2,250.

I remember reading this thread a long time ago, habenero, and I remember thinking how some of the responses were needlessly harsh. And I think you have to remember that this isn't a popularity contest, and I think you have to ignore people who are rude to you. I do think that sometimes the posts go beyond sarcasm and bluntness (hey biogirl2012!)...totally unnecessary. No need for bullies here.

If you look at the thread you linked, you can see that other posters have experienced the same thing. ANDS! has a -20 rating on a perfectly innocuous post. I think you are perhaps being a bit sensitive, as I don't think anyone really takes the ratings very seriously. I have to physically go look at your profile to see it, and I can't remember the last time I looked at someone's profile on here.

As evidenced by the linked post, I think you are being quite sensitive.

And as to old threads being randomly up or downrated, that happens all the time. Sometimes it's someone stalking you, but at this time of year the board is also flooded with lots and lots of random people reading old threads and deciding they like or dislike posts.

I'll also note that you (at least in that post) took the attitude of telling someone who's been here a good bit longer than you that they were "going against the theme" of the message board.

Lots of the most valuable advice you'll find here are fairly blunt (and sometimes lightly sarcastic) posts when people are being told something they don't really want to hear. ANDSI in the thread you linked was one of those.

Many of the "newer" posters seem to have the idea that this board should be all about support, good vibes, and positive thoughts, whereas I'm of the opinion that it should be a place for advice, whether it's what you want to hear or not.

After I began to get single negative downvotes on random old posts ( etc). I dropped around ~10 positive votes in 1 day without posting any new information. Many of the downvotes have been on highly-rated old posts in very inactive threads. I, of course, don't mind people expressing their opinions--but I don't feel like that is the case here. Right after the linked thread ended, the negative user began voting down all of my new comments obsessively. I spoke to a mod, but they said that they were unable to do anything about it. I stopped caring, but I can't ignore it after logging in today and seeing that the user has gone so far back. I've tried hard to be a positive member of this forum, but it is impossible when a user is systematically stalking my posts. It's taking an emotional toll on me. It might be silly to want to rack up positive votes on an internet forum, but I don't care. If this kind of behavior were going on in real life, I'd be getting a restraining order.


To the rest of the awesome posters on here: thanks for everything. Best of luck in graduate school! Don't say anything to make that user upset, or they might do the same thing to you.

I was admitted to Berkeley and MIT for EECS PhD, both fully funded, and am having a tough time deciding where to go. Here is my pros and cons list:

Berkeley
1. Would-be-advisor is awesome in the field I want to go into, it is even rumored he will win nobel prize soon. His grad students have greats things to say. He has put a lot of effort in convincing me to come
2. It's in California. Sun, girls, LA a 5 hour drive away, longer if I take the pacific highway
3. It's near silicon valley (didn't get into Stanford ): and advisor has multiple businesses in area, i.e. good connections. I think I want to do something entrepreneurial after graduation
4. CON: idk if Berkeley is considered to be as cool as places like MIT, Stanford, Harvard, etc. If I ever change fields, working for awesome advisor won't carry as much weight as MIT
5. CON: Would-be-advisor is 65

MIT
1. Would-be-advisor works a lot with DARPA and lincoln labs. Research is interesting to me.
2. Cambridge/Boston is a huge college town. Lack of girls at MIT can be made up for by hanging out with people from other schools. Harvard right down mass ave.
3. I relate well with people at MIT in terms of problem solving, but i'm probably more laid back like people at berkeley
4. Majority of MIT is grad students; majority undergrad at Berkeley
5. CON: Boston is cold and ugly compared to california
6. CON: MIT is probably more stressful than berkeley


Please post anything you want. I am listening to any and all opinions

Ahh! It is a yes:) With funding! I'm beyond happy right now, liek cloud TEN happy. Best of luck to all of you there is definitely still hope!!

Well legally you are obligated to go to the school. You need to email and ask for your release and most likely they will grant it. They could go after you if you just don't show up for the first year of tuition but I highly doubt they would

I'll just add in my two cents and say that these comments are great, and that ranking don't really matter in the long run. I think that the focus should be on the research lab and research area.

Were those profs Americans? If so, they must be shallow, since rankings are a shallow indicator of a program's strengths. For example, Wisconsin has a superior program for computer architecture compared to, say, MIT, even though CS program rankings put MIT higher. Plus, graduates are judged more often by their time in the program and who they worked under, not where they went to school.

$20,000 is not a lot to you? I envy you.

I honestly don't think the price difference is big enough to base your decision on. Go where you want.

I disagree with this advice. I think it is quite selfish and one-sided to ask someone to drop everything in their life and move across the country with you. Who is to say that her boyfriend doesn't have a career that he needs to think about too? Getting your pHD isn't the most important thing in the world that outweighs everyone else's hopes and dreams. How are you both going to take care of yourselves on a graduate student's stipend? I think there are way more factors that need to be considered than just "this is my life and I'm going to do what I want and if you're not willing to change your life for me then I'm leaving you".

Anyway, now that I've ranted... I agree with the posters who mentioned that being in debt is not fun. And I also encourage you to think about this: there is a possibility that you could stay at the same school and have more 'fun' than if you go to a new school. And there is the possibility that you go to a new school and you end up being bored out of your mind and hating everyone. I know this is an exaggeration, but I 'm just giving these examples because I don't think you should be making your decision based on 'new' and 'old' and 'fun' vs. 'boring'. I think your decision should be based on your research interests, your advisor fit, and also financial and living costs. And if relationships are important to you, then of course consider your relationship as well.

Good luck!

Is the boyfriend thing holding you back? Sorry for being blunt, but that's what stuck out to me while reading your OP.
My opinion is to try the New Option, but it can be tough to leave behind a relationship that is good and working well. Is he willing to go with you? If the answer is no, then you might want to reconsider the whole relationship. He has to willing at least to consider a compromise - a LDR or moving. If his answer is a Flat No, then he doesn't seem as invested in your relationship as you are. Just my opinion.

I told my current boyfriend when we started dating that I am going to apply to a PhD and if I get in (which I did yay!) then he would either have to move with me, or we'd break up. I'm not into LDRs and I wasn't going to give up my dreams for him (or anyone). But we had a frank conversation about our options. I think you might want to have a similar direct conversation with yours.

As for the loans, if this is a MA program, then I say No, don't go into debt for it. But have you looked at scholarships/fellowships? TA or RA or GAships? Or private scholarships? If it's a PhD, which seems unlikely from the cost, then go for it, loans and all.

Incurring $80,000 debt for a journalism degree would haunt you for decades. Follow the money and make the most of your opportunities at Syracuse.

First of all, let's get a few things straight...

1. I am not looking for sympathy from anyone; especially not you!

2. My remarks about foreign students were not snide...they were simply facts! I have looked at the profiles of current Marketing PhD students at various programs, and a vast majority of the students are simply foreign. Not to mention, after seeking some advice from a Marketing professor, without me even mentioning foreign students, he even said a lot of Business Schools are electing to admit more and more foreign students because they pretty much come with their own means of financial support. That equates to less money the schools have to dish out. I was not putting foreign students down, but I was mentioning what is blatantly obvious!

Also, I, in no way, fear foreign students...what the hell is there to fear? That was just a dumbass comment from an obviously dumbass individual. Sorry! I didn't really want to go there, but you kind of brought it upon yourself!!!

Adios, Ciao, Au revoir, good bye....

Not sure if you're a troll, or ignorant. I have a feeling that you're a combination of the two. All three programs are great in CS and have their own strengths and weaknesses. Berkeley is no exception.

Lets not be misleading here. While its better to choose a university based on the faculty fit, numbers are numbers, and the fact is if you want to do academia a more prestigious department is important.
http://pages.cs.wisc.edu/~estan/alumnistatistics/top25/Alumni_matrix.html
Its not everything and advisor is more important but i really think you need to take this into account (especially if the lesser ranked program is not better in a particular area). Of course what is left out is subject area in CS. Anyone who thinks that department prestigious is entirely unimportant is kidding themselves.

I would only pick GT over Berkeley if your advisor is actually better known/regarded in your subfield. Otherwise if u actually want to do academia u might be shooting yourself in the foot.
Advisor strength/connections is paramount in getting positions. I don't know what your subfield is but you ought to make sure there isn't a strong advisor at berkeley who could advise you before making your decision...

But that's totally not how faculty search committees work. I've spoken with enough faculty from different universities, seen enough related talks on the faculty search process, and attended way more seminar talks than I care to remember to know that university prestige is a weak and shallow indicator in the faculty search process. There are way more useful indicators that those faculty search committees can and do rely on that helps them narrow down the selection process: whether the faculty candidate can contribute well to the program (e.g., grant writing experience, scholarships and grants awarded), whether the faculty candidate is a compatible fit to the program (e.g., is in a research field that can provide strong cross-department collaborations), whether the faculty can expand the program's "name brand" through publications (e.g., number of works published, news articles coverage on his/her research), whether the faculty candidate can teach (e.g., teaching and teaching assistant experience), whether the faculty candidate is a great communicator (e.g., faculty candidate interview), etc. There are so many factors that go into the faculty search committee process that to say that university prestige is one of the few major factors is very misleading. At the very most, search committees may use it to help weed out borderline cases, but it's far from being a dealbreaker, as strong and well-rounded candidates from less "name" schools will triumph over candidates who heavily rely on university namesake alone.

Additionally, it should be noted that a large number of graduate students don't just go to academia, but also go on to major Industry R&D divisions and national research labs. The latter ones definitely do not use university prestige as a factor in their hiring, and I've seen quite a few cases where those employers choose graduate student candidates from less "name" universities such as satellite state schools over the prestigious "name" schools just because the former simply had stronger academic portfolios.

I've said this many times before, and I'll say it many times again: it's not where you go to grad school, but how you spend your time there. The "name" schools have the advantage of having more resources and better connections, but it's always about opportunity spent at that school that's most important whether one goes to industry or academia. University prestige is largely a myth.

Eventually I would like to do research of some kind, whether at a university or at a government lab. I like scientific computing, computational biology, theory, and the mathematical side of computer science. UCLA: RA in theoretical AI, UCSD: RA in high performance computing, Maryland: TA but recruited by theory person, Columbia has the advantage of being an Ivy. Since before high school it has been my dream to attend an Ivy-league school. Going to Columbia would fulfill that life-long dream, although I wonder how much going to Columbia for my Master's will help me when I apply for PhD programs (will it?)

An important note is that both of those UC's are very well regarded schools. It is not as if you are choosing between Columbia and a low end school. Given that, and if the programs are at similar level, I'd do the UC's, especially with funding.

An example of the same is that I am applying to public policy and affairs schools and have got into UPenn and Columbia. I got waitlisted at UC Berkeley, which is really well ranked. If I had gotten in there with a scholarship I would have probably gone due to proximity to family, an awesome progressive town, being in Cali, and better money. But, alas, I did not:) Good luck with your decisions