Deciding Between School/Reputation or Supervisor/Project?

[kristine22]

Hi all, I was hoping everybody could give me a little insight on what is going into their decision making process between schools, and what factors you weigh most heavily when selecting between more than one offer of admission.

My situation right now (I am a MSc applicant) is one acceptance and one follow up interview, with moderately good chances of admission. The follow up interview is with a prestigious school (2-3 in the country, I am not in the US so it isn't Ivy League) in an incredible city to live in. The project is a little out of my desired field and the professor seems nice, and I could definitely make do with this project and do well here. The acceptance I have is for a second-tier school (8-9 ranked in the country) in an OK but not raved about city. However, this professor is extremely excited to work with me and the project is exactly in my field of interests. I can see myself becoming very passionate about this project and have a lot of experience in the field. Both project would give me good career prospects and both professors have great connections.

I suppose my question is, are you guys making your choices based on school prestige or on the potential research you will be doing? 

 

 

[TakeruK]

It depends on a lot of things, but some of it might be personal info you don't want to share, which is okay.

I think it really depends on what you want to do after your Masters degree. If you want to enter a top ranking PhD program, then I think you should go for the school/reputation. A MSc is a short program so it's about gaining credentials rather than finding a project you're passionate about. Personally, for short periods of time (e.g. 1-2 years), my motivation/drive can be fueled by short term goals and knowing that I'm on a good path to something better. So, I don't need to find a project I especially enjoy or am passionate about for a MSc degree. If you want to do a PhD outside of your own country, then the prestigious school is often the better choice. If you know there is a good path to a PhD program from the other school then that might be okay, but think about what you want to do after school is finished. If you are in Canada* and thinking about grad programs in the USA, then I especially recommend going for prestige (of either the school or the supervisor). (*A guess based on your choice of words and the time of your post, but sorry if I am wrong!)

If you want to join the workfoce after the MSc degree, then it depends on your field and what employers in your field care about. Often, employers may not really care what you actually did in grad school and they are hiring you because of your quantitative or analytical skills. In that case, I'd probably lean towards the prestige too, because you want a name brand that employers recognize as excellence. However, if you are especially interested in careers that the other school is known for, or in the area where people know a lot about that other school, then the other option could be good too.

[kristine22]

8 minutes ago, TakeruK said:

It depends on a lot of things, but some of it might be personal info you don't want to share, which is okay.

I think it really depends on what you want to do after your Masters degree. If you want to enter a top ranking PhD program, then I think you should go for the school/reputation. A MSc is a short program so it's about gaining credentials rather than finding a project you're passionate about. Personally, for short periods of time (e.g. 1-2 years), my motivation/drive can be fueled by short term goals and knowing that I'm on a good path to something better. So, I don't need to find a project I especially enjoy or am passionate about for a MSc degree. If you want to do a PhD outside of your own country, then the prestigious school is often the better choice. If you know there is a good path to a PhD program from the other school then that might be okay, but think about what you want to do after school is finished. If you are in Canada* and thinking about grad programs in the USA, then I especially recommend going for prestige (of either the school or the supervisor). (*A guess based on your choice of words and the time of your post, but sorry if I am wrong!)

If you want to join the workfoce after the MSc degree, then it depends on your field and what employers in your field care about. Often, employers may not really care what you actually did in grad school and they are hiring you because of your quantitative or analytical skills. In that case, I'd probably lean towards the prestige too, because you want a name brand that employers recognize as excellence. However, if you are especially interested in careers that the other school is known for, or in the area where people know a lot about that other school, then the other option could be good too.

Thanks for the insight. I definitely get the PhD vs workforce decision and how it might change my choices. I don't have a lot of interest in doing a PhD but that could always change, but I'd like to be working on something I'm interested in. I noticed you're in Canada as well so you're obviously familiar with McGill and Western- I believe both are very good quality schools but the ranking are do differ. 

[TakeruK]

For McGill vs Western specifically, there are a lot of other factors too, such as the main language of the city/province they're in! We were very interested in McGill for both grad school and postdocs but my partner not speaking French would make it hard for them to find work and that affected our decision too. I think both are very good schools too and you're right that traditionally, McGill tends to rank higher on many lists. But it does depend on the specific department/speciality as well. In my field, Western is well known for meteorite work while McGill has more cosmology and astrophysics (and now exoplanets too). 

Sounds like a hard choice. I'd probably base the final decision on other factors besides just reputation since those other factors matter too!

[rising_star]

If you're wanting a job in the USA, I think McGill is a better known name than Western, though of course this varies by field.

For me, I'd think about the reputation of the person I'd be working with, not just the program's reputation.