Big school (and its opportunities) vs Smaller school (and its support)

[pgrad]

I'm currently agonizing over two excellent but pretty different choices. One is an outstandingly nice top school with a good research fit, and I assumed I would for sure go there. However I really liked my other choice during the visit and subsequent phone conversations with the faculty there, and now I can't decide.

School A:

- Top 3 school for my field.

- Really enormous program, lots of resources, lots of outside speakers and other opportunities. More faculty by tenfold, and more options if I change my mind about my subfield.

- Most probable adviser (who has been enthusiastically recruiting me) is a very good research fit for the most part although not as much in technical background. It's a fairly new professor and not well-known (professors I asked at my current university did not know her, and they know almost everyone in my subfield because it's small). Another possible downside is that she already has 10 students and might be busy, but no real complaints from her students.

- Other potential advisers are not as good a fit in some respects, but a co-adviser setup is a viable option for me because my interests span different specialties and my potential adviser above wants me to find a match I'm comfortable with.

- Despite its size, collaboration is encouraged and it seems common.

School B:

- Top 30 for my field. Definitely not as nice of a school in terms of size, facilities, etc. (Though for overall rankings, it is a prestigious, higher-ranked school.) The building/offices are mediocre in comparison, and I think I would prefer working in the environment of A in terms of offices/labs.

- For my specific subfield, it is generally considered to be one of the best (in the same league as A).

- There are 3-4 people I would consider a potential adviser, including one who is both a well-known full professor who is advising few students at the moment, and a high-energy new professor. None are quite as good a research fit as in School A, but they have stronger technical backgrounds and I feel like I would get a lot out of their expertise. They have been very aggressive in recruiting me, but it's hard to tell if this is due to sincere enthusiasm for my interests or simply because they have a weaker applicant pool.

- From the way they are recruiting me, I feel that I would be valued there, and since it is a small department, there is the possibility of standing out more. This is not to say that they are not excited to have me at school A, but I think there could be a downside to the large size there. Might be easier to collaborate since I would be in closer contact with everyone.

- They allow grad students to create/design courses (great experience for academia). I would also have the option to hire an undergrad assistant - both helpful and good mentoring experience. In general this school is more academic (my preference) and A is more industry-oriented, but they each have good placement records and reputations for both.

Funding between the two is comparable. I'm personally indifferent about the 2 locations (neither is great nor horrible).

Another consideration is my girlfriend, who has 1 more year to finish up of undergrad, and then will be joining me and probably going to grad school as well. School B is a top option for her field while A would be mediocre since it is mainly a technology school. She also would be more comfortable living in location B for certain reasons. The thing is, we aren't engaged yet, though we plan to be someday. She tells me to choose what's best for me, and she will follow me either way. I also agree that this is the responsible thing to do on my end, but I know that this will nag at me anyway, since one option is clearly worse for her.

Both choices are great and both have good placement records. There is more prestige associated with A but I don't feel that I would have worse career options if I attended B.

Which would you choose?

[fuzzylogician]

If school B is in the same league as school A for your specific subfield then that is all that matters. If you're aiming for a job in academia, then the people who will interview you for a job will be professionals in your field who will know what your degree is worth and will not be starstruck by a fancy brand name.

So, the ranking is comparable for both schools. There are good advisors at both, comparable collaboration opportunities, comparable funding, comparable locations, basically comparable everything. Department size is somewhat of a personal preference. You say you liked school B better during your visit and subsequent phone conversations with faculty there -- I say, go with school B then. Sounds like it has everything going for it that school A does, and then some.

[m84y]

I would agree with the above post! As long as the schools are in the same league I would go with School B. I had an experience where I went to my "dream school" which is a very large and well known school. I gave up a lot to go to the school...spent a lot of money and moved to a new country just to attend. It turned out to be a disaster. I ran into trouble and could not get any help. I was just a number. I am now preparing to attend a smaller school which is ranked a bit below the other school but is still in the same league. So far I have been treated 100 times better. In my opinion smaller is the way to go!!

[so47]

I also agree with fuzzylogician. Plus, you mentioned that there are 3-4 advisors at School B that you really like, and only 1 at School A. It's better to have more than one advisor that you think you could work for. Go with the gut, they both sound like they are highly ranked in your subfield, so go with B since it feels right.

*Edit- I personally wound up picking my school because the fit just felt right, and I felt like the school cared more and actually wanted me. Feeling valued is good, probably indicates they will have a vested interest in your success there.

Edited March 25, 2010 by so47