Chemistry Ph.D: Where should I go?

[SafeSealReagiergefabe]

Hello everyone!

 

My bachelor's and master's are in Chemical Engineering. My research interest is in the development of theranostic agent.

Although I'm still waiting for an announcement from a couple of universities, fortunately I was accepted for several universities presented below.

 

Carnegie Mellon University (Chemistry Ph.D.  Program, Chemistry graduate Rank #40)

UC Santa Barbara (Chemistry Ph.D.  Program, Chemistry graduate Rank #33)

Purdue University (Chemistry Ph.D.  Program, Chemistry graduate Rank #23)

University of Washington (Molecular Engineering Ph.D.  Program, no rank since it is an interdisciplinary program)

 

I have talked to a professor at CMU who really wants me to join his lab. And I also like to join his lab since his research area perfectly matches with my previous research and my interest.

However, problem is that CMU is not that prestigious school in the Chemistry field.

 

Has anyone experienced this kind of dilemma? Which school would you choose if you are in my situation?

Any comment would be greatly appreciated!!

Thank you for your help in advance.

 

[Teaching Faculty Wannabe]

2 hours ago, SafeSealReagiergefabe said:

Hello everyone!

 

My bachelor's and master's are in Chemical Engineering. My research interest is in the development of theranostic agent.

Although I'm still waiting for an announcement from a couple of universities, fortunately I was accepted for several universities presented below.

 

Carnegie Mellon University (Chemistry Ph.D.  Program, Chemistry graduate Rank #40)

UC Santa Barbara (Chemistry Ph.D.  Program, Chemistry graduate Rank #33)

Purdue University (Chemistry Ph.D.  Program, Chemistry graduate Rank #23)

University of Washington (Molecular Engineering Ph.D.  Program, no rank since it is an interdisciplinary program)

 

I have talked to a professor at CMU who really wants me to join his lab. And I also like to join his lab since his research area perfectly matches with my previous research and my interest.

However, problem is that CMU is not that prestigious school in the Chemistry field.

 

Has anyone experienced this kind of dilemma? Which school would you choose if you are in my situation?

Any comment would be greatly appreciated!!

Thank you for your help in advance.

 

Honestly, rank is not that important compared to other things when choosing a grad school to do your PhD at. When choosing, I think you want to look at these things:

1. The location of the school:

• How easy is it to travel to and from the place? Since you will be traveling for conferences as well as to possibly see your family, you want to make sure there is an airport close by.
• The weather. Is the weather there extremely cold or extremely hot? Will you be fine with these extremes or could they be deal breakers?
• Are there things to do in the area around the university, such as museum, national or state parks, cafes, good restaurants, nice bookstores, etc? Look at your hobbies and see if you can correlate them with the location.
• How much is rent in this location?

2. The program:

• What are the requirements of the degree, such as the classes you need to take, qualifiers, general exams, publishing requirements, TAing? Compare each of the programs to one another.
• How collaborative is the research for this program? Do you want it to be collaborative?
• Does it have lab rotations? Lab rotations can be good and bad. Good in the sense that you have time to choose your advisor, but bad in the sense that you might not be able to switch your advisor if you end up not liking them. If you already have an advisor when you enter the program, you get a head start on research and might have an easier time switching an advisor if you end up not working well with them.
• Is their a big focus on the research you are interested? (AKA are there multiple professors doing research that you might want to learn about or be a part of)
• Is there a lot of outreach?
• Do they provide assistance when it comes to grant writing, looking for internships, traveling to conferences, and helping search for jobs after graduating?
• How much funding are they giving you? Are they covering your tuition, fees, and student insurance while also giving you a stipend?

3. The university:

• Do you like the feel of the university?
• Does the university have a lot of different events you can attend? Do they have a lot of talks and seminars?
• Are their clubs and organizations at the university you may like to join?

I am only applying to grad school,  so I have not had to decide yet, but these are the things I plan on looking at when I have to make a decision. I just kind of wanted to point out that deciding on where to go is so much more than the rank of the university. You really want to make sure you have a supportive mentor and like the place that you are going. I hope this helps! Good luck!

[PartyEngineer]

Hey! Congrats on all the offers. Honestly I would not focus on the rankings. The most important thing is the fit with the professor and if you have a great one at CMU I think you should go for it! Also CMU is a great engineering school so I am actually a little surprised to see it’s ranking in Chemistry. To me out of all the schools you got in, this sounds the most impressive but I am also a ChemE hahaha  

Also I would strongly consider UCSB if you have a good fit with the professor there cause as the above poster said the location and the weather could be pretty impactful on your quality of life. Irrelevant but I know a guy who rejected Princeton to go to UCSB for ChemE.