Rice Vs Virginia Tech

[likescience]

Hello,

I got admitted to Rice PhD engineering program and to Virginia Tech PhD engineering program. Both fully funded however, I can have much better life with rice stipend compared to VT's where I can just survive.

Here is my question, the adviser for Rice is very young he graduated in 2018 from top 5 school, he is very nice with five papers, two of them  are published in nature journal. Also, his lab is concerned with exactly the area that I desire and want to do research in. On the other hand the adviser in VT is became a full professor 3 years ago, he is not one of the nicest people you will meet but he isn't very bad. He have a very good number of citations and have running projects and he graduated from top 1 university, however I will be doing research not exactly in the area that I prefer. I want to eventually pursue a career in academia as a faculty member, Which choice have the higher chance to make this easier, the more prestigious Rice or the more experienced professor. 

 

Note: I'm an international student.

Edited February 13, 2019 by likescience

[Teaching Faculty Wannabe]

19 hours ago, likescience said:

Hello,

I got admitted to Rice PhD engineering program and to Virginia Tech PhD engineering program. Both fully funded however, I can have much better life with rice stipend compared to VT's where I can just survive.

Here is my question, the adviser for Rice is very young he graduated in 2018 from top 5 school, he is very nice with five papers, two of them  are published in nature journal. Also, his lab is concerned with exactly the area that I desire and want to do research in. On the other hand the adviser in VT is became a full professor 3 years ago, he is not one of the nicest people you will meet but he isn't very bad. He have a very good number of citations and have running projects and he graduated from top 1 university, however I will be doing research not exactly in the area that I prefer. I want to eventually pursue a career in academia as a faculty member, Which choice have the higher chance to make this easier, the more prestigious Rice or the more experienced professor. 

 

Note: I'm an international student.

Honestly, Rice seems like the better fit for you for many reasons:

1. The stipend amount seems like it is better than VT’s.

2. The professor is doing research in the area you are interested in. 

3. The professor seems nicer than the VT professor. 

I see where you are struggling with this decision. Since the Rice professor doesn’t have as much experience, it might create some struggles that you might not experience at VT. However, the most important thing about being in a PhD is finding an advisor that you like, can connect with, and supports you and it doesn’t seem like the VT will be that for you, despite them being more experienced. The Rice professor, because they are so young, might be able to relate to your situation more because they better remember going through a PhD and finding a faculty job. 

Also, in my opinion, Houston is a more interesting place to live than Blacksburg. I have visited both places multiple times, and would definitely choose Rice over VT. 

I hope this helps and good luck! 

[likescience]

1 hour ago, Moods said:

Honestly, Rice seems like the better fit for you for many reasons:

1. The stipend amount seems like it is better than VT’s.

2. The professor is doing research in the area you are interested in. 

3. The professor seems nicer than the VT professor. 

I see where you are struggling with this decision. Since the Rice professor doesn’t have as much experience, it might create some struggles that you might not experience at VT. However, the most important thing about being in a PhD is finding an advisor that you like, can connect with, and supports you and it doesn’t seem like the VT will be that for you, despite them being more experienced. The Rice professor, because they are so young, might be able to relate to your situation more because they better remember going through a PhD and finding a faculty job. 

Also, in my opinion, Houston is a more interesting place to live than Blacksburg. I have visited both places multiple times, and would definitely choose Rice over VT. 

I hope this helps and good luck! 

I see, thank you for your contribution. This year is full of headaches, stress and hard decisions lol. I just hope if I were to choose Rice, I would be able to publish enough quality papers to be competitive for faculty positions in the future.

[Anxiously Hopeful]

On 2/14/2019 at 3:16 AM, likescience said:

Hello,

I got admitted to Rice PhD engineering program and to Virginia Tech PhD engineering program. Both fully funded however, I can have much better life with rice stipend compared to VT's where I can just survive.

Here is my question, the adviser for Rice is very young he graduated in 2018 from top 5 school, he is very nice with five papers, two of them  are published in nature journal. Also, his lab is concerned with exactly the area that I desire and want to do research in. On the other hand the adviser in VT is became a full professor 3 years ago, he is not one of the nicest people you will meet but he isn't very bad. He have a very good number of citations and have running projects and he graduated from top 1 university, however I will be doing research not exactly in the area that I prefer. I want to eventually pursue a career in academia as a faculty member, Which choice have the higher chance to make this easier, the more prestigious Rice or the more experienced professor. 

 

Note: I'm an international student.

I also thought that if I work under a professor then it would be better as compared with working with an assistant professor, however, working with younger people has a lot of benefits like:

1)They can give you individual attention.

2)They are more open to new ideas and free from any bias since they are also exploring many new things in that area of study.

3)You can work with them as if they are your colleagues and not be nervous around them. 

I think Rice is definitely the place for you. 

Congratulations on the admits by the way . 

[PsyDuck90]

19 hours ago, likescience said:

I see, thank you for your contribution. This year is full of headaches, stress and hard decisions lol. I just hope if I were to choose Rice, I would be able to publish enough quality papers to be competitive for faculty positions in the future.

Actually, if he is an assistant professor then je is more likely to be more productive as he is probably working towards tenure/a promotion. Number and quality of publications is a huge factor in promotions for academia, so he has more incentive to crank out stuff than the more established professor.