Caltech or MIT for Systems/Computational Neuro?

[cccO_O]

Hi all, 

Thanks for reading this! I'm deciding between the Computation and Neural System PhD program at Caltech and the Brain and Cognitive Science PhD program at MIT. 

For background, I double major in Neuroscience and Cognitive Science with a minor in Applied Math and Stats in a top 10 university. Have been doing cognitive/systems/comp neuro research for 3 years. I'm interested in mechanisms of learning and decision-making, broadly defined, and also cognition in general. That's pretty broad, and I'll narrow down what I want to do once I decide on my rotations. 

Both programs seem to be pretty good research fit, but I would like to know more about what your opinions/experiences are. Particularly I'm curious about the student life at both places. 

There's also a personal bit to it: my significant other works in LA and would love to have me move to Pasadena, but he is also willing to move to Boston/Cambridge if I do decide to attend MIT (his work is flexible). But he would like us to be in California eventually. I'm not sure how this should factor into my decision process. 

Thanks in advance for any reply! 

[Zanelol]

@cccO_O

Both of these schools are pretty comparable in many fields. Sure, MIT has more name recognition if you were to speak to the masses, but Caltech is highly reputed in the technical realm. I'd look into research coming out of both Universities and then determine which interests you more. If you can't decide, I'd pick Caltech if you desire to be in California.

Being a So-Cal native and someone that will not be going to either university (heading to Stanford for an MS), I couldn't tell you exactly what the student life will be like.

However, I've talked to my friend on this topic and he's visited Caltech multiple times to attend conferences. From him, I've gleaned the following information about this university:

-They are very focused on STEM. They live and breathe it. They love the work, and they love the Math. They even have whiteboards in lounging areas for spontaneous problem-solving.

-They are passionate and care about what they do. They're willing to put in many hours because they believe it's worth it.

-They have a tendency to seem a little off sometimes due to their obsession in their fields. This is either a pro or a con depending how you look at it. I find eccentric people entertaining and more fun to be around; to each his/her own.

-They are not as "well-rounded" as the people at MIT for one reason or another (though this is on average and can vary greatly from person to person).

 

Note:

A lot of these statements can very well apply to a myriad of MIT students. I am simply relaying the information I've been told about Caltech. Being from California, I rarely come across people from MIT (in fact, never). I predominantly come across alumni from Stanford, Berkeley, UCSD, and Caltech. MIT students are also rare in Silicon Valley (placing #20 in top feeder schools    source: https://poetsandquantsforundergrads.com/2017/04/27/top-feeder-schools-silicon-valley/). All in all, you will likely work where you set your roots.

 

Cheers.

Edited March 31, 2019 by Zanelol

[AnonNeuroGrad]

I visited Boston and I think you should take into consideration that the city is pervasively academic what with Harvard next door and Boston University across the river not to mention Tufts, Northwestern, Boston College, and the numerous biotechs all in close proximity. I personally loved that atmosphere whereas I've heard that Pasadena is a bit out there. Given the choice, I'd pick MIT as the ability to go over to Harvard, BU, or the medical campuses is not to be discounted in terms of the ability to network.

[comp_neuro_guy]

I personally would choose  MIT, but thats more a function of my research interests (and those of faculty at MIT  Poggio, DiCarlo, Fiete in particular) than any other factors. What factors are you using to make your decision? Unfortunately I can't comment on the student life at either place, and I think thats probably what you were looking for in these responses. I'm not sure how many current grad students are checking this type of thread though.

Piggybacking off of your question, I am deciding between UCL Gatsby and NYU (and maybe CMU) for comp. neuro. If you (or anyone else) has heard or has any opinions about student life at any of these places, I'm all ears...

[cccO_O]

On 4/3/2019 at 10:45 PM, comp_neuro_guy said:

I personally would choose  MIT, but thats more a function of my research interests (and those of faculty at MIT  Poggio, DiCarlo, Fiete in particular) than any other factors. What factors are you using to make your decision? Unfortunately I can't comment on the student life at either place, and I think thats probably what you were looking for in these responses. I'm not sure how many current grad students are checking this type of thread though.

Piggybacking off of your question, I am deciding between UCL Gatsby and NYU (and maybe CMU) for comp. neuro. If you (or anyone else) has heard or has any opinions about student life at any of these places, I'm all ears...

I don't really have first hand experience with the student life at UCL or NYU. Both are great options: good programs, great cities. But as you probably already know, doing science in the UK would be kinda different from the US. I'm not sure how computational UCL is (only because I didn't look into/apply to any school in the UK) but I know NYU is pretty strong in terms of computational work. 

I guess the best way now for both of us is to talk to people and find out what their experiences are...

 

[AnonNeuroGrad]

 

 

On 4/3/2019 at 7:45 PM, comp_neuro_guy said:

I personally would choose  MIT, but thats more a function of my research interests (and those of faculty at MIT  Poggio, DiCarlo, Fiete in particular) than any other factors. What factors are you using to make your decision? Unfortunately I can't comment on the student life at either place, and I think thats probably what you were looking for in these responses. I'm not sure how many current grad students are checking this type of thread though.

Piggybacking off of your question, I am deciding between UCL Gatsby and NYU (and maybe CMU) for comp. neuro. If you (or anyone else) has heard or has any opinions about student life at any of these places, I'm all ears...

NYU has very strong computational work but a lot of their scientists do old school stuff and have had their time in the sun (sorta Buzsaki, Movshon, Rinzel) and I doubt Yann LeCun would have time to work with anyone. Rumor has it also that XJ Wang is leaving but I didn't tell you that. Simoncelli, Chklovskii, and Wei Ji Ma are all good options still but their research is somewhat different. It is a Swartz center though and NYC is awesome! They just hired Christine Constantinople who has some good systems ideas using automated behavior training for rats I think.

UCL is obviously excellent with leaders in both theory (Sahani, Latham, Hyvärinen, Botvinick, Pouget) and systems (Harris, Carandini, Mrsic-Flogel) and I'd rate it #1 in the world for combining these approaches. Not sure how Brexit will affect things though and being so close to DeepMind means good industry connections (and also that faculty are harder to keep).

I will once again plug CMU/Pitt's PNC program: they're planning on growing CMU's integration of neuroscience and machine learning through a new Institute of Neuroscience (headed by Barbara Shinn-Cunningham) while still maintaining the joint venture (the CNBC means effectively Pitt and CMU are combined and it's funded by a T32). The work of Byron Yu, Brent Doiron, Bard Ermentrout, and Robert Kass needs no introduction but I've heard (from a postdoc who interviewed in ML) that they are trying to double the size of their ML department which is already #1 in the world. The CMU side of things will also be hiring more neuroscientists for collaborative work and they just built a new business school for tech transfer.

Edited April 7, 2019 by HawaiiLee808