JHU CMDB vs. BU BME vs. Baylor School of Med

[isruyuki]

Very confused right now. I need some suggestions on picking up the right school. JHU cell molecular developmental bio, Boston University Biomedical Engineering have already gave me offer, I am going to interview with Baylor soon and thinking that I have a high chance of getting in. JHU asked me to decide before mid-Feb,  and that's a difficult choice!!!

JHU CMDB is great. Faculty there are professional, high chance of publishing high IF papers, solid training, very prestigious program. The several things I am hesitating about it is that 1) I went into BIOE with an initial goal to perform transnational studies, and JHU CMDB seems like far away from my starting point. 2) The cohort will be very competitive, I am not sure if I can fit in. 3) Baltimore is not a very pleasant city to live in, I guess.

Baylor SOM sounds like a 'fit' for me. The good things are: 1) many labs to choose , topics ranging from clincial to pure biology. And the atmosphere there I guess is less cutthroat(?)  2) Houston is a nice place, strong research community with other institutions around, nice and cost-efficient to live in. But I guess JHU provides more serious(?) training than it?

BU BME: Very engineering, fits my background. There are several labs there working on neural imaging, which I am interested in. Boston is a great city. I spent my undergraduate years there and really love its convenience. One bad thing about it: except that several labs I would want to work in, I am actually not very interested in other labs.

I am still not sure about whether to go to industry or continue as a post-doc after phd. Post-doc may be more likely for me. I treat phd as a job and I do need work-life-balance. Please tell me what you think. Thank you!

[jill1997]

Hi, 

I'm an applicant this year and I have the three schools you mentioned in my application list.

I think you must be strong in your application package since I believe these schools are quite competitive. 

I'd like to learn your final choice and if possible, more info about your background. I think your information will help me with my application process and I will really appreciate it.