Johns Hopkins Cellular/Molecular Medicine umbrella PhD Vs. WashU Neuroscience PhD

[jacksonmace]

I am studying biomedical sciences (neurodegenerative diseases), and cannot choose between WashU's Neuroscience program vs Johns Hopkins Cellular and Molecular Medicine umbrella program (I would work in the neuro department). Both of these are Ph.D. programs. WashU is only neuro, whereas the Hopkins program is an umbrella, with neurobiology as one of the sub-category specializations.

I have a long pros/cons sheet for both of these programs/schools, but I would love to add some more to the list (possibly from outer sources). If you have any anecdotes, impressions, opinions, or facts about either school/grad program - I would love to hear them. This would allow me to further my pros/cons lists of the programs while stepping outside my own mind for a minute to see what others think.

I am not easily swayed, so please do not worry about presenting a bias that may "deter me from what I want." I have been going back between the programs for 2 months now, so I am now interested in what others have to say about the graduate programs/schools. To me, there is a strong balance between both programs (one has a lab I like more while the other has an overall program structure I like more). Thus, hearing outside opinions may allow me to think 'outside the box' more.

Thank you!

[LadyWolfshadow]

I'm Biological Sciences instead of Biomed so I'm not 100% sure on the structure of those two programs, but are they rotation-based at all?  If you have to do lab rotations, which one has more labs that you think you would be a good fit for?  If you know that there are more, it may signal that you're a better overall fit for that program and the chances of landing in a sucky lab for even a few weeks goes down, but it's also a good safety net in case something happens with the PI you're really interested in.  (Great match on paper but turn out to be major personality conflicts that couldn't be figured out remotely, any unexpected leaves of absence due to personal circumstances with the pandemic, any sudden funding issues cue to COIVD-19 that result in them not being able to take students, etc.)

What's your preferences for location beyond the cost of living aspect?  I haven't been to St. Louis but I grew up in the Mid-Atlantic.  If you enjoy the idea of being able to plan to take short weekend trips somewhere, the Mid-Atlantic is great for that.  Baltimore is only a couple of hours from beaches, you can use mass transit to get to DC fairly well and it's not hard to get from Baltimore to Philly/NYC.

As far as comments on the schools themselves, some of my faculty members have either done research or taught at JHU and they only had positive things to say about the school.  I don't know much about WashU at all, so I'm not much help there.  Do either have any additional programs that you would have the option to take advantage of?  (Ex: One of mine has the option to convert to a Ph.D/MBA program or some side certifications you can do.  Even if you don't necessarily think you want them now, them being an option isn't a bad thing.)

I actually have a similar problem to the point where the programs are VERY even and there's a lab at the one that I really like and the other has a really good program structure.  I'm having to drill down REALLY far into my list of preferences to start seeing where there's differences that may be able to tip the scales one way or the other.  I'm to the point that I may have to start considering things like which one has easier access to a better array of grocery stores.