Rockefeller VS. Columbia Med

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Hi! I'm pursuing a PHD in biology (probably more focused on cell biology and metabolism). I'm accepted to Rockefeller University in the Tri-I and Columbia medical school PHD program. I have about equal number of PIs who I wanna work with in both institutions. The curriculum in Columbia med is bit more strict, which doesn't bother me that much. So I'm really struggling now. 

Columbia med seems to have better reputation among lay public while Rockefeller is often unknown to people outside of biology. But even among bio ppl I heard mixed comment for Rockefeller. Some think it's comparable to Harvard and Stanford. Some barely heard of it. (Not saying that I care too much about the reputation, but I just don't get a lot of info about Rockefeller other than its own website....) 

I also have an opportunity to be a tech in Stanford and apply again next year, but I think it will just be dumb to give up on the offer. But one of my advisors actually suggests me to do this because he thinks Stanford is much better than Rockefeller, which doesn't make sense to me at all.....

Please let me know your experience if you have worked in either place. Any advice is welcomed! Thanks! 

[dopamine_machine]

I've personally heard great things about programs! Are you in the chemical biology or the computational biology TRI-I program?

I'd recommend looking at where the PI's you're interested in working under publish, as well as how much experience they have with PhD students in their labs.  Do the PhD students in their labs publish every year? If not, their median time-to-degree (TTD) may be higher.  Does your current PI know anything about any of the labs you are looking at in both programs?

I'd also pay attention to general TTD statistics for departments if it's important to you.  I know Rockefeller's curriculum is super personalized, which would be an amazing experience if their were a lot of different classes you wanted experience in.

Lastly, I'd look at the funding each of your PIs have.  Are the funding offers from both institutions comparable? Do both programs offer equally subsidized housing? I know Columbia biology programs and graduate housing are usually located in Washington Heights, which isn't always an ideal location since its pretty far North of a lot of Manhattan and isn't in the safest neighborhood.