Does anybody know anything about this grad school?

[Kitkat]

One of the schools that I am looking at is the Richard Guilder Graduate school, that is at the American Museum of Natural History .... its different from your normal grad school, but seems interesting. Its accredited and everything, and a good portion of the staff teaching there also teach at places like Columbia University in the grad school there. I was wondering if anyone goes there, knows someone who goes/went there at all, or heard anything at all about it.

http://rggs.amnh.org/

Edited February 7, 2011 by Kitkat

[waddle]

I hear it's pretty good. My hunch is it should be nice if paleontology is your thing, but keep in mind it's very new and as such doesn't have the established track record of a lot of other Earth history programs.

[Kitkat]

I hear it's pretty good. My hunch is it should be nice if paleontology is your thing, but keep in mind it's very new and as such doesn't have the established track record of a lot of other Earth history programs.

Yeah, the track record is what I am wondering about, but I am also thinking if the PI that you end up working for, and the work that you have done might be more important getting a job or postdoc after you graduate. Or does the reputation of the school/program that you attend really matter as much as those factors?

[waddle]

I'd imagine the work that you do during your Ph.D. studies (and who you work for, of course) is most important to landing a job. But your productivity depends on the resources available to you--the bigger the program, the greater the financial resources, and the better the facilities, the easier your research will be. So it does pay to go to (e.g.) Columbia as opposed to (e.g.) Utah, all other things (advisor, funding, etc.) being equal.

[inca2011]

They have really good facilities, collections, and I hear they have really good money. I'm not sure how they fare academically or how they will fare in terms of placement (I don't think they've graduated anyone yet). If someone there does something you're really specifically interested in, or you already know specifically what you'd like to do if you go there, I'd say it's worth applying. Otherwise, I'd guess a University is a better bet. I applied and the whole process was kind of annoying (awkward website, discrepancies between their stated GRE number and their actual GRE number, difficulty contacting people about application), much smoother and straightforward with a normal department at a University.

[Kitkat]

They have really good facilities, collections, and I hear they have really good money. I'm not sure how they fare academically or how they will fare in terms of placement (I don't think they've graduated anyone yet). If someone there does something you're really specifically interested in, or you already know specifically what you'd like to do if you go there, I'd say it's worth applying. Otherwise, I'd guess a University is a better bet. I applied and the whole process was kind of annoying (awkward website, discrepancies between their stated GRE number and their actual GRE number, difficulty contacting people about application), much smoother and straightforward with a normal department at a University.

Academically, I am assuming they are on par with Columbia, otherwise I doubt that they would send students over there to work, despite the good collections and all. Placement is what worries me. As for awkward website and the whole application being annoying, I'm sorry. Thats not always a good sign, but it might just be that this is still a new process for them (not a great excuse for them I know), but I have also heard that complaint for other more traditional schools as well, both good and bad. I mean, I find going through the UT - Austin website to be much more awkward then this one, although yes, it is annoying here at some points as well. Did you not have as much of a problem at the other schools that you applied to?

Part of what I am wondering here is if it is worthwhile to apply here as well as Columbia, if the people I want to work with would be my adviser either way? There would be a difference somewhat in resources, and time scale on when getting a degree finished, but not much else as far as I can tell. Probably access to certain resources would be better at one then the other depending which one a person ends up at.

[inca2011]

Academically, I am assuming they are on par with Columbia, otherwise I doubt that they would send students over there to work, despite the good collections and all. Placement is what worries me. As for awkward website and the whole application being annoying, I'm sorry. Thats not always a good sign, but it might just be that this is still a new process for them (not a great excuse for them I know), but I have also heard that complaint for other more traditional schools as well, both good and bad. I mean, I find going through the UT - Austin website to be much more awkward then this one, although yes, it is annoying here at some points as well. Did you not have as much of a problem at the other schools that you applied to?

Part of what I am wondering here is if it is worthwhile to apply here as well as Columbia, if the people I want to work with would be my adviser either way? There would be a difference somewhat in resources, and time scale on when getting a degree finished, but not much else as far as I can tell. Probably access to certain resources would be better at one then the other depending which one a person ends up at.

I didn't have any problems with any of the other schools I applied to, just RGGS (or perhaps they were so minor compared to the RGGS that I have discounted them). I could only reach them intermittently and they were not very helpful, but you have to ask them to delete files so you can reupload if you want to change something or made a mistake. You can't upload anything until you submit your application and pay.

Never underestimate the importance of collections, though, which are important on their own and are the most important resource for many researchers, and don't think they are equivalent to academics. A great collection is a result of hundreds of years of work by dedicated curators, not necessarily a reflection of the faculty there at any given time. If your research will be really collection heavy, it might be worth it to apply to the museum separately, or if you want to expand your chances of working at the same place/with the same people. Admissions are low enough everywhere that every little extra chance is worth it if you can afford to get it. Is there anything in particular (other than particular faculty) at one place or the other that you are really interested in?

You might want to check to see if they graduate anyone this year and see if you can find their placement. I know that people who have done research there as doctoral students get good placements but they have gotten their degrees through other institutions.

[Kitkat]

I didn't have any problems with any of the other schools I applied to, just RGGS (or perhaps they were so minor compared to the RGGS that I have discounted them). I could only reach them intermittently and they were not very helpful, but you have to ask them to delete files so you can reupload if you want to change something or made a mistake. You can't upload anything until you submit your application and pay.

Never underestimate the importance of collections, though, which are important on their own and are the most important resource for many researchers, and don't think they are equivalent to academics. A great collection is a result of hundreds of years of work by dedicated curators, not necessarily a reflection of the faculty there at any given time. If your research will be really collection heavy, it might be worth it to apply to the museum separately, or if you want to expand your chances of working at the same place/with the same people. Admissions are low enough everywhere that every little extra chance is worth it if you can afford to get it. Is there anything in particular (other than particular faculty) at one place or the other that you are really interested in?

You might want to check to see if they graduate anyone this year and see if you can find their placement. I know that people who have done research there as doctoral students get good placements but they have gotten their degrees through other institutions.

At RGGS they have more funding options for their students, and more options for assistantships for what I want to go into. There is also better access to the collections that they have, and I think what I would be going into would be more collection heavy. There would also probably be less travel time involved with going there rather then Columbia(going back and forth from there to RGGS the first couple of years). Also I know that RGGS says that they try to graduate students within 4, maybe 5 years, which is faster then what Columbia says. I know that every student and thesis is the same, but I still like the idea in my head. But Columbia has more fincial resources independent of the department that I would have acess to. But less in respect to assistanships and the like that I would want. But Columbia has more influence as an already established program, as well as having some of the same faculity. But the chances are that I will talk to the POIs that I am looking at to see if it is worth while to apply to both, considering the fact that then they will be looking at me twice if I do.