funding vs. reputation of department

[fangsout]

I'm looking for opinions about my situation. My interests lie in parallel programming/computer graphics.

I have the following 3 offers:

1. UVA (TA award)

2. UNC (RA guaranteed for 1 year, the rest pending grant proposals)

3. NC State ( guaranteed RA for 4.5 years to work on massive nuclear engineering project at ORNL, and set myself up nicely for job at ORNL working in computational NE)

UVA:

pro: is 28th and has a small department with a respected group in gpu architecture and hetero-computing.

con: not highly regarded in general for CS and if I don't enjoy working in the gpu arch group, then my options are limited.

UNC:

pro: 20th and is well respected for graphics and gpu stuff, many research options, and there are lots of jobs in the Research Triangle.

con: Only guaranteed funding for 1 year

NC State:

pro: has a top 10 NE dept that I would be working closely with and is also in the RTP area. guaranteed funding for school and could focus on research from start. Could directly result in good job at ORNL.

con: wouldn't get a Nuc E degree so no NE jobs, not a pure CS focus so CS research jobs may not be impressed. I would possibly be pigeon-holing myself into HPC Nuclear Software on Supercomputers.

Sorry for the brain dump, but I'm stressing over this. Any opinions on how much weight I should give to guaranteed funding, versus department reputation? Thanks in advance.

[beanbagchairs]

I'd say UNC Chapel Hill because

- You said that there are many options for you. If you dont like a certain field/supervisor, you can easily choose another. I think this is important, at least for me.

- Their graphics group is impressive.

- I am pretty sure you can work out other funding options for next year(s) once you get there (RA, TA, fellowships, etc). Although, I am not familiar with UNC graduate funding.

I am not from your field, so my opinion may be of a somewhat lesser value.

[pepsi]

have you spoken with any professors from UNC? it might be a good idea to ask them about this. they might be able to tell you whether or not you should be concerned about funding after the first year

[frenzydude]

'pending grant proposals' seems like the standard reply due to some constraints, i don't think you will have any problems (read, the grant will suddenly stop) after the first year. so UNC for sure. funding for the first year is the most problematic, after that you are almost sure to get funded. better ask your professors though.

[fangsout]

Thank you for all of the replies. I agree. I just needed a sanity check.

[Amogh]

Thank you for all of the replies. I agree. I just needed a sanity check.

Hey fangsout, from what i gather, pending grant status could also be a placeholder meaning that come here let us see how you perform and then decide. dont worry about it simply because you might even change your advisor after going there and UNC is known to fund almost 70% of its graduate students(that includes MS students remember) and is really reputed for gpu and graphics work..