USC Computational Biology vs. UCLA Bioinformatics PhD

[stacktrace]

Hi folks!

I was fortunate to be admitted at both with full funding. Which one do you think is better?

USC have a large program (40+ faculty, 50 phd students) and some of the best people in the field. It's one of the oldest graduate programs in computational biology in the US (20+ years). Also, they claim that their alumni are highly successful (something I tend to believe). The faculty members have great connections to other top places in the field. The program itself is only 4.5 years long, which is good, but has no lab rotations (something I don't like).

On the other hand, UCLA's program is young (3-4 years). They don't have alumni yet. The number of faculty is around 20. Yet, they received several big grants in the past years and are expanding fast. They seem to have good connections with the rest of the life science departments (which are better at UCLA compared to USC, at least according to the rankings). Also, they said that I'll need 5-6 years to finish.

I was able to pinpoint POIs at both places. UCLA has a little advantage on this though.

Since I live outside of the US, I have no chance to visit both campuses. Nor have I ever been there. I have to make a decision based only on the information I am gathering through the web. Please, let me know your opinion of both programs! Any thoughts would be VERY helpful!

Thanks in advance!

[beanbagchairs]

I'll chose USC over UCLA for reasons you have mentioned above (great programs, many PoIs, great alumni network, etc). I am pretty sure they have some kind of procedure should you want to change your advisor. Just in case if your first choice turns out to be a jerk.

Congrats on both admits!

[stacktrace]

Thank you, beanbagchairs!

I am really divided between the two programs. UCLA seems to have better overall reputation and better life sciences departments. However, USC is a leader in computational biology.

Does anyone have first hand experience with these programs?

[stacktrace]

Anybody?

[Doruk]

Hi folks!

I was fortunate to be admitted at both with full funding. Which one do you think is better?

USC have a large program (40+ faculty, 50 phd students) and some of the best people in the field. It's one of the oldest graduate programs in computational biology in the US (20+ years). Also, they claim that their alumni are highly successful (something I tend to believe). The faculty members have great connections to other top places in the field. The program itself is only 4.5 years long, which is good, but has no lab rotations (something I don't like).

On the other hand, UCLA's program is young (3-4 years). They don't have alumni yet. The number of faculty is around 20. Yet, they received several big grants in the past years and are expanding fast. They seem to have good connections with the rest of the life science departments (which are better at UCLA compared to USC, at least according to the rankings). Also, they said that I'll need 5-6 years to finish.

I was able to pinpoint POIs at both places. UCLA has a little advantage on this though.

Since I live outside of the US, I have no chance to visit both campuses. Nor have I ever been there. I have to make a decision based only on the information I am gathering through the web. Please, let me know your opinion of both programs! Any thoughts would be VERY helpful!

Thanks in advance!

I'd like to ask whether you applied to UCSD (CSE or Bioinformatics and Systems Biology), and where you ended up choosing.

[bdexicon]

I'll just leave here that I agree with everyone about USC -- I toured both campuses and USC's campus [if not the exterior] has me won over. Just curious, which one did you end up choosing? I chose USC over UCLA and BU.

[bluetubeodyssey]

I got my BS in Cybernetics at UCLA (now called Computational and Systems Biology), which was like an undergrad version of bioinformatics. One of the professors listed on the UCLA Bioinformatics faculty website was the head of the Cybernetics dept. He was a bit unorganized and eccentric, but did create a program from the ground up that was amazing in terms of exposure to leaders in all the different related fields and got us a lot of funding to have nice things, especially for undergrads. He would even ask us what else we wanted out of the program, and our opinions on the program. I think he played saxophone with a couple other students at our graduation ceremony. But you would be in Math Science and Boelter Hall all the time, which are the two ugliest and dreariest buildings on all of UCLA campus.

Then again, Westwood is much nicer than the neighborhood surrounding USC, especially with the recent tragedy there.

I'd say that if you want to go the safe route and go some place that already has a good track record for pumping out competitive alumni, go to USC. However, if you want something that is fresh, new, exciting, and perhaps a little risky, go to UCLA.

[timkartar]

Hi, I got a skype interview invitation from USC Bioinformatics. It is scheduled next week. Can anybody tell what it will be like and what are the chances of getting selected if u are invited for the interview?