Picking schools amidst rankings/location

[kcola]

Hi, upon looking at the rankings for grad school on USNews Report, I was disappointed to learn very few of the top/mid range schools are on the east coast- a place i'd ideally like to stay for the duration of my grad school years. I know rankings are not everything, but I'd really like to NOT have to be in the middle of the US or other coast. How can I reconcile my need to stay near home and go to a school with good programs in the area I want? Ps: Im looking in Biology (MS). What have you looked at?

[m.giugno]

Hi, upon looking at the rankings for grad school on USNews Report, I was disappointed to learn very few of the top/mid range schools are on the east coast- a place i'd ideally like to stay for the duration of my grad school years. I know rankings are not everything, but I'd really like to NOT have to be in the middle of the US or other coast. How can I reconcile my need to stay near home and go to a school with good programs in the area I want? Ps: Im looking in Biology (MS). What have you looked at?

Really?

Where did you look at?

9 out of the first 15 are on the East Coast:

http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-science-schools/biological-sciences-rankings

[cogneuroforfun]

Yeah, uh, Boston (Harvard, MIT, BC, BU, Brandeis) and NYC (Columbia, NYU, Weill Cornell, Rockefeller, Albert Einstein) alone have tons of options, not to mention Dartmouth, UConn, Yale, Penn, Penn State, Maryland, Johns Hopkins, Virginia, Duke, UNC, NC State, etc, depending how far south you'd still be happy going. As I understand it, anywhere between Virginia and Boston is a relatively easy train ride. While those are all good schools, they aren't all top notch, so that also gives you a nice range of places to apply to.

[kcola]

ok,mm maybe i should've mentioned, I;m not looking for the Harvard's or MITs.

[kcola]

oops, i did say "top tier' sorry!.

[kcola]

ok one last thing: I'm looking for MS not PhD. Why is it top schools (overhwelmingly) do not offer masters? penn, princeton, to name a few, do not offer masters in the bio sciences. why is this?? GARRRR >

[kcola]

Thanks for the replies! I guess, when i searched that same page for specifics like "molecular" it brought results many in the midwest. Will keep truckin

[Neuronista]

Hi, upon looking at the rankings for grad school on USNews Report

Hi. I wanted to ask you is there a way to get a full rankings list from US News Report (a list beyond the top 10)? I need the rankings of neuroscience PhD programs and I'm only getting the top 10.

Thank you

[eco_env]

Hi. I wanted to ask you is there a way to get a full rankings list from US News Report (a list beyond the top 10)? I need the rankings of neuroscience PhD programs and I'm only getting the top 10.

Thank you

the US news report rankings are almost useless- they are just based on reputation. look at the NRC rankings (though the data is a little old): http://www.nap.edu/rdp/

They rank 94 neuroscience programs based on research, student support, and diversity- you can look at specific data based on what's important to you, or you can use Phds.org to do it for you. you can also try searching for specifc school names on US news.