Some suggestions on how to choose the right school for you

[Eudaimonia]

For the formal-modeling-averse, I recommend checking this out as a less scientific option for weighing programs: http://www.proconlists.com/

Cool website. Bookmarking.

[Melian]

First off, you should all be really proud to be at this juncture of having a choice between programs. It doesn't get said often enough, but, you will make the right decision for yourself and will have a bright future ahead. So keep this in mind as April 15th approaches.

I can only speak about my experience so take from this what you may. I was deciding between three top programs (the names are irrelevant for this purpose), and I would have unhesitatingly accepted any one of the offers if that was all I had. I made pro/con lists and talked to my advisors and POIs fairly honestly about my choices and reservations. I visited the prospective student visits and asked quite a few of the questions outlined here. All good information gathering. I went back and forth between different rankings and placement records and gut-checks about reputation. I made potential budgets for each school based on the stipend and living expenses. I threw dart-like objects at the wall.

However, as the deadline approached, I started thinking more about the kind of research I would do at each school. Particularly, I became interested in where I would do my most creative work. As I thought about different dissertation committee combinations and exposure to research centers, I came to the conclusion that there would be very little variation in quality of training and placement between the schools (otherwise the choice would have been much easier). The criteria that would actually be significant would be what kind of possibilities would exist for my research. I valued forward-thinking, innovative, and interdisciplinary research and was convinced that one school out of the three was better positioned to offer such an environment. So that's where I went.

In the day-to-day life of graduate school, in between reading three books per week, in between countless hours of problem sets, in between mind-numbing grading, in between crippling anxiety about your impending future, in between not writing enough publishable material, in between an always growing reading list and always dwindling hours, in between living on less than minmum wage, in between seeing your college friends make three times as much, in between recognizing a very small amount of people will know (and appreciate) what you do, in between holding together a family or a relationship, in between all of this is your research motivating you to keep at it. Because if you don't, who will? And you want to be at a school that makes it easier for you to imagine the fullest possibilities of your work so that the rest is noise.

[PickMe!]

First off, you should all be really proud to be at this juncture of having a choice between programs. It doesn't get said often enough, but, you will make the right decision for yourself and will have a bright future ahead. So keep this in mind as April 15th approaches.

I can only speak about my experience so take from this what you may. I was deciding between three top programs (the names are irrelevant for this purpose), and I would have unhesitatingly accepted any one of the offers if that was all I had. I made pro/con lists and talked to my advisors and POIs fairly honestly about my choices and reservations. I visited the prospective student visits and asked quite a few of the questions outlined here. All good information gathering. I went back and forth between different rankings and placement records and gut-checks about reputation. I made potential budgets for each school based on the stipend and living expenses. I threw dart-like objects at the wall.

However, as the deadline approached, I started thinking more about the kind of research I would do at each school. Particularly, I became interested in where I would do my most creative work. As I thought about different dissertation committee combinations and exposure to research centers, I came to the conclusion that there would be very little variation in quality of training and placement between the schools (otherwise the choice would have been much easier). The criteria that would actually be significant would be what kind of possibilities would exist for my research. I valued forward-thinking, innovative, and interdisciplinary research and was convinced that one school out of the three was better positioned to offer such an environment. So that's where I went.

In the day-to-day life of graduate school, in between reading three books per week, in between countless hours of problem sets, in between mind-numbing grading, in between crippling anxiety about your impending future, in between not writing enough publishable material, in between an always growing reading list and always dwindling hours, in between living on less than minmum wage, in between seeing your college friends make three times as much, in between recognizing a very small amount of people will know (and appreciate) what you do, in between holding together a family or a relationship, in between all of this is your research motivating you to keep at it. Because if you don't, who will? And you want to be at a school that makes it easier for you to imagine the fullest possibilities of your work so that the rest is noise.

This could be the best post I've read on GradCafe. Cheers, indeed!

[amblingnymph]

At this point, this is how I'm feeling:

“But our funding package is so much bigger…”

[saltlakecity2012]

At this point, this is how I'm feeling:

“But our funding package is so much bigger…”

I know exactly what you mean.

[Jwnich1]

Yup. Normally I say too much. Going to let silence speak for me

[whirlibird]

Great thread, guys. I'm a big quality of life and quality of research potential/support person.