Lab fit vs University Fit; Princeton chemE vs BU BME

[peachynestea12345]

I am very lucky to have options that I do, and I have narrowed it down between princeton chemical and biological engineering and boston university BME. But, I am having a very difficult time choosing which school.

One school has a better lab fit but I need to take 12 classes but it is also in the middle of nowhere (princeton). The other choice has a better overall fit being in a city, while still offering good lab options, and I need to take only 2 classes (BU).

HELP! Which one should I choose?

[leahallegra]

I would go with the overall better fit. Even if the lab isnt perfect, it clearly has you interested enough to be considering it. If you attend a school where you dont like the environment it doesnt matter how good the lab is you wont be as happy. Keep in contact and follow the work of the better fit lab-you are a PhD candidate and will be free to pursue whatever interests you for your dissertation (within reason!) but you will not have the same flexibility in trying to fit the environment to you. Right now I am in a wonderful lab but I really dislike the area my university is at and if I could do it over, I would have chosen a school that was the overall better fit for me. Im so thankful Im graduating since I was getting to the end of my rope in this location!

[ghanada]

I am very lucky to have options that I do, and I have narrowed it down between princeton chemical and biological engineering and boston university BME. But, I am having a very difficult time choosing which school.

One school has a better lab fit but I need to take 12 classes but it is also in the middle of nowhere (princeton). The other choice has a better overall fit being in a city, while still offering good lab options, and I need to take only 2 classes (BU).

HELP! Which one should I choose?

Is this a Masters or PhD? If you only need 2 classes at BU it seems like this must be a Masters? Anyways, I am doing my M.S. in a BME lab at BU right now and I have been accepted to BU for a PhD in BME this fall. If you have any specific questions about BU and the BME program let me know. I can definitely say it is a great program and highly respected. Princeton has a great name as well. I would be tempted to say that the lab fit is usually the most important factor since you will be in there everyday but I guess it depends on a Masters or PhD.

[peachynestea12345]

thanks so much for the kind responses. both programs are for a PhD. The graduate recruiter professor at BU BME said that it was possible for BU BME students to even work in labs at Harvard or MIT, but he said that he wasn't too sure about it and told us to actually find the students that got into those positions? but so far I couldn't find any more information about that.

I spoke with two professors recently and they stated exactly two opposite different things- that the lab and research fit the most important (on the basis that it will be best for career goals preparations) vs. overall happiness was most important (on also the basis that it would be best for finding a career fit for the long run). I am surprised that I can get such conflicting opinions

[peachynestea12345]

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[ghanada]

I'm assuming you were at the BU BME open house a few days ago? Did that help influence your decision? I do think it is possible to work with professors at Harvard, MIT, MGH, etc. but that they would be more like partial advisers that would probably sit on your thesis committee. In fact, a PhD in my lab at BU has a person like this on his committee. He still works directly in a BU BME lab, but occasionally meets and gets advice from this outside adviser. That is what I imagine what the recruiting professor had in mind. I wouldn't count on working directly at Harvard or MIT for the majority of your time doing the PhD at BU.

Your question about which "fit" is more important is incredibly subjective so I'm not surprised you got exactly opposite opinions. I know plenty of people who chose to live in the middle of nowhere in towns they hate in order to goto a better program with a better lab. I also know others that did the opposite and went to better quality of life cities for a lesser program. Only you can decide what is most important for you. But let's also keep in mind you are choosing between 2 top programs in their respective fields so you won't really be sacrificing anything in your future either way.

Some things you might also want to consider are what you want to do after your PhD and where you want to be? Academia vs industry. Say you want to goto industry in biotech, going to BU would be an advantage since Boston is a HUGE biotech city and all the professors at BU have lots of connections to biotech industry in Boston. If you want to stay in academia on the west coast, Princeton carries a better universal brand name that everyone knows. I personally think these factors are just as important as lab/research fit if not more important.