Univeristy of Washington or UC Irvine (German PhD)

[tabletop25]

I was accepted to both PhD programs and received funding for 5 years, as well as a fellowship for my first year at both universities. Any opinions welcome.

[Usmivka]

Hopefully someone with knowledge specific about the departments will respond. I can only speak to the environment, but I sure love Seattle and the UW campus. But I can also see being really turned off by Seattle's weather or prefering the city oppotunities of the greater LA area. Maybe check out the city guide for more ideas about which community would be a better fit, assuming the departments/advisors seem equivalent to you?

Edited February 28, 2013 by Usmivka

[tabletop25]

Hopefully someone with knowledge specific to the departments will respond. I can only speak to the environment, but I sure love Seattle and the UW campus. But I can also see being really turned off by Seattle's weather prefering the city oppotunities of the greater LA area. Maybe check out the city guide for more ideas about which community would be a better fit, assuming the departments/advisors seem equivalent to you?

Thanks. But yea, at this point it's mostly just dependent on the departments. Both cities look amazing--I actually am a fan of Seattle's weather ha

[ZacharyObama]

I have a friend who is in the UC-Irvine comparative literature Phd program. From what I can tell, the continuing budget catastrophe in California is having some effect on the grad student experience there in terms of things like the quality of your student health insurance. Something to consider to is the likely higher cost of living in Orange County/South LA County compared to that in Seattle. I might be biased though since I'm from SoCal and UW is likely not immune for problems. I did undergrad in Portland - the Pacific Northwest rocks.

[tabletop25]

I have a friend who is in the UC-Irvine comparative literature Phd program. From what I can tell, the continuing budget catastrophe in California is having some effect on the grad student experience there in terms of things like the quality of your student health insurance. Something to consider to is the likely higher cost of living in Orange County/South LA County compared to that in Seattle. I might be biased though since I'm from SoCal and UW is likely not immune for problems. I did undergrad in Portland - the Pacific Northwest rocks.

Thank you.