Vanderbilt PhD vs University of Pennsylvania MS

[ff6]

My ultimate goal is a PhD but should I go by the rankings? I'm open to doing a masters before I go on to my PhD, but not so open to the priciness of the Ivy school.

 

What do you guys think?

[nesw4314]

I was in the same position as you two years ago when I had to decide between a PhD offer from Penn State and an MS offer from Cornell, both fully funded. While I was very close to choosing Penn State I went with my gut feeling and went to Cornell for my MS. I am finishing up in May and will be attending UC Berkeley for my PhD on a distinguished fellowship, a much better school than Penn State. In this MS program I have been able to enhance my credentials immensely and became very qualified to apply to top schools (I was also admitted to UCLA and UW Madison on fellowships) this time around compared to when I was applying to PhD programs straight out of undergrad. 

 

However, your situation is a bit different in that it sounds as if you would have to pay for the MS program at UPenn. Vanderbilt is an excellent school and I'd choose the PhD offer from there. The situation I was in was a bit different because 1) they were both fully funded so money wasn't an issue and 2) Penn State is crap compared to Cornell -- Vanderbilt is not crap compared to UPenn. Don't waste your money. Go to Vandy.

Edited April 3, 2013 by nesw4314

[juilletmercredi]

If you are 100% sure (or close to that) that you want to get a PhD, Vanderbilt is an excellent university and you should go there.  I'm looking at NRC rankings for the two universities in your field and they don't even seem that far apart.

[ff6]

Thank you nesw4314 and juilletmercredi. You both have made some good points, and my decision on attending Vandy is pretty much finalized!