UW vs. Cornell (BME/BioE)

[budgie]

I'm having such a difficult time deciding between two schools, my gut tells me Cornell and they have the research I want to do, but I worry that not choosing the school with the higher ranking will affect my trajectory into academia and I also worry that I would regret not living in an awesome city like Seattle.  Here are the facts:

UW

- ranked very highly in BioE; 6th in the nation (out of 75 ranked schools)

- good research fit

- would likely work in large lab with well-known PI

- established department

- higher cost of living

- stipend is ~$5k less than Cornell's..

- Seattle is an amazing city

- class size of ~30 PhD students

- very good departmental organization and opportunities to earn dual degrees and/or certifications (very cool!)

Cornell
- ranked highly in BME; 20th in the nation (out of 75 ranked schools)

- near-perfect research fit

- would likely work in small lab with well-known PI

- new department (created 2004)

- lower cost of living
- really nice stipend

- Ithaca is a cute town

- class size of ~10 PhD students

- most NSF fellowships awarded this year of all BME programs (7 out of 15 first years were awarded! Pretty impressive.)

 

 

In terms of entering into academia post-PhD, do you think program rank even matters if my advisor would be someone well-known in the field? Is the rank difference even significant between 6th and 20th out of 75? 

 

Any advice will gladly be heard, thanks!

[tarrman]

Both program rank and advisor reputation matter when applying for a job in academia. The first thing departments ask when hiring new profs is where are you from, and who was your advisor?

 

I'd say the ranking difference is slightly significant, but you shouldn't let it dissuade you from Cornell if you're more interested in attending there. You can definitely overcome lower program rank (in your case it isn't that different) by doing high-quality research and/or having a very well-known advisor. Another thing to keep in mind is that some schools receive lower rankings simply because the department is much smaller in comparison to other schools (which seems to be the case for Cornell). I think you should take the Cornell offer; it sounds like you'd be much happier there. My only concern is that it might be hard to make friends with only a ~10 student incoming class.

 

You could always contact the department/POI and ask what the placement in academia is.

[pumpkinspiced latte]

This is so similar to my dilemma in terms of choosing a school, although I'm inclined towards industry. With the points being almost identical, my gut feeling tells me the "UW", but I'm afraid that I'll miss out by not going to "Cornell" - after all "Cornell" has a better overall institution reputation...

[budgie]

This is so similar to my dilemma in terms of choosing a school, although I'm inclined towards industry. With the points being almost identical, my gut feeling tells me the "UW", but I'm afraid that I'll miss out by not going to "Cornell" - after all "Cornell" has a better overall institution reputation...

 

If you're trying to go into industry, UW is in a much better location for networking. Cornell is an amazing school, but it's location makes it very isolated. I ended up going with my gut on this decision, and I trust that I've made the right choice. I think that if your gut says UW, do UW. Good luck in your decision!

[NanoTech]

Cornell.

[budgie]

Thanks for the advice everybody! I think I knew all along that I would end up at Cornell somewhere deep in me, but I needed the nudge, so thanks for helping me take that step!!  

 

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