How To Pick The Right School

[TheGirlWhoLived]

Everyone here knows how stressful the process of applying to graduate school is. Applying this year has gone surprisingly well, but I didn't realize how hard it would be to actually pick a program. 

 

What I want to research isn't really the norm for my field. I applied to 5 programs. In 3 of the programs, they don't really have anyone who specializes in what I'm interested in. Even though they are some of the best programs, they don't necessarily 'fit.'

 

My bigger concern is funding. I have one program that is a very good program in the field, and they have a professor who specifically focuses on what I want to research. Unfortunately, when they fund students, they stipend amount isn't great, and I'm not positive I could live off of it. On the other hand, I was offered a fellowship at another program (about 6k more a year). This program is still a good program, but it's not a top ten in the field. The professor (who I actually work with now and like to work with) has similar research interests as me, although he does not specialize in it like the other professor does. 

 

Is it worth the loss in income to go to a 'better' school? I think both programs would be a good fit for me, so it's hard when there is no 'right' answer. 

[SiSi26]

I have been told that doing a PhD is all about endurance. Meaning, you want to make sure you can actually get through the program. Many very smart people drop out for many reasons, but mainly due to funding. My first instinct is to go where the money is. After all there is a reason why they are offering you more and choosing to invest in you.
But there are some other factors besides ranking to consider.
Supervision I think is most important. I would say its probably better to go with the devil you know than the one you don't. 
What if you end up choosing the other and you don't get a long very well?
I think you should also consider the problem of 'academic incest' which others keep reminding me of. I did my undergrad at the same place I am considering for my PhD. Mostly because it is the best school and offers the best funding. But I am more skeptical about doing both grad degrees at the same place.

Also you should figure out how long it takes to complete the program on average. If it is average 6 years and you only get funding for 4 well then…thats is more precarious.

Also if you are just doing a one year Masters program, i would not worry about the money too much as long as you do not put yourself in debt.

I will have to listen to my own advice soon

[Bethdv]

I'm having similar issues with my decisions, I love this question, it's so much easier to rationalize everything from a third party perspective.

 

Okay, I think you can do two things that might help:

 

1- Negotiate for better funding. Having a better offer will give you more leverage for that and, who knows. You might get it.

 

2- Gather more info on the professor you don't know. There's google to look into their papers and projects, there are sites like ratemyprofessors.com which can shed some light on their personality. You can also e-mail their past and present students and ask questions.

 

One or both of these could tip the scale for one of the two programs. 

[jacket24]

For me, funding doesn't matter as much as others would say (as long as tuition and living expenses are covered, assuming PhD programs). I would sit down and establish some baseline acceptable value for each city based on cost of living and anticipated expenses with a little overhead for emergencies then focus on what else is important to you.

 

It may help to set up a decision matrix with set rankings and weightings for each category that you want to consider. For example (the numbers in row 2 would be weighting for each category...arbitrarily set for sake of demonstration): 

 

RANK      SCHOOL      Location      Research      Cost      Funding      Ranking      TOTAL

                                        2                 3                 1              2                 2                

    1        Program A           1                 2                 5              1                 1               17

    2        Program B           3                 1                 6              2                 2               23

    4        Program C           2                 3                 3              6                 5               38

    6        Program D           4                 5                 4              5                 6               49

    3             …                  5                 4                 1              4                 3               37

    5             …                  6                 6                 2              3                 4               46

 

Of course, this will only provide a guideline but it can be a helpful exercise to make you think about the pros/cons of each option.

 

Edit: I realize that the formatting may not display properly on mobile devices but you get the idea.

Edited February 12, 2014 by NYluie2424

[emguth]

I've been told to not even consider a PhD program if they won't fund you.

[SiSi26]

I've been told to not even consider a PhD program if they won't fund you.

Its pretty much a rejection letter yes. That is the way I understand it.

[TheGirlWhoLived]

This has been a while coming, but thanks for the replies. They are PhD programs, and they are all funded. Some just offer better funding than others. 

 

I have another question, which I actually haven't seen come up (although it probably has). What about productivity and networking? 

 

Clearly, some schools are more productive, and at some schools, the students network better than others. If you had to choose, would you rather be publishing at an average rate but really well networked or publishing at a very high rate but not well networked?