Fellowship at a lower ranked school Vs. RA at a better ranked school

[ankelley1127]

So I've been admitted to quite a few places for a Materials Science Ph.D. and my top offers right now are from University of Wisconsin-Madison, which I went to visit and loved, and NYU, who has offered me a renewable $28K fellowship. The RA from UoW-M is ~ 20K a year, but that doesn't matter much once the cost of living in New York is taken into account. UoW-M is higher ranked in the program, and they do have a lot of good research going on, but I'm wondering if graduating as a fellow of NYU will carry more weight on a resume for future job searches than just being an average graduate from a better school.

 

I do have a few apprehensions about moving to New York as I did my undergrad at a small college town, but I do want more of a city experience for my Ph.D. I also feel like I would have a lot more options for travel and networking living in New York than Madison, although everyone there was so nice and the city has a lot going on for its size (plus it's hard to beat the craft beer scene there). Any insight or advice about this would be greatly appreciated, I have no idea which of these I will accept.

[rising_star]

You should go to the best program for your research, which sounds like UW-Madison. That it is a higher ranked program is even better. Go to Madison. Make the most of the opportunities there and you'll be fine. People have heard of UW-Madison and it has a great name, especially in scientific research.

[ankelley1127]

Thanks for the advice, I did love the town and I've been talking with some of the professors there whose research really fits with my interests. If only I could transfer the fellowship to UW-Madison, everything would be perfect. Ah well, I still have a few weeks to decide.

[juilletmercredi]

I don't think a fellowship at NYU vs. an RAship at UW matters at all.

 

It certainly won't matter in terms of work - I was an RA for my first two years and a fellow for the following 3; it made not a whit of difference in the amount of work I did. You're always going to be assisting in research, because that's the point of being a PhD student

 

But no, having a university-wide fellowship at NYU is not going to make a huge difference vs. having a research assistant position at Wisconsin - certainly not on the job market in 5-6 years.

 

So I, too, believe you should go wherever is better for your research.

 

Also. I did my PhD in New York (6 years). I think which city you prefer is going to be based upon a lot of personality factors. I enjoyed doing my PhD in NYC for the most part, but I also feel like NYC is a hard place to be a graduate student. Everything is so expensive; so everyone tells you that there is tons to do in New York, and there is - but much of it is very expensive and also you're busy all the time so you can't take advantage of it. I feel like what I would have appreciated more than overpriced bars and access to Broadway shows was a bigger apartment and a cheaper grocery bill. Really, it started wearing more on me after year 3 - years 1-2 were a lot of fun because I was just out of college and still in coursework, so I partied a lot and lived with roommates. But after that, I wanted to settle and become more serious/focused on my research, and I found myself really frustrated with the lifestyle in NYC. In my last two years my husband and I lived in a tiny studio apartment that we paid way too much for, and I wrote much of my dissertation in the room that was mostly kitchen, part office.

 

The easy access to airports is nice for conferences, but as long as you have one major airport (which Madison does) you'll be fine for that. And I didn't really take advantage of the Northeast Corridor as much as you'd think. I have family in South Jersey so I went to visit them pretty often, and it was usually nice if there was a conference in DC or Philadelphia to just hop on a cheap bus. But I didn't go for as many weekend visits or trips as you'd think, and I still haven't been to Boston. Your time is very compressed and when you do have downtime, you'll often be surprised with what you do with it (after 24 years of not really watching much TV, I started binge-watching it in year 3, because I literally just wanted the light box to do the thinking for me for once).

 

Now, I would say that my ideal living situation would be just outside a small city - probably around the size of Madison, actually. BUT I didn't feel like that when I went to graduate school - I really wanted to go to grad school in a big vibrant city. That's what I mean by it'll depend on your preferences. And, in retrospect, I am glad I got the opportunity to live in NYC for a portion of my youth - but I have no desire whatsoever to return there (to live, I mean. I go back to visit all the time and that's great!)

[EastCoasting]

I suppose the RAship will depend on your adviser, but as someone who has been an RA for the past 2 years (and also have up a 5 year fellowship for it), I don't think I've done anything different from what I would have done had I received a fellowship.

[ankelley1127]

Thanks for all of the replies, the more I think about it and talk to people, the more I am realizing I talk much more excitedly about Madison and their research than NYU. It's going to be really hard to turn down a fellowship, but from everything I heard, it doesn't really make as much of a difference in getting a job as I thought. I loved Madison when I visited it and thanks, juilletmercredi, for telling me about your experience, because I realized my personality is much more inclined towards a smaller city. I haven't accepted the offer yet as I'm waiting on two more prominent schools, but this has helped a lot.