More resources vs. better fit

[monenemo]

I have been lurking around on this forum for some time now. This is my first post.

I am currently deciding between two humanities PhD programs: Program A and Program B. They both offer full-funding. Program A offers 5 years of funding, 2 of them being fellowships. Program B offers 6 years of funding, but only the first year is duty free.

Program A is in a slightly different discipline from what I am most interested in doing (the department is very interdisciplinary). And the faculty fit is not exactly perfect. I would say it's a 60% fit. The following things are the strength of Program A: a very strong reputation in my field (top 5-8), more opportunities to apply for extra grants/fellowships, a huge library collection of materials relevant to my area of interest, more professors to choose from as committee members, a much more generous summer funding package, one more year of fellowship without TA duties, and more centrally located in the sense of being closer to other powerhouses in my field (so potentially more opportunities to meet students/faculty from other strong programs in my field).

However, there are some downsides to program A: my POI is relatively young and is not tenured yet (still an assistant professor and doesn't have a track record of placing students in jobs), he will be on leave during my first year with the program (although he has stated that he will be around and will be available) and will most likely be devoting the majority of his time to research/writing, and the course offerings are not as great as program B's (to my liking). Program A is also known to have very small cohorts consisted of people working on completely different topics/areas.

Program B is in a "traditional" disciplinary department. The research interests of my POI in this department are almost identical to mine. This faculty is tenured and has been successfully helping his students to get prestigious external fellowships. He also has a track record (albeit short) of placing students in academic jobs. The course offerings in this department are more aligned with my research interests.

Downsides of program B are: my POI is the only faculty in my area of study, the reputation of this program in my specific field is weaker than program A's (approximately top 20-25 at best), less summer funding, the library materials that I need in order to do research are not as abundant at this university, and this department offers fewer opportunities to apply for extra funding for research/conference travel. Moreover, my POI at this university has 7 students (3-4 of them ABD, I think). So I would guess the amount of attention that I will receive from this POI is probably not going to be very high. But on the other hand, I will have a bigger cohort with similar interests in program B.

So basically, program A is a powerhouse in my field that has a lot more resources and program B has a great research fit. I am having a difficult time deciding which is more important in the long run. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Edited April 8, 2016 by monenemo

[rising_star]

Provided Program A has a track record as a program of placing people into the disciplinary field you're interested in, that's where I'd go. It's dicey to go to a program where there's only one POI you could work with, regardless of whether or not that person says they plan to be around. It doesn't help that Program B is a weaker program with less funding. 

That said, I wouldn't assume that just because a POI has 7 students, you wouldn't receive much attention. My advisor had more students than that and I still got all the attention I needed. I guess it depends on how much attention you want/expect...