Help! Choosing Between 2 CJ Programs

[a little-stitious]

Hi everyone. I'm having an exceedingly hard time making my decision. I've narrowed it down to two criminology/criminal justice PhD programs that are both top 10. If you could read through my pros/cons and let me know what you think, I would really appreciate it!! 

 

East Coast School

Pros:

• In a city that I love - the east coast is where I'd prefer to end up long term
• Really liked the overall vibe/culture of the department and the current grad students. Really collaborative and supportive environment.
• Strong support for non-academic track (I'm not interested in pursuing a tenure-track professor position)
• Full funding/good stipend with low cost of living
• Cohort looks like it will be 5-7 (not really a pro or con to me but figured I'd list it)
• It's located in the heart of the city so it would be quite easy for me to become involved in more applied research settings/activism/volunteering. 

Cons:

• None of the faculty have exactly my research interests, but there are many with overlapping research areas. 
• There is no guaranteed summer funding. There are opportunities for it, but I'll have to search it out. And it doesn't seem like everyone gets it. 
• When I look through dissertation titles and current students' publications, I don't find myself as excited by them as I do with the other program. 

 

West Coast School

Pros:

• Really amazing faculty. There are two in particular whose research areas are very close to my own  interests.
• There's a research project I'm really interested in already in progress that I'd be able to join in on right off the bat. (He has told me that I could still work on it even if I don't come there, but I likely wouldn't have as much time to since I'd be involved in other projects as well)
• Higher ranked (but since they are both top 10, I've not really been using this as a deciding factor)
• Full funding/stipend + 5 guaranteed summers of funding 
• Cohort likely to be 10-12 (the program is about twice the size - which could be a pro and a con)
• Looking through past dissertation titles, there are a lot that interest me and are very similar to the types of research that I would love to do. 

Cons:

• I'm worried that my potential advisor might be close to emeritus. 
• Higher cost of living (but all the grad students seem to be able to make it work on their stipends)
• The general department culture/current grad student vibe...I didn't feel as immediate of a connection, but they've been quite helpful over email correspondence. 
• I'm not as crazy about the location. 
• The department overall definitely seems more focused on preparing their students for the academic track, but my advisor is very supportive of my interests in an applied position. 
• The opportunity is still there for me to get involved in similar applied settings, but it would be a bit more difficult logistically as the campus is not located directly in the city. 

 

Any feedback would be appreciated!! I'm trying to make my decision by the end of the week. 

[newyorkmets188]

Hi. I would go for the East Coast school. I think that your dissertation might be out of the box and you may find faculty that will want to help. Also, you might consider to have summers to yourself to work on research. And plus since that is where you want to end up, I would go there since there are more CJ opportunities on the East Coast. 

[a little-stitious]

 

21 hours ago, newyorkmets188 said:

Hi. I would go for the East Coast school. I think that your dissertation might be out of the box and you may find faculty that will want to help. Also, you might consider to have summers to yourself to work on research. And plus since that is where you want to end up, I would go there since there are more CJ opportunities on the East Coast. 

Thanks for your input! That's the school I've been leaning towards lately. My mentors from my undergraduate school have been pushing for the West Coast school because they love the program so that's been complicating things for me. I haven't wanted to let location be a big deciding factor, but I just keep thinking "if only I could pick up this school (west coast) and put it somewhere else..then it'd be great" 

[aml149]

 

4 hours ago, a little-stitious said:

That's the school I've been leaning towards lately. My mentors from my undergraduate school have been pushing for the West Coast school because they love the program so that's been complicating things for me. I haven't wanted to let location be a big deciding factor, but I just keep thinking "if only I could pick up this school (west coast) and put it somewhere else..then it'd be great" 

I was in a very similar situation. Both of my mentors graduated from the same, very well respected, CJ program and they were pushing me in that direction. I had the unfortunate duty to tell them this week that I would not be attending that school. Neither was very happy with my decision, but at the end of the day I chose what's best for me. That's what you need to do as well. Your mentors may know a lot about you, but you know yourself best. You are the expert in this situation - only YOU know what's best for you. If one school seems right, then it is. Don't doubt yourself or your intuition. Good luck!

[a little-stitious]

On 4/5/2017 at 8:04 PM, aml149 said:

 

I was in a very similar situation. Both of my mentors graduated from the same, very well respected, CJ program and they were pushing me in that direction. I had the unfortunate duty to tell them this week that I would not be attending that school. Neither was very happy with my decision, but at the end of the day I chose what's best for me. That's what you need to do as well. Your mentors may know a lot about you, but you know yourself best. You are the expert in this situation - only YOU know what's best for you. If one school seems right, then it is. Don't doubt yourself or your intuition. Good luck!

Thanks so much for saying this!! I've been telling myself similar things this past week. It always helps to hear it from someone else. I'm happy to say that I've accepted at the school my gut says is best! 

And congrats/good luck to you as well!

[aml149]

On 4/7/2017 at 9:19 AM, a little-stitious said:

I'm happy to say that I've accepted at the school my gut says is best! 

Congratulations! You will do great things, I'm sure!