ChemE PhD: Boulder or Princeton?

[TheChief]

Looking for any insight in what people think is important for success both academically and personally.

Both places are great in terms of research fit and are funded. The major differences are listed below.

Boulder:

Amazing location/fun to live

POI seems excited for me to join lab

Princeton:

Slightly better fit academically and culturally (I am strongly considering staying in academia and the department seems very tight nit.)

Closer to home plus more money.

 

I'm moving with my fiancée and family is important to us. The extra money and proximity for Princeton would make it easier to travel home. However, her job is one that greatly benefits from having local activities and her day to day would be much more exciting in Boulder.

My primary question to y'all is if you had a similar situation what school you would lean and why? I'm just looking for outside perspectives so any insight could be helpful.

[ThousandsHardships]

I'm not sure about your field, but in general, Princeton is a school that's so prestigious that going there can really be a huge advantage when it comes to finding a job in the dwindling job market for academics. Honestly, the only reasons I would ever consider turning down Princeton is if funding was an issue or if I know for some reason that it would make me absolutely miserable. In your case, it actually seems like you'd be quite happy in Princeton. You get the funding and the family and the prestige and you even seem to get the impression that it may be a better fit. I'm not sure what you mean when you say Boulder is "exciting." If you have that tightly knit group of colleagues, I'm sure you'll find places to hang out. Princeton isn't a dead place.

[DiscoTech]

16 minutes ago, ThousandsHardships said:

I'm not sure about your field, but in general, Princeton is a school that's so prestigious that going there can really be a huge advantage when it comes to finding a job in the dwindling job market for academics. Honestly, the only reasons I would ever consider turning down Princeton is if funding was an issue or if I know for some reason that it would make me absolutely miserable. In your case, it actually seems like you'd be quite happy in Princeton. You get the funding and the family and the prestige and you even seem to get the impression that it may be a better fit. I'm not sure what you mean when you say Boulder is "exciting." If you have that tightly knit group of colleagues, I'm sure you'll find places to hang out. Princeton isn't a dead place.

Big caveat. Also, there isn't a dwindling market for academics in engineering at research institutions. It is tight, but it isn't dwindling.

 

OP, your perceived ability to bring in grants will be what gets you into academia. Since no one can truly know whether you'll flourish at bringing in $, hiring committees use proxies like citation counts, etc ... It would be foolish for me to suggest that the name on the diploma doesn't matter. However, you advisor's research output will matter much more. Or your postdoc advisor's. I am unfamiliar with your field, but I have seen doofuses in photonics turn down UC Santa Barbara for Masters diploma mills like Penn because ... Ivy! Same goes for morons who chose Yale over Colorado for optics. 

Look at the research output of your advisors. Talk to your mentors at your UG institution. Princeton might even be the better choice, but the name brand should not be the deciding reason.

 

EDIT: You might find this useful regarding faculty hiring - (http://armani.usc.edu/advice/)

Edited April 13, 2017 by DiscoTech