Bioinformatics- Which grad school should I choose?

[Ron chai]

Hi everyone,

I am an international student. I completed my BS in pre-med in Boston and I am on the way to the MS in Bioinformatics. Since I did not take GRE, I only applied: Georgetown University, WashU, JHU, Northeastern University and Boston University.

So far, I got accepted by Northeastern and JHU. I am still waiting for BU's offer. I do not know which school I should choose among BU, JHU and NEU. 1. John Hopkins University has better reputation, but I am kind of not willing to leave Boston because of my girlfriend. Of course, I am still considering JHU if I think it's worth. 2. BU is a good school, but BU only provides working experience with their own lab and med school. I am afraid that I would not be able to find a job after graduation without some internships. 3. NEU provides a unique "co-op" internship program (usually paid) intended to prepare for a job after graduation.

I hope I can work in biotech-pharmaceutical industries in Boston in the future. Which school will you guys advise me to choose? 

Thank you so much.

[Crucial BBQ]

The program at JHU has an option to be taken 100% online if you are interested.  The majority of the brick-and-morter courses are offered at their Montgomery County campus, which is nearish to NIH and Walter Reed.  Either way, it is an expensive school. Between Northeastern and BU, I'd go with Northeastern for the sole reason that I would not have to ride B train on the Green Line.  I did undergrad in Boston, lived in Brighton on the border with Allston.  Honestly, I would walk the distance to the C train even during winter so I would not have to ride the special hell that is the B train. 

In all seriousness if you want to do biotech in Boston you should go to a school in Boston, in my opinion.  With 80 colleges and universities in the Boston metro and 400K college students competition for jobs is intense enough as it is, you'll only make it harder by not being there in person.   

*edit to add:

What I meant by "...the majority of..." is that the entire course load including electives can be taken at the MoCo campus while only a handful of courses can be taken at the Homewood campus.  

Edited December 20, 2017 by Crucial BBQ

[ambiencr123]

Reputation is not as important as hands on project.

I would not consider online programs since you will be unable to interact with mentors and join a research project. 

Whether or not MS Bioinformatics is your terminal degree objective, you will need hands on project. I finished bioinformatics MS in DC area and I can tell you that many of my fellow classmates who did academia research project actually ended up working in industry. Where you do your internship is not as important as what you do in internship. PM me if you have additional questions.