Where should I go to grad school?

April 15, 2008 5:26 PM

Help me choose between grad schools: I am accepted (with fellowships) to the math depts at both UC Davis and Penn State. Where do I go?

Question for a friend:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I'm a math major interested in studying fluid dynamics and numerical methods. I have received offers from two PhD programs: Penn State's math department, as well as the Graduate Group in Applied Mathematics at UC Davis. I have already visited both schools and formed some of my own feelings about that.

but . . .

I’m looking for first-hand opinions and information on any and all of the following:
-reputation of the program
-particular advisors and their respective working relationships
-what possible job and post-doc opportunities the school's network will open up for me
-anything else that doesn’t fit into these categories but you think would be helpful to know

What else am I missing? What else do you wish you had factored in to your decision?

P.S. The fellowship offers I have received from both schools are comparable given living costs, so it is not a very useful point of comparison.

posted by milqman to Education (8 answers total)

Congratulations to your friend. I'm finishing my PhD at the moment and while I knew that the city I was moving to wasn't ideal, I had no idea how much hating it would affect my academic progress. Not only was I miserable the first year I lived there, but moving to another city afterwards and then commuting led to a lot more seclusion than I had anticipated. Never a good thing for a PhD student, where it's lonely enough already. So I would urge your friend to think hard about where he/she will be living and choose the better option.
posted by meerkatty at 5:33 PM on April 15, 2008

"The most important thing I can tell you is that this decision doesn’t matter as much as you think. More precisely: it matters a lot, but the ways in which it will matter are almost entirely unpredictable, so you might as well not worry about them."

Quote from here (a blog post by a Mefite, escabeche, who I expect will weigh in here sooner or later), in response to this (a blog post by a UPenn math grad student). They get almost everything right.
posted by gleuschk at 5:40 PM on April 15, 2008

I had a choice of advisors when I entered my current Master's program and one thing I wish I had done was talked to more current students. I thought I knew what I would like in an advisor, and for the most part I was right, but now that I've been here a while I've noticed that my advisor's students tend to take quite a bit longer to graduate then they should be. It is something of a pattern and I am not the only one who has noticed it. I have since had a co-supervisor jump in and I think it is a question of experience; my advisor is just not as good at directing his students, and we tend to leave meetings more confused than when we went in.

Anyway, I strongly recommend you arrange to speak with some current students in both departments (in private, away from the advisors, or via email) and ask for their honest opinions. Any advisor should be happy to arrange this.
posted by PercussivePaul at 6:05 PM on April 15, 2008

And here, predictably, I am.

But all of what I have to say on this is in the blog post linked by gleuschk above. And the most important part of it is what he quoted. And I don't have first-hand knowledge of either of the departments you're considering. I can say that the two departments are, overall, in the same general tier of prestige -- so I would say you should throw aside all "objective" factors (since these are roughly balanced), ask yourself which department seemed more enjoyable a place to do math on your visit, and pick that one. Alternatively, if you are in a long-term relationship, let your partner pick. And as I say on the blog, keep in mind that whatever you decide is going to seem, in retrospect, like the obviously right decision.

And just in case it doesn't, work hard, do well, and apply to transfer to Wisconsin -- we're very strong in both fluid dynamics and numerical methods, and in my unbiased opinion we rate very highly on all relevant metrics!
posted by escabeche at 6:11 PM on April 15, 2008

I don't have anything to add about the particulars of the program your friend is interested in, but my boyfriend and I both went to UCD for undergrad and would be happy to answer any questions about life in Davis. Email is in profile.
posted by wuzandfuzz at 8:54 PM on April 15, 2008

Another Davis Aggie grad here. I was resistant to going at first based off of appearances, but it was an excellent school, a great community, a liberal atmosphere, and close to many wonderful parts of California.
posted by ikahime at 9:04 PM on April 15, 2008

I have no first-hand experience with either department, but here's a data point. The American Mathematical Society classifies all PhD-granting mathematics departments into groups (or tiers). You can read about that here. Well, according to the AMS, Penn State is a Group I school, and UC Davis is a Group II school. Now, I should add that both departments have excellent reputations, so going to Davis wouldn't doom you, or anything. But, if you have no specific reason to choose one department over the other, this business about ranking might be worth taking into consideration.
posted by epimorph at 10:50 PM on April 15, 2008

My boyfriend and I are both UCD alumni and Davis residents (for now); he's also about to get his master's in computer science there. While neither of us have any experience with the math department, I'd be happy to share the pros and cons of living here, and of his experience as a grad student. Feel free to contact me through MefiMail!
posted by kiripin at 3:38 PM on April 16, 2008