SaraL124 said:
Oh, and does anyone here think there is a major difference between being in a lab with several other students from your cohort vs. being in a lab that accepts one student every other year (meaning you are the only one of your year in that lab)?
This may depend upon personal preference, but I would be wary of joining a lab that takes several students from one cohort. I imagine that:
1) It will be difficult to get a lot of individualized attention from your advisor if you are one among several students in your year. For example, if there are several students in the same cohort, you will all be completing your master's theses, comps, dissertation proposals, and dissertations at roughly the same time. Think about it from the advisor's perspective - that's a lot of work, just simply to schedule X # of committee meetings in one semester! Now picture yourself toward the end of your dissertation, and you're
still waiting for feedback on an earlier draft, but it's taking a while because your advisor has 3 dissertation drafts to look through! If you are the only student from your lab doing these things, you're much more likely to receive individual attention and have more flexibility.
2) You will most likely be vying for the same internship slots as other students from your lab. That is, not every internship will have faculty who represent your research interests. Coming from the same lab, you're most likely to have overlapping interests with your labmates, and will therefore gravitate to the same people/programs. It's going to be tough to get a letter from your advisor stating that you're "the best student ever" if he/she also has to write letters for other advisees applying to the same places at the same time (I actually know of this happening to some friends of mine, although they all matched at top programs!).
Regarding reputation, I don't think you should worry about either program. I am at one of the sites that Paendrag specifically mentioned above, and can vouch that Drexel has a strong reputation here. I don't know much about Kent State, but if your interests are in anxiety (which I'm guessing they are?), you'll have a very strong advisor there.
Basically, I think you have a nice choice to make. Good luck!