UCSF v U Chicago?

Started by pdb
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May approaches and a lurker emerges, looking for advice...i'm debating between an offer from U Chicago, an offer from Penn, and being 1st on the wait list at UCSF. interested in cancer biology, but pretty undifferentiated as far as research interest. i found individual faculty members i was excited about at all three schools, and had the best overall gut feeling when i visited U Chicago, but as time has passed since the interviews, the allure of UCSF is rising (my inner rankings *****, among other things, and talking to more profs there)....except for the fact that my girlfriend is a grad student at U Chicago with four more years to go and pretty much no option of transferring. we've been doing long distance berkeley to chicago for a year already, but four more years is a long time, and i really liked what i saw at U Chicago, if I hadn't been to UCSF/been told there was a good chance i'd get an offer (they're telling me that the person in my position on the waitlist has gotten an offer in all of the last 10 years) i think i'dve been really happy just deciding to go there, even over Penn. Any thoughts?
 
pdb said:
May approaches and a lurker emerges, looking for advice...i'm debating between an offer from U Chicago, an offer from Penn, and being 1st on the wait list at UCSF. interested in cancer biology, but pretty undifferentiated as far as research interest. i found individual faculty members i was excited about at all three schools, and had the best overall gut feeling when i visited U Chicago, but as time has passed since the interviews, the allure of UCSF is rising (my inner rankings *****, among other things, and talking to more profs there)....except for the fact that my girlfriend is a grad student at U Chicago with four more years to go and pretty much no option of transferring. we've been doing long distance berkeley to chicago for a year already, but four more years is a long time, and i really liked what i saw at U Chicago, if I hadn't been to UCSF/been told there was a good chance i'd get an offer (they're telling me that the person in my position on the waitlist has gotten an offer in all of the last 10 years) i think i'dve been really happy just deciding to go there, even over Penn. Any thoughts?
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If you're really interested in cancer I'd stay away from Chicago...Penn and UCSF are FAR superior in that field...
 
Well, to me it seems like there's a simple formula to decide this one for you.

All you have to take the difference in quality of cancer research between the two schools, multiply that by the probability of you actually going into a cancer lab, and compare that value to how much you love your girlfriend...

Seriously, though, if you're relatively undifferentiated research-interest wise, and you got a better gut feeling at U of Chicago, I don't see what would be drawing you to San Fransisco. There's a difference in rankings, sure, but it's not so big a difference that it should override your chances of being able to have an ordinary relationship with your girlfriend for the next four years... especially if you liked chicago more anyway.

Well, good luck with your choice.
 
Why not just accept the offer from Chicago, remain on the UCSF waitlist, and then weigh the choices if you get the UCSF offer? I guess to me it seems like the most important factor is how much you like your girlfriend. If she's the one, then it seems like a no-brainer to go to Chicago. In my opinion, life is too short to opt for prestige/professional training over love/happiness.
 
solitude said:
Why not just accept the offer from Chicago, remain on the UCSF waitlist, and then weigh the choices if you get the UCSF offer? I guess to me it seems like the most important factor is how much you like your girlfriend. If she's the one, then it seems like a no-brainer to go to Chicago. In my opinion, life is too short to opt for prestige/professional training over love/happiness.
Click to expand...
I like this idea, and I agree. OP, I rather doubt you'll have to worry about your options being limited by the "low" prestige of U Chicago. 😉
 
much thanks guys for input--i've been losing some sleep over this...yeah, she's absolutely the one, i would've had no hesitation at all except that we're already doing the long distance thing, so i know it's just survivable, however unpleasant. accepting chicago and waiting to see about UCSF seems like a good strategy for now, in any case....
 
imo, u of chicago is a no-brainer. sure, rankings are nice, but happiness, in my weighting, is the most important. it would be awful if you two spend 4+ years apart -- assuming your partner graduates first and moves back to you -- then figure out things really didn't work out in a day-to-day basis. if you plan on spending the rest of your life with this person, why not start now and work out the kinks while you're still young-- unless you guys like the idea of a relationship, without physically being involved in one.
 
j-weezy said:
I was being serious...looking at people who work there I found no one I wanted to work with in the cancer field

but of course, you're biased, i'm biased...
Click to expand...

Oh, I'm most definitely biased. You just made it sound like UChicago has a fledgling cancer research program, if one at all, and if that's what you meant, I couldn't disagree more. In my opinion, it's probably in higher repute than Penn or UCSF these days, but I'm biased in saying that too.🙂
 
You should go to UC so you can be with your girl.

People around here get WAY too hung up on numbers and rank.

Any R1 Institution with an MSTP program is gonna provide more than ample opportunities for you to have a great MD/PhD training experience.
 
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