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Yeah, I'm still kinda sorta waffling on where to go to grad school.
On the one hand, there's Cornell, which is in the top ten of chemistry grad programs, with its own synchrotron, and a nanofabrication facility, and more high frequency NMR than you can shake a stick at (plus the name, and the size of the faculty). I liked the students very much, they cover full cost of school healthcare, and Ithaca is an okay place. The feel is very much like where I am now, in terms of Ithaca as a community--it's no big city, and the majority of it is Cornell the school.
On the other hand we have Carnegie Mellon, its somewhere around 50th in chemistry grad programs in the US, it's small (incoming grad classes are about 15 people for chemistry), they have several NMR and other fairly good to great equipment, and Iiked the students I met here as well. In addition, it's in Pittsburgh, which is a city with a fairly decent cultural life (not to mention the fact that Pittsburgh is home, and wow I feel myself yearning for the fjords), and lots of things to do. Also, Pittsburgh rarely gets three feet of snow at one time. Health care is not covered (although I can stay on Dad's plan until i'm 25 (4 more years, roughly)), but the cost of living is, oddly, a little lower. Or, if I really don't want to spend money, I can live at home, where rent is optional/negotiable, as are utilities, I could get away with not cooking, and laundry is not an all day affair. Also, my bed at home is bigger.
On the science side, Cornell has a great reputation, and the faculty are all very well respected. The research is full of things I could be interested in if I tried, and I liked it.
Carnegie Mellon has a pretty good reputation, their polymer chemistry is apparently really good (independent confirmation of this point would be nice), and, wow, I am so completely gone on about five professor's research projects it is ridiculous. In addition, the professor that heads the list of people I want to work with at CMU has 2 or 3 openings in his lab group next year, and he wants to know when i could start work in the summer if I want to.
I know what I want to be doing, and I know what I'm going to do, but I'm curious to know what other people think. Help or Suggestions?
On the one hand, there's Cornell, which is in the top ten of chemistry grad programs, with its own synchrotron, and a nanofabrication facility, and more high frequency NMR than you can shake a stick at (plus the name, and the size of the faculty). I liked the students very much, they cover full cost of school healthcare, and Ithaca is an okay place. The feel is very much like where I am now, in terms of Ithaca as a community--it's no big city, and the majority of it is Cornell the school.
On the other hand we have Carnegie Mellon, its somewhere around 50th in chemistry grad programs in the US, it's small (incoming grad classes are about 15 people for chemistry), they have several NMR and other fairly good to great equipment, and Iiked the students I met here as well. In addition, it's in Pittsburgh, which is a city with a fairly decent cultural life (not to mention the fact that Pittsburgh is home, and wow I feel myself yearning for the fjords), and lots of things to do. Also, Pittsburgh rarely gets three feet of snow at one time. Health care is not covered (although I can stay on Dad's plan until i'm 25 (4 more years, roughly)), but the cost of living is, oddly, a little lower. Or, if I really don't want to spend money, I can live at home, where rent is optional/negotiable, as are utilities, I could get away with not cooking, and laundry is not an all day affair. Also, my bed at home is bigger.
On the science side, Cornell has a great reputation, and the faculty are all very well respected. The research is full of things I could be interested in if I tried, and I liked it.
Carnegie Mellon has a pretty good reputation, their polymer chemistry is apparently really good (independent confirmation of this point would be nice), and, wow, I am so completely gone on about five professor's research projects it is ridiculous. In addition, the professor that heads the list of people I want to work with at CMU has 2 or 3 openings in his lab group next year, and he wants to know when i could start work in the summer if I want to.
I know what I want to be doing, and I know what I'm going to do, but I'm curious to know what other people think. Help or Suggestions?