Bloomington vs Washington at St. Louis - Biophysics

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tdk333
Posts: 11
Joined: Mon Jan 18, 2010 4:02 am

Bloomington vs Washington at St. Louis - Biophysics

Post by tdk333 » Sat Apr 03, 2010 8:50 pm

Well, it's almost time for me to decide which university I'm going to choose, but I just can't decide since both seem equally fine.

I am interested in Math and Physics applied to biology (biophysics, biomath, biocomplexity) and the two universities I have been already been accepted in are Washington at St. Louis and Indiana Bloomington. I am still waiting on Boston, Urbana and Maryland, but I do not have very high hopes on a positive reply.

In both places there are people who work in stuff I'm interested in, and both universities are ranked more or less equally in http://graduate-school.phds.org/ and http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com so its hard to decide. It would seem Indiana is a better place because they have a "Biophysics track" and a "Biocomplexity Institute", but I'm not sure if it's just a bluff.

So if anyone has any comments, opinions or recommendations they would be appreciated.

PS.- I have not received the financial info from Indiana, supposedly they sent it via mail, but since I do not live in the USA it takes a while.

tdk333
Posts: 11
Joined: Mon Jan 18, 2010 4:02 am

Re: Bloomington vs Washington at St. Louis - Biophysics

Post by tdk333 » Thu Apr 08, 2010 10:04 pm

Just for the record. After doing some more research and asking a few professors related to the subject it would seem that the better choice is definitely Indiana Bloomington (academically speaking), since many of its professors seem to be well known in the area of biological physics and complexity:

John Glazier - Held the last chair of the Division of Biological Physics of APS and seems to be well known in the field of the dyanmics of group of cells; he's also the director of the Biocomplexity Institute (which is actually active in terms of seminars, meetings, courses, etc).

Alessandro Vesspingani - Well known for his studies of complex networks (apparently he is one of the best knows in this area next to Barabasi and Newman; he's also the director of the Center for Complex Networks and Systems Research.

There's also some research in theoretical neuroscience with a newly contracted professor John Beggs (which is pretty much the main biological physics research at the University of Washington at St. Louis).

In terms of lifestyle, Bloomington has the problem of being a small town while St. Louis is actually a city; however I really prefer a small town than a city for my PhD.

So, in conclusion, IUB is a no brainer for my case.

Hope this helps to someone else in the future.



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