Location vs prestige

[larry burns]

l

[WhoaNonstop]

So I am basically deciding between the Astronomy programs at Maryland vs Arizona to submit my last grad application, since I've already submitted enough apps that have costed me alot. I'm interested in computational astrophysics, not instrumentation or observation at all. Arizona is obviously highly-ranked in astro, but I don't like the location at all. Theres about 1-2 profs I'd like to work with, and I already emailed one of them to find that out that he plans to have an opening in his research group. He also has produced alot of publications in the past few years

For Maryland, the location is much better, and theres 2-3 profs I'd like to work with, but its ranked pretty low since those profs have produced far fewer publications than the prof I mentioned earlier.

Since I wasn't sure between Astro vs Physics, I've only applied to Texas Austin and Washington so far for Astro.

Which school do you guys think I should apply to?

Maryland is a better location? I took Maryland off of my list because of the location!

-Riley

[Astro-K]

Tucson is actually an awesome city, and the program there is phenomenal. However, I know that they specialize in observation and instrumentation (the two things I'm interested in)--not sure how their computational work is.

[larry burns]

.

[t2kburl]

Maryland is a better location? I took Maryland off of my list because of the location!

-Riley

Same here. I've been to both cities several times, and lived in AZ for years (its a dry heat!). The DC area is awful! Most of MD is great but not around DC! eeewww!

I suppose it depends on your preferences though.

In general, I would say that location should be a very important consideration in your applications. You don't want to put yourself somewhere that you won't be comfortable living for the next few years.

[WhoaNonstop]

Honestly, I equivalently looked at location and research at schools. I don't care how interesting the research is for me if I hate my life doing the research. =)

-Riley

[vesperlynd]

..

[YodaT]

Would you really trade a better career for 4-5 years of schooling at an ideal geographical location? You're there to get the best possible research... not to go on vacation. I grew up in Arizona in a trailer park with little AC... its heat is overrated.

On second thought, AZ is the wild west... they're shooting up politicians and judges. (too soon?).

[HappyQuark]

On second thought, AZ is the wild west... they're shooting up politicians and judges. (too soon?).

Yes, much too soon.

[WhoaNonstop]

Would you really trade a better career for 4-5 years of schooling at an ideal geographical location?

Depends where your priorities are. Honestly, if trading some of the better years of your life for solitude sounds like a good plan in advancing your career, then by all means go to the best school possible. However, I still feel there are plenty of top schools with a nice geographical location. If location truly doesn't matter to you, I highly suggest applying to all the top programs in the mid west, because it seems that nobody wants to go to school there, so scores are lower.

-Riley

[t2kburl]

I just looked over the weighted ranking formula that I made to compare schools when (if) the time comes that I get to pick one from my list. The heaviest weighting factor I used was for my interest in the research work. Second was location and US News ranking was like 5th or so.

After a removing factors which were only related to the application (irrelevant now), NMT is #1 on my list!

Somehow, though, (for engineering programs) Colorado State is below UW, and I think I'd choose CSU, if they'll have me. Stupid formula