PHD in chemistry

juillet
Mon, 10 Apr 2017 22:13:39 +0000

I guess social life for a PhD student is the lab.

Depends on how much time and effort you want to put into your social life. In my doctoral program, I prioritized my social life - not over and above academics, but I definitely made the time to socialize. So my social life was far more than my lab but students in other departments and programs, sometimes other schools entirely; the atmosphere and amenities of the city I was in; the cultural activities on offer at my university; etc. I will always cherish the opportunity I had to live in NYC for 6 years and the friendships and connections I forged in the city. My husband and I try to go back and visit relatively often.

I have nothing to offer about these particular universities but I will say that going to graduate school in a large urban area like MIT is going to be very different from being in a small college town. I did my postdoc in a small college town - perhaps not as vibrant as Ann Arbor (it was State College, PA) - and I remember thinking that I couldn’t imagine living there for 6 years in my 20s. It was nice enough, probably a nice place to make a family and a home, but not the kind of social life I wanted for myself.

But I know Ann Arbor is bigger.