PHD in chemistry

Beaudreau
Sat, 08 Apr 2017 19:54:48 +0000

@iriquois - My son will be applying later this year to both Michigan and Princeton PhD programs (aerospace engineering), so I can help a little bit. First, congratulations, those are three great options!

We have never visited MIT, so I don’t know anything specific. Clearly, it’s an urban campus in a great city, so it will be quite different than Michigan or Princeton.

Princeton is in a small city. We have not yet visited, but we’ve learned a few things. The city of Princeton pretty much revolves around the University. Princeton U is right off major railroad connectors to nearby New York and Philadelphia, with a short spur that actually goes right to campus. I’m sure that there are many great student hangouts.

I got my MBA from Michigan and we visited four years ago on a college visit and last January for a graduate school visit. Ann Arbor deserves its reputation as one of the top college towns in the country. There are an enormous number of restaurants, bars, and coffee houses. Zingerman’s Deli is one of the best restaurants anywhere and has spun off six or seven other restaurants and food businesses. The university brings in top entertainment from around the world and there are other music venues and galleries around town.

Michigan is a huge university, much larger than either Princeton or MIT, with 29,000 undergraduate students and over 15,000 graduate students. As a Big Ten school, sports are huge, if that is of any interest.

Michigan does offer grad-student housing on North Campus a bus ride from Central Campus where the Chemistry Department is located. http://housing.umich.edu/grad Of course, there are many off-campus options.