Top schools environmental engineering, already have masters?

kylemi85
Sat, 05 Jun 2010 23:20:37 +0000

That’s a fair question to ask. All three have asked me to pursue a PhD under them, actually, but I’ve already spent my undergraduate education, now and part of my graduate education there as well. The PhD option is wide-open for me at UD, no question about it, but I’d like to be on the West Coast (Stanford, UCDavis which has a good geochemistry group, UCLA…etc) or south (UTexas at Austin) for various reasons.

1.) I’d like to broaden my academic experiences

2.) Three degrees from the same institution might kill me when I look for work in academia, making it seem as though I’m afraid to venture out of my bubble

3.) I’d like to develop myself in the west coast, and do it sooner rather than later. If not on the west coast, a position at a better university would trump this point.

4.) A top school would probably benefit me career-wise, assuming I don’t end up under an associate or assistant professor. Maybe it’s a shallow reason, but it’ll boost my self confidence as well, and I feel that with a better attitude, I’ll do better research and be able to focus more intensely on my work. Academia is extremely competitive these days, and I’m worried that a degree from a school that’s not internationally known will prevent me from getting work at many universities. It’s a fear that’s constantly on my mind. Recently, 200 applicants applied for just one engineering faculty position, and I’ve heard that oftentimes, you can only find work at institutions at ranks at or below the school from which you graduated. I wouldn’t want to limit my options.

However, staying at UD is not out of the question.