I was just reading through Slowman's "worst cities for training" thread looking for some clues as to which cities not to move to as I decide which phd program I will attend over the course of the next 8 days. Obviously, faculty, research, program ranking all play a very large part. So, I'll list pro's & con's for each location and ask that if you have feedback regarding the location and/or choosing a grad program and the value of considering location vs. faculty and rankings, it's much appreciated:
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- Case Western in Cleveland
- Pro: facilitative environment with relatively large faculty and grad student body. long meandering park for running right off campus.
- Con: winters. not so great cycling. program seems to be in transition - not quite as rigorous as I'd like based off of pubs and placements, but with so many students, this feels like I'm over-generalizing. no sig. other.
- Virginia Tech in Blacksburg
- Pro: have lived here since August for a research position. Cycling is incredibly good: HC, cat 1, cat 2 climbs abound. little traffic. can ride year round. good sized group of pro, former pro, cat 1 cyclists in the area, but no real similar level triathletes. I have a group of former D1 swimmers to swim with and the running trails are really top notch - huge park with 50+ miles of trails 5min from campus. Program brought in 3 superstar faculty members who publish in top journals and they're dedicated to working with me. Sig. other has also been accepted here.
- Con: program is going through a transition and making a big move to claw up the rankings with these 3 new faculty members, so I'm confident I could publish well, but would not benefit from name recognition of the school. Small town feel, so kind of isolated and with no really serious triathletes (some college kids, but I'm 12 years older), making good friends (who aren't saddled with kids) has been challenging.
- Minnesota - Minneapolis
- Pro: program was ranked #1 for pubs last year. impressive faculty. nice quant focus (only program to require not only multivariate stats, but also econometrics and psychometrics). nice in the summer. city always ranked high for running cities and trails. Sig. other accepted here.
- Con: winters.
- Claremont Graduate University in Claremont, CA
- Pro: great weather. at the base of Mt Baldy (I love to climb). amazing running trails. 4+ competitive outdoor pools on campus. Could work with Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and other U of Chicago transplants, a lab dedicated specifically to my area of research with top journal pubs.
- Con: not super quant/analytic focused. that lab emphasizes qualitative work. Mihaly has gone to Claremont to actively retire. LA traffic could be rough. no sig. other.
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milesthedog: Feb 28, 15 9:39