I currently have four admits (Cornell med school, UC Irvine, UMass Med School and U Kentucky), two rejects (UPenn and UMich, Ann Arbor) and three pending results, including one interview at Dartmouth Med College. The UGeorgia result is delayed, and I'll find out about Johns Hopkins School of public health next week.
phew. Its finally getting over!
But now for the worst part- Decisions! The next six years of my life depend on the next move I make. I'm at a loss between Cornell (at Manhattan) and UGeorgia (Athens). The work at UGA is great, but its a small town...as for Cornell, the reason I applied there is not recruiting..:( But there is other interesting work, out of my primary field of interest- parasitology.
What do I do?
NYC is the land of Seinfeld, Sex and the city, whereas Athens is the land of....REM. Plus Cornell pays about 10k more than UGA, though I suppose I'll spend it easily enough at NYC.
Also, NYC is the home of Anthony Bourdain!
gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! :D
16 comments:
who?
Here's what I've realised after coming to the US-
Weather's all important- you want to know how many sunshine the place you're going to live in gets. You do not want to be greeted by gloomy skies and be buried in snow for 5 months of the year.
The size of the university you go to is pretty important too- the larger the university, greater the diversity, and the greater the chance of making friends quickly. Americans, I find are almost impossible to make friends with- they're polite, but maintain their distance.
And location of course. Small town america is awful. You'll need a car for everything- no public transport anywhere. This can still be tolerated if you have a good group of friends.
Cornell Med school's awesome- I have a friend who goes there, and he's having the time of his life. You get subsidised housing in Manhattan!!
I also have a friend in U Georgia and she's not too happy there...
Unsolicited advice, but couldn't help it. Sorry!
Dear Nina,
thanks a ton! this is exactly the kind of advice I want, solicited or not..:-)
I'm leaning towards NYC, definitely..:-)
where are you btw?
Grey area: hottie chef, that's who!
HELLO pick Cornell. After aaaaaall the abuses you gave them for not sending you an offer on time, if you finally don't go there, you deserve a nice rap on your head :P
i love anthony bourdain!!have you seen his show on travel and living??!!
umm the fact that i'm actually giving you advice is weird given that i've never ever met you, but i think that if you've got a chance to live in NYC with subsidised housing, you should take it! sorry, i just HAD to say that.
also,REM doesn't sit around in georgia anymore anyway.
Kate: You're welcome :)
I'm in Brandeis, which is Waltham. I live 10 miles from Boston/Cambridge, would've lost it otherwise.
Just read Bourdain's Kitchen Confidential, btw. Was vastly entertaining.
I see he's a chef. But hottie? Looks a bit past his prime to me! ;)
golu: ya, ya, you got to hear most of my cribs, apart from grey..:P
trb: I love no reservations! he's so coool, man. so what if he's 55. ;) And ya, its gonna take a lot more than REM for me to drag my ass to georgia. I'd come to california if Jim morrison was still alive. I probably will visit his house. Its on the cards...:)
Nina: Oh Cool. I hope we get a chance to meet in amreeka.
Grey Area: get cable and watch No reservations!
I dont know who that chap is but that is probably how Om Puri would look like after an extreme makeover!!
Congratulations btw...:)
And I want to add an opposite point of view with respect to Nina's comments in a mild attempt to try and balance out things.
I never felt as though Americans are difficult to befriend. Yes, they have a stronger propensity for "personal space" but not so much that it hinders possible friendship. As cliched as it sounds, the whole cultural curiosity really helps.
Small towns, I agree with you regarding transportation. Other than having very helpful friends with cars, the only way out is to live close to or on campus and walk or bike. But they come with the advantage of being relatively safer than big cities.
I feel compelled to issue a disclaimer for Nina as things said over the internet can be grossly misconstrued. I know that something like this is highly subjective. I am not critcizing your views but only trying to present the other side of the coin.
i thought cornell was in ithaca, which is in new york state, away from the city. ithaca is a cold, cold place, but very beautiful in the summer.
Rohit: Thanks, both fo rthe wishes, and for the alternative perspective. :-)
I am yet to decide!!:(
Unratiosenatic: Cornell university is in Ithaca, but their med school is at Manhattan, Next to Rockefeller and Memorial Sloan-Kettering institutes. :)
Here's my unsolicited $0.02, coming from a grad student @ UGA.
I lived all my life in mumbai before I came here, and HATED it at first. Too small, too slow, and all that. It grew on me gradually, and I LOVED it for the rest of my grad school life here. Perfect place to do a Ph.D with minimum big-city hassles such as high cost of living, driving hassles, etc. If you're an outdoors person, you'll love the opportunity it provides for lounging in the sun, biking, hiking etc. And the weather is kick ass. The low cost of living makes it very affordable to have an almost luxurious living on the grad student stipend, (you can live on your own in a 1BHK if you want, and typically grad students want that in their later years)
Now, if you're interested in parasitology, the center here is also very famous all over the US and some really smart people work here. The CDC in Atlanta is close by and you have the opportunity to interact with them if you want. The desi community is pretty sizeable and very helpful in ushering you in, you will not have to worry about making good friends. And good friends do not have to be desi, for that matter.
Of course I'm biased because I go to school here, but I wanted to send across my thoughts because I was in your skin some years back and cringed at the thought of coming to an unheard-of-town (I cam e only to work with a certain guy who's the god in the field of what he does). Now, I am very happy to have had this chance of living "small-town" life and enjoying all it has to offer- things I'd never have enjoyed all my life in Bombay.
OoooH. Tony Bourdain. is. AWESOME.
And wow, great line up schools to choose from - congrats!
And luck with the decisions :)
NYC...no brainer...trust me, if you are a big city person and end up going Butt-F***-Egypt, thou shalt suffer as I have over the last 8 months...and I live in sunny California to boot :-)
Good luck anyways
Arunz
I thought this decision was made. And easily, at that. I don't know about which schools are better, but unless Cornell's really stinky, I think you should go there. Even if it means compromising on the academia a little. You've earned it!
passing along: Thanks for the advice. I invested a fair amount of thought in it, and I've decided to accept cornell. I heard from a couple of other people that funding issues may arise later at UGA, and another friend really drove home the point that if i'm going for 6 years, its very important to pick a place that won't drive me nuts after the first two.
szerelem: Thanks..:-)
Dylan: how was the exam?
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