berkeley or harvard?
berkeley or harvard?
for CMexperiment, I can't decide where to go?
Re: berkeley or harvard?
well, they are both top places in CM (although I haven't seen Harvard's facilities personally). I think the only differences are going to be the people (did you meet people you really wanted to work with at each institution), location, and stipend offered.adkl wrote:for CMexperiment, I can't decide where to go?
Re: berkeley or harvard?
Can you be any more specific in what you are weighing between the two schools? Otherwise, you're not going to get very useful answers.
Re: berkeley or harvard?
sorry, i will elaborate. there are advisors that I like at both (Marcus - i know his bad reputation but..) and Lanzara. i have no problem with the cities of Berkeley and Cambridge. They are pretty much on equal footing. I guess that the most important thing for me is that I get to do interesting research. i plan on doing hard condensed matter (so either mesoscopic or strongly correlated systems)
Re: berkeley or harvard?
Did you get a chance to talk to Marcus' students? His group atmosphere is pretty unique (I personally like it, but you are aware of what some people think). If you have, and if you think you can cut it in his group, he's probably an awesome choice (and LISE is so nice).
Lanzara is a good choice as well, but/and her group dynamic seems quite different than Marcus' (so whichever appeals to you most might be a good place to base a decision). She's obviously very successful with ARPES, and has some interesting work coming up (time-dependent ARPES, etc.)
Do you have any idea if you have a good chance to work for them (they're both very popular)? If you have more reassurance from one than the other, that might be the tipping point. If you are guaranteed a spot in both groups, that decision is tough, but you can't go too wrong. If you aren't guaranteed a spot in either, then I'd lean towards Berkeley, because if you end up with an Assistant Professor, that's much safer at Berkeley than Harvard.
Disclaimer: I'm considering Harvard very heavily (I'm interested in Yacoby more than Marcus, however). I probably met you at some of these visits as well...
Lanzara is a good choice as well, but/and her group dynamic seems quite different than Marcus' (so whichever appeals to you most might be a good place to base a decision). She's obviously very successful with ARPES, and has some interesting work coming up (time-dependent ARPES, etc.)
Do you have any idea if you have a good chance to work for them (they're both very popular)? If you have more reassurance from one than the other, that might be the tipping point. If you are guaranteed a spot in both groups, that decision is tough, but you can't go too wrong. If you aren't guaranteed a spot in either, then I'd lean towards Berkeley, because if you end up with an Assistant Professor, that's much safer at Berkeley than Harvard.
Disclaimer: I'm considering Harvard very heavily (I'm interested in Yacoby more than Marcus, however). I probably met you at some of these visits as well...