Graduate Studies: which university would you choose if you want to live in chicago?

Question

Chemistry PhD in Organic Chemistry (Synthesis)

Answer 1

Here are the most highly ranked US graduate programs in Chemistry, in order of rank:

University of California, Berkeley
California Institute of Technology
Harvard University
MIT
Stanford University
Scripps Research Institute
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Columbia University
Cornell University
University of Wisconsin, Madison
UCLA
Northwestern University
University of Texas, Austin
Princeton University
University of Chicago
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Yale University
Pennsylvania State University
Purdue University
University of Pennsylvania

One does not usually choose one's PhD program by location, but by rank. However, if you are tied to Chicago for some legitimate and grave reason, Northwestern and U of Chicago would be your choices.

Check out the website cited below for some great information on graduate programs in chemistry.

Answer 2

First and foremost, I would try to open myself up to all schools that I thought I fit best with, not just the ones in a certain location, but that's just me.

Chicago has a couple of great grad schools. U of Chicago is a notoriously big stats / quant school, but that sounds a little far away from what you're into.

The only other one that pops into my head that's actually downtown is DePaul, actually....Chicago's not much of a college town I guess!