What school should I attend for my PhD program, Carbondale IL. or Bloomington IN.?

Question

I was recently accepted into PhD programs in Health Education/Public Health at both Bloomington In and Carbondale IL. Carbondale is not as prestigious but does good research and the cost of living is lower. Bloomington also does a lot of great research and has some amazing facilities. But, it is more expensive to live there. I have yet to be offered financial assistant from either institution. But, will most likely be offered teaching assistantships from both.

Answer 1

I assume that the two universities are Southern Illinois and Indiana University.

Only a fool would turn down a PhD program at IU to go to one at Southern Illiniois. IU is one of the top public universities in the country. Southern Illinois is a third tier school where you may not get a decent job when you graduate.

Even if it is a little more expensive (and let's face it -- Bloomington isn't exactly NYC, Boston or SF when it comes to housing costs), you are likely to get a job when you graduate from IU that will pay a lot more than anything you might get from SIU. The present value of that difference more than makes up for the extra costs.

Answer 2

I agree with Taranto.

When I was in high school in Illinois, the feeling was that if you had a detectable brain wave you went to Illinois, and if you didn't you went to Southern. Maybe things have changed. (I didn't go to either.)

More recently, a former co-worker of mine joined the Peace Corps and after that went to Indiana at Bloomington for her PhD in exactly your field. She's now a rapidly rising star faculty member in the Cal State U system and doing great. Somehow I doubt that would be the case if she'd gone to SIU.

Don't worry about the money. Teaching assistantships pay enough so that you can survive wherever you are. If Bloomington is more expensive, then I'm sure the TA pays more.