From Wales to America
 

I wonder if you can help my daughter reach a decision. She has telephoned me today from her university in Aberystwyth Wales to tell me of an up and coming opportunity for her to study for 1 year in your wonderful country. She is a Biochemistry and Genetics student. She has been given the following universities as possiblities.

UNIVERSITY OF MONTANA
www.umt.edu

PENN STATE UNIVERSITY
www.psu.edu

UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH
www.pitt.edu

UTICA COLLEGE OF SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY
www.utica.edu

WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY
www.wsu.edu

What do you all think? Can you see a paticular university amongst these that you know has a good reputation or would be a good experience in some other way?

Can you see any that you think I should be warned about?

What are your experiences?

Thank you in advance for helping my daughter out with this decision.

Buzzy

Buzzy, I know nothing of these programs but do know something of their locations. What type of things interest your daughter? Montana and WSU are not anywhere near major metropolitan areas and but are in beautiful areas of the west. PSU, UP and Utica are all in the eastern US (shorter flights from the UK) and are accessible to many metropolitan areas -- New York City, Boston, Philidelphia, being the biggest--within a few hours of travel.

From an academic standpoint, I'd recommend Pitt (U. Pittsburgh) and Penn State.

Here are links to the pertinent department websites of each:
Pitt:http://www.mgb.pitt.edu/research.htm
Penn State: http://www.bmb.psu.edu/

Pitt is in a relatively large city, so offers a few more local amenities.
Penn State is a larger university with a much more close knit college amosphere, in a relatively smaller town. PSU is, overall, the best school of the lot you listed in terms of academics, though the differences between SYR, WSU, PSU and Pitt (specifically in the life sciences) aren't all that significant.

Which she'd enjoy most would depend on her personality, of course.

I can comment on University of Pittsburgh-- it's my alma mater. Pitt has a good reputation in the biochem/medical sciences fields, and is affiliated with good hospitals in the Pittsburgh area. When I was going there, it was able to attract and retain good professors in the sciences (good teachers who also continued their individual research). The campus is not off by itself, but within a neighborhood of Pittsburgh called Oakland, so it's still recognizably City Living.

Pittsburgh is a medium-sized city in southwestern Pennsylvania; it used to be a center of heavy industry (steel and coal), but since those industries collapsed, it has remade itself as a US corporate center. College life is good there-- there are fun things to do there-- but Pittsburgh has difficulty retaining young professionals. Still, you'll find good restaurants, several fine museums, some excellent regional theatre and a pretty beautiful city there. The weather can be extreme-- that was possibly the second-biggest factor that drove me to California (wanting to get away from the unfriendly Pittsburghers I grew up with was the biggest). I think your daughter would like it there if she likes schools in urban areas, and the neighborhood of Oakland is fun. The people there are also nicer than the ones I grew up with...!

None of the schools you're looking at is a Top Tier school in name or prestige, but all will offer your daughter a good education in her field. Best of luck!

I'd just like to know how your name happens to be Buzzy!

I am called Buzzy because my real name has a lot of B's in it and it seemed an obvious choice.

Re: some of the comments above. My daughter likes culture, classical music, beautiful scenery and is not the typical young person of today. Although the others in her uni. accommodation spend most of their time getting drunk and clubbing she does not. She loves the quiet life and is very studious but not at all boring. She has a quick sense of houmour that can really take you by surprise.

I am doing this part of the research for her as at the moment she is snowed under with assessed practicals and lectures and cannot afford time surfing the net like I can.

Thanks for all your help so far.

Buzzy

Given your daughters interest of culture and the arts the Eastern schools will have more to offer in my opinion. Pitt is an excellent overall school.

I have a niece who was raised in New York City and attended Syracuse University. Although she liked it there as far as academics, campus life, etc. she really missed city life and having easy access to lots of shops, theaters, museums, restaurants, etc. I have another niece (also raised in New York City) who graduated from Penn State this year and she loved it there. She was a theater major. She lived in one the residence halls (I think Nittany) and she made many friends there. Lots of dining options and easy access to Philadelphia which has many museums, etc. Not to mention the fact that you're only about 2 hours away from New York City. I can't comment on Montana but I do think that it will be more difficult for her to get around, especially back home to Wales. Washington is a pretty state, but again in terms of convenience I'd opt for one of the east coast schools.

I second the choice of an East Coast university for your daughter.

You mentioned the list you gave as "possibilities". Are there other universities that are possibilities?

Good luck!
easytraveler

US News & World Report (a weekly news magazine in the US) does an annual ranking of colleges & universities. I don't know if it gets specific to programs such as biochem & genetics but it's worth a look. Here's the URL

http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/col...ndex_brief.php

As others have said, of the list Penn State & U of Pitts look best for location & general recognition factor. I would urge against Utica College. It's a fairly remote area of upstate NY which gets bitterly cold & snowy in winter & the school does not have a particularly good/well-known reputation (although Syracuse is well known it's a good hour away).

The bigger questions are:

>are any of these schools better than where she is (just because it's offered doesn't make it better)

>if she's an outstanding student, she may be able to arrange a program on her own at a place of her choosing

>if she is working towards a specialty (ie Aids research) she should be at a University with a good medical program with a teaching hospital I think.

Good luck.

Buzzy, here's a really interesting website hosted by the University of Illinois, which allows you to access detailed rankings of all major US graduate programs in most any discipline based on a whole host of specific criteria you select to meet your own goals:

http://www.phds.org/rankings/

Your daughter is not looking for graduate programs, but there is a very strong correlation between high quality graduate and undergraduate schools.

I entered middle of the road criteria for genetics and biochemistry and Penn State was ranked #33, Pitt #34 in the USA. They were the highest of the schools on your list.

You will find many more prestigious schools listed ahead of those. And as mclaurie noted, your daughter may want to look into ways to wedge herself into one of the top programs if she's inclined toward excellence. Where there's a will there's a way, as we say.
Good luck.

The universities mentioned are all part of a program so these are the only choices on offer.

Although my daughter is at univeristy in Wales we actually live around 20 miles outside London. She chose Wales because she thought it was a good opportunity to live somewhere where the landscape and people are totaly different. She has even learned some Welsh since she has been there (not the easiest of languages).

From what has been said already and a little further research I have done it seems the following two are the ones to be recommended out of that batch.

PENN STATE UNIVERSITY
www.psu.edu

UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH
www.pitt.edu

Penn.State seems to have slightly higher ratings.

Has anyone got anything further to add?

Thank you for all your help.

Buzzy

Pittsburgh is a city in decline, free trade destroying much of the steel industry. If you've seen the movie "The Deer Hunter", you have an idea of what Pittsburgh used to be like. Today, the university hospital is the largest employer in the city. Pittsburgh is football mad. Same goes for football crazy Penn State, the state of Pennsylvania's most esteemed public university. Situated in the center of the state in a sea of forest filled with hunters and fishermen, State College will have modern emenities but the culture shock may be high. Pennsylvania is a state in decline with an aging population with more traditional values once one leaves the Philadelphia area. Syracuse, which I have visited, is a city in serious decline as the whole of New York state de-industrializes. Syracuse University tends to be a uniting institution in this third city of New York. Syracuse is basketball and football crazy as well. It's winters are bleak and six months long. U of Montana (Missoula?) is in America's Blue Sky country. Montana is America's third largest state in physical size but lightly populated. There are ranches all around and a few cities of 50,000 or so-Missoula, ugly Butte, Billings. It may be a culture shock for a year but it is a beautiful part of the USA if you love the outdoors. If you've seen the movie "River Runs Through It", you get the picture of Montana. I've never been to Pullman, Washington but I have been to other parts of Washington state. It is beautiful, if you like the outdoors. Seattle is a little freaky, however.

Thanks for all your brilliant detailed replies. Keep them coming I love to hear all your views.

Buzzy

And I repeat, while Utica Colllege may be "part" of Syracuse U., it isn't in the same place-it's an hour away in Utica-even more isolated than Syracuse.

I have not been in Pittsburgh for some time, but was actually quite impressed when I went about 12 year ago. It is a more attractive place than I expected (some beautiful old architecture) & more cosmopolitan than I imagined.

For the experience, I would encourage the University of Montana or Washington State University for your daughter. I would definitely discourage University of Syracuse at Utica.

Is she going for the courses or for the scenery? From the postings, it doesn't appear that she can have both! Just MHO!

easytraveler

This is totally not helpful but I just have to mention that after having visited Wales (and England)-I can't imagine wanting to leave! I'm certain she won't find anything here NEARLY as beautiful!

An earlier poster alluded to something important, so let's bring it up again: This young woman will be coming to the US for study from the UK. Transportation to and from home has to be taken into consideration.

-- Penn State is relatively close to Philadelphia, which has a major airport.
-- Pitt is naturally in Pittsburgh, which has a fairly big airport.
-- Now, UMontana is in Missoula, but who the heck services that airport?
-- WA State is close to Spokane-- don't know how you can avoid going through another airport from the UK.
-- And what's close to Utica?! Albany and Syracuse aren't too far away, so those are your airport choices.

These aren't insurmountable difficulties, but unless she chooses to stay in the US for grad school, this one-year stint should probably be in a city that's easier to get to.

State College, PA, home of Penn State, has been described as 'equally inaccessible from everywhere'. But, we are within about a 3 hour drive from the Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and BWI airports. There are also commuter flights into State College from Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, and Dulles. And, it's a pretty little town.