One thing - in disciplinary fields, it’s often difficult to get a job when you have a degree in an interdisciplinary field. I’m in an interdisciplinary field myself which actually includes all of the requirements for completion for a psychology PhD and I’ve been told this by my professors and others.
Here are my takes:
1) I’m at Columbia and I don’t have a good overall impression of the PhD programs at TC. Even without that, though, I would not do an unfunded PhD unless it was only for the first year and I was practically guaranteed funding my second year. I would especially never do an unfunded PhD in New York.
2) I wouldn’t do an MA when you have an admittance to two PhD programs that are funded when your end goal is a PhD.
3) UIUC - don’t worry so much about the location. It is isolated "suburbia" - actually it's not even suburbia, it's just isolated, lol (my friend went there - as an English education major who now teaches at Urbana High School; it’s ~2 hours away from Chicago, I believe) but it’s only for 5 years and your primary focus is going to be doing research and finishing your degree anyway. I know this sounds like some shit coming from someone studying in New York, but trust me, sometimes I wish I *weren’t* here. The distractions are many and it’s waaaaay more expensive than living in Urbana. The more flexibility you have earlier in your career, the more you'll be able to cherry-pick where you want to be later in your career.
Honestly, of your choices UIUC sounds like a clear first one since the only con is that you don’t know the area. Many people move across the country for grad school and if you want to be in academia, you need to get used to living in places you couldn’t pick out on a map, lol.
Here are my takes:
1) I’m at Columbia and I don’t have a good overall impression of the PhD programs at TC. Even without that, though, I would not do an unfunded PhD unless it was only for the first year and I was practically guaranteed funding my second year. I would especially never do an unfunded PhD in New York.
2) I wouldn’t do an MA when you have an admittance to two PhD programs that are funded when your end goal is a PhD.
3) UIUC - don’t worry so much about the location. It is isolated "suburbia" - actually it's not even suburbia, it's just isolated, lol (my friend went there - as an English education major who now teaches at Urbana High School; it’s ~2 hours away from Chicago, I believe) but it’s only for 5 years and your primary focus is going to be doing research and finishing your degree anyway. I know this sounds like some shit coming from someone studying in New York, but trust me, sometimes I wish I *weren’t* here. The distractions are many and it’s waaaaay more expensive than living in Urbana. The more flexibility you have earlier in your career, the more you'll be able to cherry-pick where you want to be later in your career.
Honestly, of your choices UIUC sounds like a clear first one since the only con is that you don’t know the area. Many people move across the country for grad school and if you want to be in academia, you need to get used to living in places you couldn’t pick out on a map, lol.
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