Looking into graduate school, how do I find out which programs are the best?
I'm interested in crop science/plant breeding

4/4/2007 1:58:46 PM

talk to a crop science/plant breeding professor.

4/4/2007 2:02:47 PM

The reputation of your advisor will mean orders of magnitue more than the reputation of the school. Find out the who's who of the field and start sucking up the the leading researchers so you can get an RA position.

4/4/2007 2:08:15 PM

^^
1) not a student
2) emailed my old advisor who was a botany/plant science person, she knew squat.
3) they're biased.

^that is a better suggestion, thanks.

[Edited on April 4, 2007 at 2:09 PM. Reason : sdf]

4/4/2007 2:08:30 PM

yup advisor is far more important than school...although the best advisors generally tend to be at the best schools.....

since youre looking for a scientific field also check the facilities at the school and how conducive they are to research...i.e. try to find a school with great research facilities and a good advisor

[Edited on April 4, 2007 at 2:31 PM. Reason : a]

4/4/2007 2:25:31 PM

^^decent profs who actually do research (ie probably not undergrad advisors) will know about people in the field.

and like someone above said, you basically want to get hooked up with a good person (hopefully at a decent school). anyone you talk to is going to be biased.

and fwiw, my gf wanted to know about this very topic and asked a prof and they gave her a lot of information. i've also been in grad school for 3 years now. i'm not just pulling crap out of nowhere

[Edited on April 4, 2007 at 2:33 PM. Reason : .]

4/4/2007 2:28:12 PM