posted about 1 month ago
I have been conditionally admitted to two MSc Pharmacology (ish) programs and I don't know which offer to accept. Those are two-year-long courses in the NL requiring internships in outside institutions. My aim is to obtain a degree which will help me with an application for a PhD, most likely in the US or CAN. Eventually, I would like to work in the pharma industry.
The dilemma can be mostly boiled down to a choice between a better reputation or better supervisor. These differences are subtle, to be honest, which makes it hard to choose. (I am going to avoid using names)
Uni-1. The supervisor has quite a bit of experience in the US and is a high standing figure in Dutch Pharmacological Society. I feel like potential recommendation letter from this person would make a difference. Additionally, the research I'd do there is more exciting to me and would be somewhat continuation to my dissertation form the undergrad.
Uni-2. The supervisor here while being an excellent academic has no highlights of broader outreach in the CV, but the uni is on average 20 spots ahead in pharmacy and sometimes 15 spots ahead in general rankings. Additionally, the research there would be less interesting and less related to what I am interested in.
What do you think is better? I feel more attracted to the first one but I did my undergrad at... bad university and probably I should catch up on reputation scores on my CV. The other issue is that the recommendation letter is not guaranteed and supervisors might be not very helpful regardless of their abilities which makes it a little bit of a gamble.