Pursuit of a Ph.D

Well, it's about that time to start thinking of where I'll end up next after Eugene. So many factors come in to play, but what it'll ultimately come down to is:  1) Who has funding 2) Is their research something that I want to be doing? And 3) Do they want me there? 

The less important, yet still important factors include: How good their volleyball team is, if I can race bikes near/for the school, and if I feel I won't be ashamed to say where I am currently at my 10 year high school reunion. 

Now that the important factors of what I'm looking for are out there, lets spin the wheel and see which schools are standing out:

University of Texas, Austin. Dr. Phil Ivy.

Huge program, great funding, great weather, great volleyball program, great riding and in a research field I like (Exercise physiology focusing in carbohydrate metabolism, with the researcher who first backed up "carboloading" before a distance event). If I could have a #1 choice, it's most likely here. 

Penn St. University with Dr. David Proctor 

Child molestation jokes aside, Penn St. is a magnificent school with amazing funding. Focusing on aging and exercise, I could easily settle down in a new field I know relatively little about. I hear the volleyball team's ok, too.

Brown University, Dr. Chi-Ming Hai. 

Department of Molecular Pharmacology and Physiology, focusing on pulmonary and smooth muscle contraction. The good news about here? Not only do I have extensive background knowledge on the subject, but Brown "forces" you do to research rotations, so even if I'm not particularly interested in Dr. Hai's research (although I am) I could still end up in another lab that interests me more. I've also never been given a more direct "you should apply here" response from a professor than at Brown. 

Those are the top 3 currently.  Other options include (in no particular order):

CU, Boulder

UConn

Colorado State University

University of Wisconsin

Yale

Penn

University of Florida

UCLA

UNC, Chapel Hill

Science!