[spintrap]

I know it's possible to transfer schools as a chem grad student, but I need some insight as to whether I would be making the wrong decision.

First, some info: I am a first-year, at a top-ten school. I am not attached to any research group yet, but I should be in the coming weeks if I decide to stay.

When I was accepted here, my decision immediately became to come to this school or the one back in my hometown of Cincinnati. Obviously, there's a lot of disparity there in the whole rankings system, but there were other factors that I was considering. I was about 50/50 for a long time, but eventually picked the good school. Problem is, I hate being away and the thought of being wrapped up here for five+ years is really weighing on me. It's a little deeper than that, but come on.

So, now I'm thinking about going back home, to UC or possibly my alma mater Ohio State, and I want to know basically whether this is career suicide. Obviously, there are still tons of opportunities for anybody with a Ph.D., but what about to continue on? Can a UC grad under any circumstances still compete for top post-doc positions?

There are a lot of dimensions on the issue, and I can understand a lot of arguments either way. Let me know what you think.

[enahs]

You are not going to be able to transfer any of the credits, maybe one hour. So you will be starting completley over.

Your biggest problem is, it is going to look like you could not handle the academics at the good school and went to a lesser school because of that.

[enahs]

I meant to say, maybe one class, not one hour, you might be able to transfer.