The University of New Hampshire

Date: Dec 31 1969
Major: Nutrition (This Major's Salary over time)
I received my MS in animal science from UNH. I went there from another animal science dept in New England, with applied research experience in my field. The animal science/nutrition dept is small and very diversified, which I felt was a negative ( the diversity, not the size). Seminar each week was so broad, that people either wasted too much time on background, especially for things grad students in an animal science dept should know, or no background at all for some research that was so basic, the students had no clue what the applicability even was. The college of ag, though, may be reorganized, which would be a great thing, to ameliorate this problem (eg., by labs/groups organized in a logical fashion). Also, non-thesis students presented with thesis students, which I felt was detrimental to both groups, since time is important to everyone in grad school. Since UNH is a land grant univ, Hatch funding (small amts of money) are available for research, but outside funding is necessary to get anything larger than a small master's project done. Most assistantships are available for teaching, in fact I believe that RA's are now a thing of the past there, unless outside funding is secured. Teaching, however, is a great asset for your CV, as long as you make the best of it. I would recommend NOT teaching the generic nutrition class, since you will just be a puppet, although it is likely you will have no control over this. Try to teach a bio class, if you can. Also, another note on salary: it is frightfully low for cost of living. You will need to have at least one roommate, and even then you will be strapped without a small loan. Also, the univ makes you pay for your insurance, which is better than nothing, and that's about it. UNH should really look into doing something about salaries, they simply do not compare with other land grant schools when cost of living is taken into acct.

But my program and lab were excellent, as far as the research went. It is a very applied group (dairy) and small, but important and relevant research is published. Also, travel to conferences is encouraged, and you will make some important contacts. The professors are excellent and really care about you and your education, which is the most important thing. The facilities are also excellent, especially when compared with some very large and prolific land grants. You will do good research, bottom line.

As far as social life and such, it is non-existent in Durham. The ocean is close, which is great, but let's face it, if you have time to party all that much in grad school, you need some more work to do. The better bars are in portsmouth and Dover, FYI.

One other thing, I felt that some of the other students in the dept were simply not that serious about grad school, and were just there wasting time and money, which is disappointing. I also thought that a certain level of professionalism was missing.

So there are pros and cons, but that is true at any school.