not your average online university

This ad: "Sanger PhD programme Fully funded 4 year studentships in genomics" has come up on my gmail with eery regularity... so one day i just randomly clicked on it. and again today, it came up and i followed it... and now i'm contemplating a Ph.D. abroad. i also spent some time perusing the page for cold spring harbor's phd program, at the Watson School. could i go to a school that carried jim watson's name, given his reputation as a sexist pig and my diehard, unshakable belief that women are people too? (is it wise to choose a program based on hearsay about the namesake's personality, regardless of his accomplishments?) Would I really be happy in such a small and secluded program, or would somewhere larger suit my lifestyle a bit better? it seems like there's a lot to be said about a 4 year phd program, as opposed to the usual 5 or 6 years... getting my degree faster would put me that much closer to tenure. and then there's a lot to be said about having a doctorate from cambridge, which i would if i did the sanger program. i mean, shit, people have been studying there for 800 years now. (cambridge. not the sanger institute. they instituted their phd program in like 1999.)

of course, there's a good chance that i'll just end up here at UW for my Ph.D.... I bet I could finish in 4 years, if i could keep working on something similar to my undergrad research...