Fininator

Hi All, I've been a bit of a lurker but finally posting now that I have a dilemma. I was originally looking at PhD programs in linguistics (focusing on comp. ling.), but had done very little linguistics undergraduate work. I've been working for the past few years in a comp. ling. related job, and realized I wanted to study it further. Now I have acceptances at Indiana University (PhD) without any funding for the first year, and Brandeis (MA) with a 50% scholarship. I'm also still waiting on hearing from UMD, where I did have interviews but no open house invitation. I'm confused because I have friends, family and a boyfriend in Boston, so Brandeis is more appealing socially. However, I worry that it would be a bad move career-wise. Complicating the fact is that neither IU nor Brandeis had interviews or an open house, so I have no instinctive inclination towards either one. Is anyone familiar with either of these programs? I suppose I should start speaking to the professors, contacting current students, finding out what graduates did, etc....