I know that my brain is being irrational. I need to make sure, though. Mulling over these possibilities for the past few months is taking its toll on me.
So, I applied to 10 programs because my field is stupidly competitive. I (like many people) identified what I thought my top choice was. I have been accepted to one program that was in the middle of the pack on my initial list. The POI first expressed interest in me way back during the first week of January, and the official acceptance came a couple weeks later in mid/late January with 5 years of funding. This is very early, and the program is only taking a couple of new students so I felt pretty special about it. I'm visiting in March.
Fast forward to now, and I still don't have any other acceptances. I have a few wait-lists and rejections, and have seen activity on the Results Search for others, so I pretty much know my status with most of these 10 programs. But I have not heard from my "top choice" program, and apparently no one else that uses TGC has, either. This has me thinking a lot of different things - is their funding messed up? Unreliable? Do they just not have their act together? Their deadline was Dec 1! Should I email them when it gets closer to my visit to the other school?
I guess my issue is that because my acceptance from the first program came so early, it's tricking my brain into getting used to the idea of going there. Being my first acceptance, especially when I was half-expecting to get shut out completely, this school has become quite romanticized in my mind. For well over a month now that's been my only actual option - I talk about this school to everyone who asks me how it's going, and I even looked at apartment listings to get an idea of that stuff.
I also am starting to wonder if this particular program just has their act together, is higher quality, and is actually more interested in me since they reached out so early. If it ever came down to choosing between this one and my initial top choice, should I take their efficiency and early interest in me into consideration? I know that in decision-making processes, this attempt to rationalize can be normal, but am still wondering what you might think. Sorry that was quite long; thanks for reading!