I have a dilemma and I'm hoping to get some suggestions because I have no clue what the heck to do. I recently attended the open house/interview session at a smaller university with a well thought of grad materials dept. There are a lot of reasons I'd like to get into a program at this school. There are two professors at the school whose areas interest me and tie into my research background. I met briefly with Prof B but spent the majority of my time with Prof A. He was dynamic, persuasive, made his area seem pretty darn exciting. I communicated with him after the event and he already has a couple of offers out there (since before the event) but if any offers get turned down he is going to make me an offer. Seemed to think this was a good possibility.
Here's the dilemma. I just talked to one of my undergrad professors that I'm pretty close to. He knows all the people involved, has worked with them. Unfortunately he was out of the state before the open house so I didn't talk to him ahead of time. He's strongly warning me away from Prof A for reasons I won't get into, but they were pretty convincing.
So now what do I do? I'd love the chance to be at this university and Prof B's area also interests me and is a good fit. My undergrad professor gave her a thumbs up, said she's a good person to work with. Is it even possible to switch midstream? I don't want to offend Prof A or sound like some kind of indecisive idiot. And believe me I'm not some egotistical jerk who thinks I can just waltz into a group of my choosing. I'm sure Prof B also has offers out there, but I don't want to kick myself for not even giving it a shot. I'd be happy to just be on her wait list at this point.
You're all treading the same mine filled waters I am. Any ideas?