cs_phd

I would choose B because it is better and has provided funding. There is no reason to choose A.
 
If you decline A, there is no problem because they themselves know that they have not provided funding.
 
I don't see any confusion here.

(tl;dr at the bottom)
So here is my success story. I got accepted into my dream school, The Johns Hopkins University for their MHS program.

Some background info: my undergrad GPA is 2.85 and my science GPA is roughly 2.6-2.7, which is appalling. So appalling that I've had 3 professors/supervisors tell me that I wouldn't get anywhere with my GPA.

So what else was on my application? My GRE scores are V/Q/A 154/155/4.5, my letters of recommendation were good but not stellar (one academic professor, one research PI, and my supervisor when I was a lab tech after college), I had a lot of work experience for a recently-graduated student and worked for almost a year after graduating college as a lab research tech. My research experience was probably the best part of my application: 4 independent research projects (with presentable results), 1.5 years of research in undergrad, and almost a year of research as a lab tech. I also spent a great deal of time writing my SoP and making sure I communicated the right stuff to the Hopkins admissions committee.

So here is what I did differently from most other applicants: I visited their campus and met with their program director as well as a prospective faculty member that I was interested in doing research in. I met with both of them and I gave them my story. I had a VERY clear idea of what I want to do, and it was evident on my SoP. I explained my prior research projects, I told them what I want to do, and I gave them a very detailed description of HOW I plan to achieve those goals. I projected myself very confidently, I didn't submit to my terrible GPA, instead I told them that I was confident that my GPA will improve in grad school. I didn't give them any excuses. I knew that if I wasn't confident in my experience then they wouldn't take me (as an applicant) seriously.

Then after all that happened I just carried on with my life. I wasn't too hopeful because it was Hopkins and with my terrible GPA I didn't really think there was a chance of me getting in, but I was pleasantly surprised when I got the acceptance email.


So for all of you who are demoralized and worried about getting into grad school with average GRE scores and sub-3.0 GPAs like me, here is my message: stay confident, and get a ton of research experience.

tl;dr- I got into The Johns Hopkins University with only a 2.85 GPA and unimpressive GRE scores. My secret weapon was my research experiences.

Just don't flunk out of grad school.

I would accept Netherlands offer.
Unless the Ireland university is a top tier universities and the chances of getting PhD offer is more, I won't accept it. Also, are you sure of getting PhD seat if you do well in your internship? Do you know? If there is a guarantee that you will get PhD seat after internship and the university is ranked higher than one at Netherlands (ranked higher such that it makes a difference once you complete your PhD) then you can consider Ireland.

I would accept Netherlands offer.
Unless the Ireland university is a top tier universities and the chances of getting PhD offer is more, I won't accept it. Also, are you sure of getting PhD seat if you do well in your internship? Do you know? If there is a guarantee that you will get PhD seat after internship and the university is ranked higher than one at Netherlands (ranked higher such that it makes a difference once you complete your PhD) then you can consider Ireland.

It's a relief to hear these answers. 
 
Would there be an issue with A contacting B and badmouthing me? 
 
I have tried my utmost to go to A, in good faith. Even while B was rolling out the red carpet and going as far as to extend my deadline (unsolicited). 
 
How would I contact A?

This strikes me as sound thinking.
 
Would I wait a while to tell A? They are very annoyed at me for having gotten into B (sounds like it . . . ). I gave them my word and did everything I can to keep my part of the bargain
 
The fact that they are lying to me and treating me in a negative way makes me hesitant about any interactions with them. 

No, I am not trolling. I made my decision. Thank everyone who gave genuine input. If you want to know what I decided, pm me.

GPA is just one criterion. 3.55 is a decent GPA and you don't have to worry. You are in a good situation to get good reco letters from professor you are working under. If you get 3 good letters from professors and if you maintain your GPA around 3.5 there is nothing to fear. Recommendation letters from reputed professors helps a lot. Research experience helps and you need to sell that in your SOP and mention that you are very much passionate about research. There are other good schools in top 10 as well for CV and AI like WashU, UMass Amherst, UMich, UPenn etc. You can try those as well. They are good for CV and AI. 

I am really enjoying reading your stories!
 
I wish I could feel like I am bragging at least once!! But for whatever reason, all my family and friends react the other way around: everybody seems to think they know more about things related to life sciences, medicine and microbes than me (they all know that I have an MD, a microbiology MS and will start my PhD this fall, none of them are educated in life sciences), and yet, conversations go like this:
 
- relative or friend: I am no longer eating bananas because it is bad to your bladder. I read it alters your molecules and degrades your cells.
- me (after years of enduring this type of conversations): where did you read that?
- relative or friend: in a blog.
- me: have you considered that blogs are not necessarily a good source of scientific information, unless it is from a well known scientific source?
- relative or friend: but I have a friend who eated lots and lots of bananas and ended up with a bursted bladder.
- me: so? that doesn't prove causality at all.
- relative or friend: of course it does!! how do you explain such incident??
 
and so on.....
 
or:
 
-relative or friend (a different one): did you know that ebola was created by the US government!!!?????
-me (more enduring): that is not true. Where did you get that from?
- relative or friend: read it online.
- me: did that website also referred to zombies and apocalypse?
- relative or friend: ha-ha very funny. I am serious. You should know about this!
- me: I happen to know about that. And no, ebola is not a man made virus.
- relative or friend: then, why it holds a patent by the US?? aahhh!!! explain that one, micro girl!!!!
 
(I love them all, though)
 
my life is so hard....

If this is the grading scheme of the university, I would ask a letter writer to explain it in their letter, rather than wasting SOP space on what could just sound like an excuse (since it's coming from the student).

I wish it were true. I was shocked by school A's anger too. An administrator had the audacity to actually raise his voice while speaking to me about funding. And given how many falsehoods and half-truths have been told to me, I would not put it past one particular administrator to bad mouth me. 
 
Feel trapped at this point. 

Yeah, I am very fair, and I do everything I can to keep my word.
 
The problem is A might badmouth me to B. The administrators from A know I got into B--they were angry about it, and they haven't been forthright with me so far.

This is a question for those of you out there who prefer computer science over software engineering: was there one thing that made you prefer academia over industry?
 
This is what made me favor academic pursuits. For the last semester of my master's program, I spent 40 hours a week as a software engineer and spent my remaining time working on my thesis. That was the experience that made me realize that I preferred research. It was difficult to walk home after a full day of staring at a computer screen just to resume staring at a computer screen for another five or so hours. However, throughout all of this, I wasn't able to care much about my work projects. In contrast, research questions kept popping into my head and consuming all of my attention.
 
Ultimately, my preference for academia comes down to one issue. Academic projects don't need a business justification; I prefer to work on the most interesting project.
 
 
 
What experience made you prefer academia?

For me, I always think Software Engineer is a job title. You got a job at companies like Google, Facebook, Amazon, Microsft etc and think that hey I loving coding and they pay me well. So you might end up with a happy life where you would spend time on  your job, doing practical work, while socializing in free time. You have more time for yourself and people that are important for you.
 
To me, one has to 'sacrifice' himself for academia. Research isn't similar to Software Engineering. You might work on an open problem for years without making significant progress. Some people don't like this because they think it's a waste of time, since in the end research solution might not as well be adopted in the industry. So what's the gain? You ultimately seem to contribute less while sacrificing the rest of your time on the problem.
 
Every professor i talked to understand this point. But what drives them is their passion for the area of study. I always think true passion draw someone into academia (because 1st you get paid much less than if you could get into industry, 2nd your solutions might not get adopted by others). Academia is like a frontier of scientific discovery. People on the frontier are usually really passionate about what they are doing, sometimes caring less about what they could do otherwise. They push the boundary of human knowledge and help generate new ideas for the discipline. For instance, many currently widely used technologies come from ideas in academia such as RAID, AFS, NFS, Openflow etc. And it's very exciting to become one of such person to contribute to human knowledge.

getting SSN is straight forward. You just need to fill the application form and submit it. Since you may get paid for PhD (stipend), you will need SSN. once you join the program, you can apply immediately. It takes 2 weeks to get the SSN. for phone connection, they use the last 4 digits of passport instead of SSN if the international students don't have SSN card. You can do the same or wait till you get the SSN. Banks don't necessarily need a SSN, passport and visa is sufficient. If some banks ask for it, you can wait till you get the card.

getting SSN is straight forward. You just need to fill the application form and submit it. Since you may get paid for PhD (stipend), you will need SSN. once you join the program, you can apply immediately. It takes 2 weeks to get the SSN. for phone connection, they use the last 4 digits of passport instead of SSN if the international students don't have SSN card. You can do the same or wait till you get the SSN. Banks don't necessarily need a SSN, passport and visa is sufficient. If some banks ask for it, you can wait till you get the card.

I've grown up with a dad in academia.  Academia is a small world.  If a professor goes about badmouthing students who don't come to their program, the other professors know that is what they are doing.  It's like living in a small town.  Everyone knows who the sour-mouthed people and gossips are, and no one pays them much heed.  If the professor bad mouths you because you go to the other program, the other program will just think it is sour grapes because you didn't choose theirs.

@quandary1028:
 
what is your fear?
what do you think will happen if A badmouths to B?
why is your acceptance of B dependent on whether A badmouths or not?
It should depend on where you want to go and it should depend on your career goals. It should not depend on some admin at A.

accept B, get confirmation. Tell them that B is your dream school and you are very happy to accept the offer. Get the written confirmation.
Speak to your POI and tell the same and have a conversation.
since you are worried about A's administrators, tell them whenever you are comfortable that you won't join them.
 
Why will B's administrators rescind your offer when you are willing to join them. They see such cases every year. Why will your POI or department dean agree to rescind your offer when a vindictive admin from school A complains about you. This won't happen even in a highly fictional movie.
What can A say the max, you promised and then did not keep that promise. That is not a reason to jeopardize your career.
You are not the first and you won't be the last to do this.
 
Everyone here has posted the same thing. 

I would choose B because it is better and has provided funding. There is no reason to choose A.
 
If you decline A, there is no problem because they themselves know that they have not provided funding.
 
I don't see any confusion here.

if you feel comfortable that way, you can wait for some time after you accept B and before you tell A.

Accept B first.
I don't think A would badmouth.
 
Let A know that it is impossible without funding and hence you are declining (with nice words and that you are in regrets and in pain to take this decision). 

accept B, get confirmation. Tell them that B is your dream school and you are very happy to accept the offer. Get the written confirmation.
Speak to your POI and tell the same and have a conversation.
since you are worried about A's administrators, tell them whenever you are comfortable that you won't join them.
 
Why will B's administrators rescind your offer when you are willing to join them. They see such cases every year. Why will your POI or department dean agree to rescind your offer when a vindictive admin from school A complains about you. This won't happen even in a highly fictional movie.
What can A say the max, you promised and then did not keep that promise. That is not a reason to jeopardize your career.
You are not the first and you won't be the last to do this.
 
Everyone here has posted the same thing. 

My BS-detector just went off. I'm guessing either 1) you are naive enough to think that the world functions in black and white, and that additional information or altered circumstances do not change prior agreements all the time with no moral fault or ill intention, 2) you have not realized that you are one of countless incoming masters students that will be forgotten about by the school within a day, 3) you have failed to see that fully-funded PhD students and post docs have wrestled with similar decisions and lived to tell the tale, 4) there is another piece of the story that you have failed to tell us, or 5) you have the need to find someone to tell you whatever it is you want to hear.
 
There are people here still on waiting lists, and it annoys me that you would be selfish enough to stew in your own made-up drama for days instead of picking up the phone, declining the school you obviously want to decline, and perhaps making that spot at school A available for someone else.