neuron1980

I think you actually made the right decision; but now that some time has passed, you are looking at it on paper and forgetting how good you felt about school C. I bet if you visited C, your initial decision would be reinforced. When you choose a school, you choose your work environment for the next 5-7 years. I think you choose the work environment at which you felt that you would be most productive and the happiest. How else can you explain your initial decision? You got into grad school at top universities, so you are an intelligent person - you had ALL of the same information that you have now when you made your decision, no new information has come to light. You clearly liked the school so much that decided it was worth forgoing a little extra money and the aligned research interests. I have been told time and time again that what is most important is that you learn HOW to do good research. When you graduate, you are not limited to postdocs in the area of your dissertation. I've also heard that often times, the "top", most "prestigious" professors are more worried about their own research than mentoring you, and often tell you what your project will be instead of helping you formulate your own ideas, which is more important in the long run. Maybe you sensed some of this, on an unconsious level, during some of your interviews? If I were you, I would ask to re-visit the school that you accepted the offer from, perhaps even speak to the dean about your concerns, and see if you are still uneasy about your decision. This will accomplish two things: 1) you may find you were right to begin with and 2) they may let you out of your commitment if they think that you will be unhappy there. No school is going to want a student there that thinks they made the wrong choice, because they are at risk of dropping out. I think it's early enough in the process that they can fill your spot with another candidate without any trouble.