Hi all, I need your advice. I went to all of my advisors and such, but I think you guys will give me a better idea.
Before April 15th, I had received all of my acceptances and rejections. I accepted the best offer at the time which included a great stipend for my stay and the research is really awesome. I love my advisor (he's a cool dude). Every one is really nice at school X. I never met my cohort, unfortunately, so that's up in the air.
Recently, I received an offer of a research assistantship to school Y. This was a school I was originally rejected from, but this offer is in a different department than the one I applied to originally. I don't have a strong background in this discipline (it's an engineering discipline; I'm in physics). This advisor has connections to places I want to work, and I am very excited about the more direct applications and connections towards my desired career goal than school X has.
Considering that I've already accepted the offer to school X, how bad would it be to go back on my acceptance? Is there a polite way to do this?
I think I may be more inherently interested in the program at school Y, but I am disadvantaged in my academic background. My research interests, however, are more in line with this advisor. I would probably be at school Y for a longer amount of time than school X.
I am not necessarily worried about burning bridges, since I will be moving across disciplines and am unlikely to interact with people with connections to advisor X.
Condensed Version:
Accepted school X (good stipend, great research, same discipline as undergrad).
Received offer from school Y (after initial rejection, research more in line with future career goal. Disadvantaged due to academic background. Would have to switch disciplines).
What do?
