cavansite

Questions I have received so far have all been in the general realm of: "Tell me about your current research project" "Why are you interested in pursuing this field of study?" "How has your previous research experience prepared you to do work in this field?" (probably more specific to my situation though, because I am changing sub-fields) "Why do you want to do a PhD instead of a Master's?" "Would you be willing to start earlier than September?" "Do you have any questions for me?" -- very important! Have questions about their research and about the program ready!

Definitely don't lie if asked directly if you've received an acceptance, but don't give them any more information than necessary if they ask vague questions like "where else have you applied/interviewed?" There is no need to say that you've received an acceptance anywhere if asked the latter question.

So I'm in a bit of a jam. I was invited to an interview/recruitment weekend with School A, but I am scheduled to attend their "alternate" weekend date because of a conflict. I have already called their travel agency and booked plane tickets (so I presume the university has already paid for my flights). However, School B just contacted me and invited me to their recruitment weekend which is at the same time as when I am scheduled to visit School A. I would rather go visit School B, because it's in a location I've always wanted to visit (yay for free travel!) and because they have a lot more faculty that I would be interested in working with. Also, I fear that School A's alternate weekend won't give me the full recruitment experience, and that because I'm not attending the regular weekend I will have lowered my chances of acceptance anyway. I've asked School B if they have an alternate weekend, but I suspect that they don't. Would I completely tank my chances of acceptance at School A if I cancelled my trip? If I'd paid for the tickets myself I wouldn't feel so bad about doing that, but because they have already put down the money I would feel really horrible if they ended up not being able to get a refund. TL;DR I'd really rather attend the proper interview weekend for School B than attend the alternate weekend for School A, but School A has already paid for my plane tickets. I'd like to ideally be accepted to both schools (though this isn't imperative, as I've already got an offer from a really exciting program somewhere totally different, but I want to keep all my options open). Also, I don't know if this is relevant, but I've already had a half-hour phone call with two profs at School B which I assume went well (because I got the weekend invitation less than 24 hours later). Help?