cactus77

I've been lucky enough to be accepted to many of my grad programs, but there are two amazing schools that I am torn between - one is a PhD program and one is an MA. Both are fully funded with a 20k+ stipend. The problem is, they are each in entirely different fields. Whichever one I choose will essentially determine my career trajectory, and that is a hard choice to have to make in only a few weeks! Both career options greatly interest me, and ideally I would like to find a way to merge them to an extent, but at this point I honestly don't know what to do or how to make this choice by April 15th. I am afraid that no matter which I choose, I will always wonder what it would have been like to attend the other program, and I don't want to go through graduate school (or life) regretting my decision. The MA program was an outlier for me - I knew it was outside of my originally intended field, but I honestly didn't think that I would get in because it is so competitive. This MA is unlike any other in the world so I know it would be an incredible experience that would set me up very well for getting a job in that field. On the flip side, I would feel kind of strange turning down such a well-regarded PhD program, something that I've always dreamed of being accepted to. I know it would maybe be possible to do the MA and return to a PhD after, but I don't know how I will feel about that at the end of two years - or perhaps that would be silly since I could just start the PhD now and not delay it. Additionally, I am still rather mentally beholden to the opinions of my parents (as much as I wish I wasn't) and they seem to be very pro-PhD, which may be due to the fact that I don't think they really understand what a big deal this MA is. In literally ANY other case, I would never chose an MA over a PhD. But this is such a unique situation. I wish there was a way I could do both. Does anyone have any advice for properly thinking through these big decisions? Anyone in a similar situation? I'm already an incredibly indecisive person, so I am really struggling here. And I am super grateful to be in this position in the first place (when I started the grad school application process I thought I wasn't going to get in anywhere thanks to imposter syndrome) - but that doesn't really make it any easier. Help!