monenemo

Hi guys, I am in a rather difficult situation now. Hopefully I can get some advice on how to deal with it. So here is what happened: About two weeks or so ago, I visited a school where I was admitted to. Before the visit, my POI there and the department admin both assured me that the travel cost of this trip will be reimbursed to me. When I got there, I also spoke to the admin person again to make sure the reimbursement is underway. The admin person told me that the check was actually sent the day before, and that I will receive it in a week or so. The visit went well. But I decided that another option was a better fit for me. So I went with the other school. I politely declined the offer from this school and my POI and I seemed to be on good terms. I returned home thinking the reimbursement check would arrive soon. However, after more than two weeks, still no sign of the check in the mail. I emailed the admin person again to ask if the reimbursement check was indeed sent out. This time, to my surprise, she said that the reimbursement is awaiting approval and that no time estimate can be given as to when it will be approved. Her tone in the emails seemed bothered by my inquiries. Now I am starting to think that I might never get my money back, which sucks for a poor grad student like me. Have anyone encountered something like this before? I thought people in academia are generally honest and decent, but I feel like this admin person deceived me on purpose. I don't know what to do now (the airfare was quite a sum since I booked the tickets on short notice).

I have been lurking around on this forum for some time now. This is my first post. I am currently deciding between two humanities PhD programs: Program A and Program B. They both offer full-funding. Program A offers 5 years of funding, 2 of them being fellowships. Program B offers 6 years of funding, but only the first year is duty free. Program A is in a slightly different discipline from what I am most interested in doing (the department is very interdisciplinary). And the faculty fit is not exactly perfect. I would say it's a 60% fit. The following things are the strength of Program A: a very strong reputation in my field (top 5-8), more opportunities to apply for extra grants/fellowships, a huge library collection of materials relevant to my area of interest, more professors to choose from as committee members, a much more generous summer funding package, one more year of fellowship without TA duties, and more centrally located in the sense of being closer to other powerhouses in my field (so potentially more opportunities to meet students/faculty from other strong programs in my field). However, there are some downsides to program A: my POI is relatively young and is not tenured yet (still an assistant professor and doesn't have a track record of placing students in jobs), he will be on leave during my first year with the program (although he has stated that he will be around and will be available) and will most likely be devoting the majority of his time to research/writing, and the course offerings are not as great as program B's (to my liking). Program A is also known to have very small cohorts consisted of people working on completely different topics/areas. Program B is in a "traditional" disciplinary department. The research interests of my POI in this department are almost identical to mine. This faculty is tenured and has been successfully helping his students to get prestigious external fellowships. He also has a track record (albeit short) of placing students in academic jobs. The course offerings in this department are more aligned with my research interests. Downsides of program B are: my POI is the only faculty in my area of study, the reputation of this program in my specific field is weaker than program A's (approximately top 20-25 at best), less summer funding, the library materials that I need in order to do research are not as abundant at this university, and this department offers fewer opportunities to apply for extra funding for research/conference travel. Moreover, my POI at this university has 7 students (3-4 of them ABD, I think). So I would guess the amount of attention that I will receive from this POI is probably not going to be very high. But on the other hand, I will have a bigger cohort with similar interests in program B. So basically, program A is a powerhouse in my field that has a lot more resources and program B has a great research fit. I am having a difficult time deciding which is more important in the long run. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!