A brief background: I am an MS student at a top 15 engineering school and will complete the MS in Fall 2017. When I was applying for programs in 2014, I initially was accepted with funding as part of a tacit agreement that I would complete both my MS and my PhD in my program. My advisor is great--she's an outstanding mentor, has given me a lot of guidance and a lot of research freedom, and is absolutely brilliant.
However, when I was applying to programs in 2014, I also received a phone call from a professor at the Civil Engineering Department at MIT (I've dreamt of going to MIT since I was 5) who seemed very interested in working with me, but due to some complicated funding circumstances I was not accepted into the program. Since then, I've gotten the Fulbright and the NSF GRFP, so funding will not be an issue for at least the first two years. There are a number of fascinating research projects in my field that I'd be happy to work on, but the big unknown is how that mentor relationship would compare to my current one. I've tried reaching back out to the professor I spoke with previously to get a better idea, but he hasn't responded to my emails (all two of them).
So, I guess the real question is: should I apply to MIT for Fall 2018 and just hope for the best, mentor-wise? I of course don't want to put the horse before the cart here, since I haven't been accepted, but in order to apply I obviously have to ask my current advisor to write a recommendation letter for me, and I'm concerned that I may undermine that relationship. Also, as part of the GRFP, I can't have a gap in my enrollment, and MIT does not offer spring admission for graduate students; since I finish my MS in the fall, I'll have to remain enrolled at my current school until the end of the spring.
