pinhead

Thank you so much for your amazing advice! In the end I chose CMU MSR. After reading about MSR it seems a lot of people get funded after one semester, so money issues would be good on that front. I also really liked the advisors over there as their research was strong and they were very communicative. In the end I was really disappointed with my advisor in UPenn; per shreyasskandan's advice I reached out to my advisor but he didn't answer. I reached out to other potential advisors but they didn't answer either. As shreyasskandan said, this doesn't mean these people are necessarily bad for not responding, but the lack of professionalism really turns me off, especially since this is a critical moment for my life. I know it's a risk with CMU but I think dabbling in MSR with a thesis after 2 years as opposed to committing to a PhD offer for ~7/8 years may be the better choice to see whether I really should continue to a PhD.

Hello, I've been very blessed to get into top programs in the robotics field. So far these have been my only acceptances (I applied to lesser ranked schools but I don't think I will go now). I plan on going to a PhD eventually as robotics research is my passion. Objectively, a UPenn funded PhD would be a no brainer as opposed to a non-funded master's, but I had actually interned in UPenn in the past and have found my experience there "questionable." While I enjoyed the topic I pursued, I disliked the general feeling of the lab. About half of the people in the lab were actually cool, kind people who I clicked well with, but with the other half I felt like there was some sort of animosity, and I felt like I was really looked down upon. One day, as I was talking to one of the PhD students in the lab, he told me he himself didn't like the lab and didn't recommend me to pursue my PhD there, which I think might be a red flag. In addition, me and the PI only communicated twice over the period of 3 months, which I thought was odd. I couldn't even introduce myself, which makes me feel pretty ashamed. I worked under a postdoc during my internship, and after it ended he gave his honest opinion and told me that the PI is a nice person, but he genuinely has much more important things to deal with. The third factor that influences me is the quality of life in west Philly. It's probably my fault as I had a tendency to work late and walk home, but I felt unsafe in the streets after sunset. I had strange men approach me multiple times and I felt very uncomfortable. The sanitary conditions weren't great either in the streets either (cockroaches were common). The worst thing which happened to me is when someone attempted suicide by jumping off a bridge when I was on my way to the lab. I talked them out of it and eventually walked them to the emergency room, but it was a lot to handle mentally that day. I don't know if anyone has experience with something like this, but I would really appreciate some feedback. I come from a mid-low ranked state school, and I grew up in a rural area, so I don't know people with graduate school experience or how living in big cities is truly like. I love research but I don't know what to expect in a PhD. Before admission I thought I would go to UPenn regardless (as I didn't think I could get better offers) and just suck it up because I can have a life outside of the lab and I consider myself a strong person who can handle difficulties, but now that I have an additional offer from an amazing institute I'm really doubting myself. I appreciated the huge number of resources that the lab at UPenn had compared to my school (basically nothing), and it's a big influence on me. However, I do understand that CMU MSR is a top research master's in the country and I would likely get the same resources. I'm also more attracted to CMU because I think their research has been significantly stronger than UPenn's, which seems to be in decline. However, my main worry is that because CMU only offered a master's I would need to go through the entire process for PhDs once more and I don't know if I'd get another offer. I'm also worried about the fact that I don't know Pittsburgh and I have no one I know over there to ask of their experience. The big question is whether I go directly into a PhD and simply avoid the environment or risk a Master's and get another crack at PhD apps in two years. I'm a real rookie in this situation and this is my first post so I apologize if I made mistakes in posting this, but I could really use your guys' experiences.