saritapie

When it was all hypothetical, I might have said that money doesn't matter (especially when one has state residency). When I got an utterly unfunded offer from Berkeley, I reflected critically on my unfunded year in master's ( :cry: ) and changed my tune. 'Course, it helps when you get a well-funded offer from a well-regarded school. Since that was my choice (no money at Berkeley versus a well-funded offer from a well-regarded school), it wasn't a life-or-death kind of thing, and the money issue actually helped me

Okay, I applied to three schools

And let me guess: Meanwhile all your friends and family are telling you that you can't go wrong? That's how it was for me...

I was in exactly this position 24 hours ago. How the heck to say "no" to Berkeley?! Particularly: How to say 'no' to my prospective advisor there, who is amazing? I felt (and feel) certain of my choice, but that was after being dispassionate and rational and doing pro/con lists and soliciting advice from practically everyone I knew... and then having it all shake out into a stalemate. Then I just put it aside, decided not to think about it until, say, April. And within a week I was talking to other (re: non-grad student) friends as though the decision was made. When one of them called me out on it, I was like, "Oh. I guess I do know what I want. Actually, I'm dead certain I know what I want. But I can't rationalize it! I don't know how I got here! I just know where I want to go!" But, okay, you have a problem: How to say "no"? I asked my undergrad advisor (and also, now, my PhD advisor, since he got the "yes"!) about how to handle this. He said e-mail would be fine, and that "a nice note to [prospective advisor] and the grad advisor would be a good courtesy, and of course filling out the online decline. The best approach is to be simple, honest and respectful -- and brief." So that's what I did. Grad advisor wrote back a nice note today... haven't heard from PA. I had a really hard time pressing "send," but I feel totally fine about it now. Actually, really happy! I hope it turns out this way for you. If it helps, remind yourself that what "feels" right does count. As much as this is

Location is really, really, really important to me: I grew up on the California coast, and I need sunshine and ocean like I need air. I learned this the hard way, after letting my high school counselors and my mother convince me that I could love a Northeastern liberal arts college even though I hated New England. They were dead wrong and I didn't last two months. I didn't even like living in the lively, scenic, and progressive little city of Missoula, Montana. I stuck it out there long enough to get through my master's coursework, but I moved back to California to write my thesis. Having said that, two things strike me about your situation: First

So, did you [californian girl] decide to go to UCSC? If so, congratulations

Well-put. This is exactly why I'm feeling so anxious about my own decision (between an unfunded offer at a top university and a funded one at my UG institution): Do I really want to be a tenured professor in a research university [in my home state], or am I really fundamentally about having a good life (in which I live where I want to live; earn steady money starting now; do something intellectual, like teaching, research, or writing, but not necessarily all three; and really enjoy the next five years)? At least I'm not the only one...

I am in a similar position

OP here reporting that Option A has funded me very well; Option B said, "Sorry, no money." Before all this got started, I said I'd never accept an unfunded offer

Milk lattes. I am frittering away my meager savings and my waistline on fair trade milk lattes. I might soon switch to wine, though. A friend of mine swears that red wine + blank MS Word document + data = master's thesis. Fortunately, one of my prospective advisors makes wine. Also, "small medium at large" made me laugh

Yuuuuuup. I feel exactly the same way.

That's what I'm gonna do as soon as I get home. Hope it works... I'm trying to think of it as a big term paper. The primary problem is that I did way too many interviews

Okay, Missoula advice. The town is fantastic-- lots of live music (including big names at the U), film festivals, coffee shops with wireless that will let you work there for hours and hours (Break on Higgins is my department's unofficial annex-- I'm there now with 3 others in my program. We did not coordinate this. We all just showed up. This is normal.), fancy food for special occasions, funky old movie theatres (Wilma and Roxie), a co-op, an amazing giant locally-owned and operated non-chain version of Whole Foods called the Good Food Store, obviously great hiking and skiing and beautiful views. It's a pretty bike-friendly town, too

PM me if you want to talk about UM

We're going to need a new thread where we report outcomes. So far, I'm on track: The program I guessed would accept me with funding did that; the one I thought would accept me without funding has accepted me but hasn't told me about funding; and the one that I thought would reject me hasn't reported back. The upshot: If all the current blanks are filled in with bad news, I'm 3 for 3