grad09

I am in the same boat and am in desperate need of quality advice! I have been accepted into the Ph.D. program at my undergrad institution. I feel that I do have several good reasons for remaining at the same institution such as the fact that it is ranked among the top 5 in the subfield I would be in, as well as being ranked among the top 10 in the field. I have also been offered 5 years of funding to study there. I also have been justifying this choice with the following reasoning: I only transfered to this institution for my final 2 years of undergrad, so I didn't do ALL of my undergrad work there. In addition, I really had an interdisciplinary education, taking classes in several different departments with many different professors and so do not feel like I have been solely grounded in one department. I have never met, let alone taken classes with, the advisor I would be working with during my Ph.D. program. Finally, the institution is bringing in new hires in the subfield I would be specializing in, so in essence, I would be working with an entire new group. However, I do not want to limit my opportunities or hurt my chances once I am ready to enter the job market. To me, these all sound like good reasons to stay but I am also afraid I am only telling myself what I want to hear. I will be getting a Ph.D. in History, and would appreciate any advice from those who are in this field or one that is related.