lastminutedecision

Well.. I made my decision. McGill it is. It was a difficult decision of course, but only because of the financial issue... which isn't reason enough to justify turning down an offer.... especially considering the fact that I have some assistance. I just won't be 'comfortable'. Yes, Halifax is wonderful! I haven't been to the UK but I'm sure they didn't call it Nova Scotia (new scotland) without reason. Mhmm I agree, Dal has a great faculty but it is still very small and my interests only lined up with one prof... who wasn't even going to be there next year. McGill has a number of profs whose work I admire and that I would love to potentially study with. Plus the courses offered at McGill seem to be far more interesting. Haha yaaa that's why I went with the course based route, I didn't have a definite idea I wanted to pursue for a thesis. Did mcgill guarantee a TA/RA for you then? That would be wonderful! Apparently it's fairly competitve if you haven't been guaranteed a spot, I'm hoping my past teaching experience aids in the application process. I'm seriously so excited for next year!

Thank you soooo much for your reply! We definitely are in the same boat with this decision. It's nice to hear that it wouldn't be a mistake still wanting to go to mcgill... quite a few people have told me to go where the money is. But my close friends want me to go to montreal, because I love it there. It's seriously such a wonderful city. Halifax is also gorgeous, but not nearly quite the cultural hot spot. Here I was stressing about possibly moving to Dal because I thought it was far... hahah doesn't compare. I agree that Dal has a wonderful faculty and a lot to offer, one wouldn't hinder their progress in academia by deciding to go there. But... McGIll is just so much more exciting to me, I'm coming from a small school and it will be nice to have a real sense of healthy competition. I also reaaaaally would love to work with either Dr. Brackett or Dr. Huebner, I love McGill's faculty and the wide array of courses offered each year... plus the campus and city are both lovely. It will just really suck being poor hahah, here's to hoping my TA application made an impression... otherwise I will just have to embrace my impending bohemian lifestyle. I have told the universities that I will make my decision this week... I just hope I can find some sense of peace with my decision. What will you be researching, if you don't mind me asking?

I got both of my offers rather early but both schools took forever to give the financial details... I'm having the hardest time ever making a decision between the two schools. A Mcgill, amazing school, It's a course based program...but my advisor specializes in the area I'm most interested in. They offered 1500 and I'm not guaranteed any TA positions, but I did apply! B Dalhousie, great school, but soooo far from where I live, thesis program. First year my advisor is on sabbatical but he is still meeting with students. This advisor dabbles in my area of study, but his main interest is different. offered 7000 +guaranteed TA positions and a possible RA position with my advisor Should money be that big of a factor in ones decision? I have no debt from my undergrad at least... I do love montreal over halifax. Also McGill's Musicology program is brilliant, there are a number of professors covering a wide range of topics of study. Dal is also pretty good, but much smaller, which they are proud of because it grants a more intimate learning environment.