ANDS!

Updated after I made my decision. More low-key than making an announcement.

You likely have an "account" for your application; you need to log into this and officially accept - an email saying "Hey I accept" doesn't really do much. Do this so you do not need to worry about a Professor, during the wrap up to the end of the semester and application season, not seeing your acceptance.

At this point you are prestige chasing; never a good thing when you ALREADY have a good thing. If it is REALLY that important to you to say to your friends and family "Oh I went to an Ivy League", by all means pass on incredible offers from two incredible schools - but I wouldn't imagine many on this forum (least of all CS majors still waiting to hear from Top 50 schools) will be supporting your particular plan - pay for a masters at the lowest ranked of your options in the hopes it will make you competitive for Harvard or Princeton (or whomever it is youre lusting after).

At this point you are prestige chasing; never a good thing when you ALREADY have a good thing. If it is REALLY that important to you to say to your friends and family "Oh I went to an Ivy League", by all means pass on incredible offers from two incredible schools - but I wouldn't imagine many on this forum (least of all CS majors still waiting to hear from Top 50 schools) will be supporting your particular plan - pay for a masters at the lowest ranked of your options in the hopes it will make you competitive for Harvard or Princeton (or whomever it is youre lusting after).

Yowza. Well considering you're an international student I suppose it is ok that you haven't had a chance to visit, but - China's Firewall notwithstanding - surely there were multiple opportunities to research this school before applying. At this point you're better off contacting faculty directly, though they might be curious why you didn't ask these questions earlier. You might want to ask to be put in touch with current students or email them directly.

Yowza. Well considering you're an international student I suppose it is ok that you haven't had a chance to visit, but - China's Firewall notwithstanding - surely there were multiple opportunities to research this school before applying. At this point you're better off contacting faculty directly, though they might be curious why you didn't ask these questions earlier. You might want to ask to be put in touch with current students or email them directly.

At this point you are prestige chasing; never a good thing when you ALREADY have a good thing. If it is REALLY that important to you to say to your friends and family "Oh I went to an Ivy League", by all means pass on incredible offers from two incredible schools - but I wouldn't imagine many on this forum (least of all CS majors still waiting to hear from Top 50 schools) will be supporting your particular plan - pay for a masters at the lowest ranked of your options in the hopes it will make you competitive for Harvard or Princeton (or whomever it is youre lusting after).

I understand the OP's dream, but the only good thing they said about Columbia is that they wanted to attend an Ivy as a kid. I wanted to be Professional Wrestler in the WWF, but I sure as heck am not going to let such whimsical thoughts motivate my current goals (though I'd totally do it if they paid me for weekend work).

The OP has two schools ranked higher than Columbia that are willing to pay him to live near the beach and California culture for the next 5 or so years, versus MAYBE getting a better deal after dropping several Benjamins in NY after a year or so.

As the saying goes. . .a bird in the hand -

Your options are, full funding in Sunny California (where you will be expected to do research anyway) or paying for your education in expensive Manhattan all so you can say you got a masters from an Ivy League. Tough call indeed. . .

Your options are, full funding in Sunny California (where you will be expected to do research anyway) or paying for your education in expensive Manhattan all so you can say you got a masters from an Ivy League. Tough call indeed. . .

Your options are, full funding in Sunny California (where you will be expected to do research anyway) or paying for your education in expensive Manhattan all so you can say you got a masters from an Ivy League. Tough call indeed. . .

Exactly. Perhaps people want to over complicate things because it is a big step in their life, and each action demands some grand gesture. Unless you're an exceptional candidate and the department went out of their way to recruit you (read: did they do anything they didn't do, or wont do again, to another candidate) a simple email suffices.

But hey I'm sure someone will come along and tell the OP what they want to hear: personalized hand written cards (perhaps scented) expressing deepest regrets and the hope that this doesn't completely shatter their graduate program.

Your options are, full funding in Sunny California (where you will be expected to do research anyway) or paying for your education in expensive Manhattan all so you can say you got a masters from an Ivy League. Tough call indeed. . .

Your options are, full funding in Sunny California (where you will be expected to do research anyway) or paying for your education in expensive Manhattan all so you can say you got a masters from an Ivy League. Tough call indeed. . .

Your options are, full funding in Sunny California (where you will be expected to do research anyway) or paying for your education in expensive Manhattan all so you can say you got a masters from an Ivy League. Tough call indeed. . .

Now this is a situation that would merit a more in depth explanation of why you've decided to travel elsewhere. The person you've spoken with has obviously invested more than the average amount of time in getting to know you and your suitability for their program and working with them, and has connections to people already in your network (which isn't out of the ordinary, but if you're talking multiple connections. . .)

I would pow-wow with your current advisors, or whomever is writing your letters and ask them - since they seem to know these professors personally/professionally - what might best be the approach to take with each of these professors.

Exactly. Perhaps people want to over complicate things because it is a big step in their life, and each action demands some grand gesture. Unless you're an exceptional candidate and the department went out of their way to recruit you (read: did they do anything they didn't do, or wont do again, to another candidate) a simple email suffices.

But hey I'm sure someone will come along and tell the OP what they want to hear: personalized hand written cards (perhaps scented) expressing deepest regrets and the hope that this doesn't completely shatter their graduate program.

I doubt you're going to get any "fresh" takes on these because the consensus is the same:

"Dear so-and-so,
Thank you for reviewing my application; however I have accepted an offer from University X."

There is no reason to over complicate it, and likely whomever is in charge of grad admissions is just going to check mark your name off and move on.

Agreed. Thankfully that's not what I said. . .at all.

There is no negative tone. It is simply me not shining you on; you asked for opinions, I gave you one which you reject out of hand which lead me to conclude you don't actually want opinions just validation for a decision you have already made. Nature of the beast.



I amended my recommendation to be more in line what you were seeking. . .did you not see?

There is no negative tone. It is simply me not shining you on; you asked for opinions, I gave you one which you reject out of hand which lead me to conclude you don't actually want opinions just validation for a decision you have already made. Nature of the beast.



I amended my recommendation to be more in line what you were seeking. . .did you not see?

Exactly. Perhaps people want to over complicate things because it is a big step in their life, and each action demands some grand gesture. Unless you're an exceptional candidate and the department went out of their way to recruit you (read: did they do anything they didn't do, or wont do again, to another candidate) a simple email suffices.

But hey I'm sure someone will come along and tell the OP what they want to hear: personalized hand written cards (perhaps scented) expressing deepest regrets and the hope that this doesn't completely shatter their graduate program.

Exactly. Perhaps people want to over complicate things because it is a big step in their life, and each action demands some grand gesture. Unless you're an exceptional candidate and the department went out of their way to recruit you (read: did they do anything they didn't do, or wont do again, to another candidate) a simple email suffices.

But hey I'm sure someone will come along and tell the OP what they want to hear: personalized hand written cards (perhaps scented) expressing deepest regrets and the hope that this doesn't completely shatter their graduate program.

Well then by all means, craft personalized emails for these instructors you have had these substantive conversations with who I am quite sure will remember you in 5 or 10 years.

Agreed. Thankfully that's not what I said. . .at all.