First of all, I admit I might sound paranoid in this post. But I feel like I'm running out of time so I just want to preemptively prepare myself.
I'm debating between these two programs that are both supposedly good in the subfields I'm interested in (innovation policy/telecommunication policy). The problem is, CMU still hasn't announce their decision (I told you I'm being paranoid), but I won't have time to do campus visit before I have to decide on GA Tech's offer. Honestly I like the program at GA Tech and the people, I just didn't like Atlanta much based on my two-day school visit. I know I shouldn't make my decision for the next 4-5 years of my live base on where I'll live alone, but then again, I don't know anybody at CMU, the program, or the city. And if I got in, I won't have time to do research on them (I currently live/work in Minneapolis and I don't have $500-$600 lying around to buy the last flight out to Pittsburgh to do that) before April 15th deadline for GA Tech, which I already asked for an extension from March 18th.
So, any thoughts? What would you do? On the one hand I kinda wish I got rejected by CMU so I won't have to choose, but on the other, CMU is a good school and EPP is one of the best programs in the field, plus I think I'll probably need less adjustment to moving to Pittsburgh from Minneapolis (culture/weather wise).