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iluvgeeks

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Everything posted by iluvgeeks

  1. I'm in THE most complicated situation ever (or maybe everyone feels that way). Well here goes. School A is where my gut is telling me to go... School B is where my boss wants me to go. Easy, follow your gut, right? But the reality is my boss is currently the only guy in my field of interest in my country, has considerable influence in the field, and he was the one who set up a joint program with school B, hence the vested interest in sending a student to his program to see if it works out. The program entails me working for half the time in School B and half the time with my current Boss, ending up with a PhD from School B. The worry is if I offend my boss by turning down School B (he actually got really upset when he knew School B was my second choice), he will completely blacklist me and I'll never get a job in this field ever. To make things worse, under pressure, I verbally agreed to go to School B, both to the boss and the faculty (boss's collaborators). Argh. As a consequence I now lie awake all night beating myself up with regret. Considerations: School A and B are neck-to-neck in terms of facilities and faculty interests matching my own. But some specifics about School A: - Program has been ranked number ONE for decades. We're talking legendary awesome science that's been done here. - Beautiful environment, fantastic weather, near nature, yet close to a big city, good public transport, etc... - significantly better funding - I get the sense they treat grad students better and are more organised, e.g. better housing - Lots of friends here - will almost definitely piss off the boss, and maybe burn more bridges at school B And School B: - less coursework and teaching requirements, probably only what's necessary - can probably graduate in four years - since I will be working for half the time with my boss, and will probably end up working for him as a postdoc anyway, the transition will be seamless. Sidepoint here: is working in the same lab for grad and postdoc a bad thing? - will spend less time away from home - will not anger the boss, thus not sabotaging my future in this field -less money (probably can be made up for with the time saved on PhD and postdoc) -don't know anyone here - lousy location - bad weather - lower ranking - I'll be a guinea pig: they haven't really worked out a structure for the program yet and this makes me nervous - do I really want to work with a boss who pressures me into making decisions and whom I'm intimidated by? (but at the same time I don't know if school A's faculty will be any better) will i regret being pressured into this?? I am so lost!! I have brought this up several times with my boss but every time I do I just end up caving and agreeing that I'll do his program. I sought the advice of a few profs and postdocs and they all advise me to go to school B to avoid the politics and potential bridge-burning, since faculty and resources are equally great, but I have a feeling I will kick myself forever if I reject school A...
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