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It is weird thinking about this: the school I choose to attend is the first school that accepted me, and also the first one I visited.  It is also the lowest ranked among all I was accepted to.
Even so, I had the best time there, I love the people I met and the campus is sooo beautiful.  All the visits after that, I couldnt help comparing them with my first awesome visit... the heart wants what the heart wants  

Thanks for all the replies! So... there seems to be a pretty good consensus that it's a really terrible idea, that it's probably illegal, and that I might get sued. Let me put the situation in a bit more context to see if any of you change their mind.
 
1) I have powerful, personal reasons to be in this other, European country (think family and relationship), and a UK PhD is really not going to be very useful in getting a job there. 2) The funding is external, that is, the UK university won't be out of pocket. I also think (I've read the conditions pretty carefully) that the funding is offered with the only condition that I enrol for three years in the UK program. On my plan I would do that. 3) I have since met someone who does this! They are using a big scandinavian PhD scholarship to do an Oxbridge PhD simultaneously (in a different topic, but the same field). 4) A teacher at the European university actually recommended I use this strategy...
 
So, any fresh thoughts? If it is not illegal, why is it unethical? Surely academic honesty doesn't require 'full disclosure', and many academics work simultaneously at different institutions...
 

I only visited one of the schools I gained acceptance to and I'd be lying if I said it didn't have an impact on my decision. To be honest, the school I visited wasnt initially the highest on my list for all the schools I was accepted by... However, after visiting, it jumped up my list of choices significantly; the atmosphere of the department, the way I was treated by the faculty with whom I met, their eagerness to have me join the program, and the offer they made was too hard for me to pass up. After weighing pros and cons of the offers i was made with regards to funding vs prestige, location, cost of living, and research interests, I decided I didnt need to visit the other schools before making a decision and ultimately accepted the offer to the school that I did visit. In the end, it was an easy choice because they were already offering the best funding for the cost of living in the area and had matched research interests, the visititwtion was just "icing on the cake" making it easier to solidify my choice

It is weird thinking about this: the school I choose to attend is the first school that accepted me, and also the first one I visited.  It is also the lowest ranked among all I was accepted to.
Even so, I had the best time there, I love the people I met and the campus is sooo beautiful.  All the visits after that, I couldnt help comparing them with my first awesome visit... the heart wants what the heart wants  

Is the program highly ranked? If it is one of the very top programs in your field I'd say it should be okay, but I'd be weary of doing both your BA and PhD in the same institution otherwise. You say that the research being done by your advisor is exactly what you want to do, but have you looked at the research being done by the top researchers your field? It could very well be that the work being done elsewhere is more interesting, or at least it will be to you in the future. Depending on the field, it could be very bad to only be exposed to one research environment.

I would advise you to find research opportunities (unpaid, at university research labs), to have a feel for what it's like doing research.  As zabius said, taking science classes is nothing like doing scientific research.  Doing well in those classes doesn't necessarily mean you will be great at research.
 
And what is it exactly that you are interested in, science wise?  Saying you love science is like saying you love everything (which doesn't mean anything, really).
 
And no, never too late to follow your dream

I think it means a lot of things that are hard to quantify, which is why people (including me) like to throw that word around a lot
 
It definitely means research fit. I would say it is more important to show that you have a strong interest in the research being done at the department you are applying to (i.e. the second thing you said). People don't necessarily do the same topic/field between undergrad thesis and PhD, and they don't have to do the same thing between PhD thesis and post-docs etc. either! 
 
However, it also means logistical fit. If you are interested in Profs X, Y, and Z, but all of them are not taking students or wanting to change their research focus etc. then it would hurt your application. This is why I emailed profs I'm interested in before applying and saying I'd like to work with X, Y, and Z. In a similar vein, it might mean financial fit -- you might be a great student, but there might have been a budget cutback and they can't accept students in your area of research, etc.
 
Fit could also mean personality and attitude. When visiting schools/departments, you sometimes get a strong sense of the "vibe" of the department from the faculty and current students. Some departments will value things like outreach and teaching. Some will value an intense courseload that build a strong foundation. Others might value research productivity and papers. The department and student will get along best (i.e. they will fit well together) if the values line up (or at least are compatible with each other). The "vibe" of the department would change over time though as people come and go and sometimes a department might actually be consciously trying to change the direction they're heading and to do so, they might pick grad students / hire postdocs and faculty with certain characteristics that they want.

A haiku to summarize the thread:

Don't don't don't don't don't,

Don't don't don't don't don't don't don't,

You might get sued, don't

hahaha I thought the same!!!
 
Now, really, please DO NOT it. I know you feel tempted and you needed someone to tell you it's OK but the truth is such an universal value that it is very difficult to dodge. Honestly, I thought I had not completely grasped what you meant to do... Making a decision necessarily implies leaving something behind, that's life. So even if you skip through this one, you may have to choose at some point. Since you are applying for graduate school, you are mature enough to make an adult choice and bearing the consequences. Take your time to think about it, but clearly you will be happy in both places  

Well good news is you already sound like a politician. 

Hi folks,
 
I am in the spring cycle admissions, and I am applying to European PhD programmes. I have been accepted to a UK top 10 university with an excellent funding package, and to my first choice university on the continent. I prefer my first choice, but they have not given me funding. My supervisor at the UK university however has said that he would have no problem with me living on the continent (in the city where my first choice Uni is) and 'commuting in' for supervisions and relevant seminars - probably once or twice a month. I have no teaching obligations.
 
My question then is this: what do people think of the possibility of accepting BOTH offers? Taking the money from the UK, and the extra supervision, plus being registered and supervised by my first choice Uni. I know that I cannot submit two PhDs at the end - that would be plagiarism - but maybe I could just withdraw from the UK Uni and submit at my first choice. I realise that my supervisor at UK Uni is unlikely to be very impressed with my withdrawing, and the faculty there unlikely to be happy either, but perhaps I could just be a bit discreet about the set-up until the end. In any case, the supervisor in the UK uni is not really a specialist in my field (one of the reasons I'm not enthused about that offer), so I doubt that he could 'damage' my reputation when I do eventually withdraw.
 
What do people think? Am I crazy for considering this? Is it immoral? Imprudent? Illegal? A brilliant coup?
 
All the best,
 
Political Scientist

i just found this website, not academia per se, but the nerdy humor in the comics I really appreciate
http://theoatmeal.com/
 
one highlight is this:
http://theoatmeal.com/comics/religion

Do not do a science PhD without full funding.  That's the universal advice from all my profs.

Well, you didn't mention your SO in your original post, that changes the dynamics.  But, just to play devil's advocate to what Deadmeat says - if your relationship doesn't work out, will you regret attending School B and not enjoy your time there anymore?

Most of the things that article says are true - in graduate school, you won't be paid well and you will be expected to do a lot of research.  Engineering is a little different - postdocs are less common than in the life sciences and other physical sciences - but I think it's becoming even more common for engineering PhD students to do postdocs before moving into a faculty job.  And the academic market seems to be contracting; most PhD holders won't find tenure-track faculty jobs.
 
With that said, I'm in my 5th year of a PhD program.  At various points I have struggled with whether to stay or go, finish or not; at times, I have regretted my decision.  But overall, I can say that I've enjoyed the intellectual and personal development I've experienced here.  Part of that likely would've happened regardless of whether I'd started a PhD program.
 
But at some point during the journey I realized that I just didn't care as much as other students did.  I don't know how to explain it better, but it's just like - some students were really willing to put in the 10-hour days, 7 days a week, and live and breathe their research all the time because that's just their passion.  That's not me, though.  I'd rather sleep or read a novel (although a lot of the things I read are related to my field, so I know I'm passionate about it, just in a different way).  Chasing tenure 
 
So I decided that I was going to do whatever I wanted to do, and not much more. That's worked out for me - I have publications, I have an NSF, I have a pending postdoc offer a year out from even finishing.  That's while volunteering in my community on weekends, taking off Saturdays (and more recently Sundays as well!), getting married, and working as a residential life paraprofessional sheerly because I enjoy it.  It's because "whatever I want to do" also includes writing and analyzing data and working on the problems of my field.  I genuinely enjoy the research, and not pressuring myself to be The Best has helped to discover that I really do like this.  I think the students who are the most successful are the ones who have a true, deep passion for answering questions in their field and really like to do research (even if you could theoretically imagine yourself doing something else).
 
I say all this to say - yea, sometimes a grad program is absolutely miserable and you just want to cry for hours.  And other times, it's amazing.  I think that's like most jobs, honestly.  If you can spend 5-6 years in a program knowing that the likelihood you'll get a tenure-track job is really slim, and you don't really care because you love the research a lot, then…maybe a PhD is for you.  I'm not even sure I WANT a tenure-track job but I know I want a job using the skills I am learning in a PhD program.  Also, if you can learn to think of those 5-7 years as an actual period of your life and not a holding cell or that you're "waiting to start your life," then you'll be happier.  Once I realized that a PhD was actually real life and not just preparation for a future I started doing things that made me happy, too.
 
And the more practical consideration is - do you need a PhD to do what you want to do?  If you don't, 95% of the time I will say don't get it.  If most of the people who do what you want to do in the next 5, 10, 15 years do not have a PhD, then don't get one.  To me, there's little point in taking the 5-7 years it takes to get one if you don't need it, unless you just want it for personal edification.

i just found this website, not academia per se, but the nerdy humor in the comics I really appreciate
http://theoatmeal.com/
 
one highlight is this:
http://theoatmeal.com/comics/religion

Yes, I do! Actually broad minded enough to know that!
 
The Oatmeal's humor to me, can be crude at times (ridden with foul language haha), but the underlying ideas in his comics I can relate 100%.  And as a religious person myself, I see no offense in that comic

Yes, I do! Actually broad minded enough to know that!
 
The Oatmeal's humor to me, can be crude at times (ridden with foul language haha), but the underlying ideas in his comics I can relate 100%.  And as a religious person myself, I see no offense in that comic

I think competition for PhD spots in future years is going to be very tough due to lack of funding.  # applicants has been increasing at all of the schools I applied to, and with future funding on the decline you have a very bleak picture for future FUNDED Phd spots, IMHO.
 
If it's a good school and a liveable stipend, I would personally accept the offer.  Many POI's let you craft your specific research path within their lab, assuming there is some overlap with their background/strengths.  My research interests don't align exactly with my POI, but we overlap some and by tapping into a couple of committee members (who overlap with me in areas that my POI doesn't) I hope to have access to all of the expertise that I'll need for a kick-ass dissertation.  YMMV.

:-)

I wonder why people are giving -1 to my early post and this one. Is OK to post against one's religion but it is not OK to find it offensive? Furthermore, I did not -1 heartshapedcookie's post because she did not mean to offend anyone, she just shared one she particularly liked and I only said I did not like it. Period. That is a forum, saying what you think without offending other people. I did like the comic, but that does not mean I was offended my the post.
 
@heartshapedcookie, I suppose you know this, right?  

or it might be because that comic is stupid

Do not do a science PhD without full funding.  That's the universal advice from all my profs.

i just found this website, not academia per se, but the nerdy humor in the comics I really appreciate
http://theoatmeal.com/
 
one highlight is this:
http://theoatmeal.com/comics/religion

Do not do a science PhD without full funding.  That's the universal advice from all my profs.