Best/Worst Decision Ever

[jd1]

So, I have basically the best/worst decision of my life. I have three great opportunities for graduate studies, and no easy way to pick between them. I thought maybe some advice from the internet would help.

The crux of the issue is that each school's offer dominates the others in one or more respects, but is dominated in the others:

- All schools offer significantly (i.e. 5 figures) more money than is required to pay tuition and living expenses.

- All schools have supervisors I've met and believe I'd enjoy working with.

- All schools are in locations I'm comfortable living in.

Thus, the differences become:

Option #1 offers the best guaranteed finical position, the most international prestige, and is where my significant other wants to go.

On the down side, it has no active research in my specific sub-field, so I'd have to switch after already having built up a considerable body of publications and knowledge.

Option #2 offers the some of the best research opportunities in my sub-field in North America.

On the down side, it's a tiny school with little reputation internationally. It offers a decent financial package with a net worth about 50% that of option #1, but which is still large enough to yield a very comfortable savings account.

Option #3 is staying where I am now. I'd get to keep working with my current research group, which would make it really easy to generate more publications since all the infrastructure is already in place. If I get all awards I've applied for, this school offers the best financial position. More likely, it would be somewhere in the neighborhood of option #2 money-wise.

On the down side, I'd be doing two degrees at the same place, and becoming increasingly like the "lifers" (those who do all their degrees at one place) I see wandering the halls.

Thoughts?

[so47]

If I were you, I would go for Option #1. Yes you might have to change your research interests, but that actually shows you have much more versatility, and gives you a broad foundation, from which you can later move into more than one possible area. And you did say there are people you could see yourself working for, which leads me to believe you do have other research interests as well. And, the thing is, going to a prestigious institution helps with job placement later, not just because of the name, but it is generally thought that you get more rigorous training at the higher-ranked programs.

I would avoid Option #3 like the plague. I was advised long ago that you should not go to the same institution for undergrad and grad school (I've also heard it called Academic Incest). You want a different perspective, to be around new faculty who can teach you in different things than you might have already been exposed to. I know that I feel like I have already gotten everything I can out of my department, going there for grad school it would be very hard to get a lot more knowledge out of it. And my school is one of those that has lots of "lifers" too. It may be "easier" but you get what you put in. You will probably come out a better scientist/whatnot by experiencing different things instead of going with what is already established, since you will have to uproot eventually anyway, and may not be able to get a job in that singular sub-discipline.

So that's my two-cents Good luck with your decision!

Edited March 12, 2010 by so47

[Lantern]

I'd go for option #1 for all the reasons you listed as the differences. Option #2 just sounds uninspiring, and option #3 wouldn't be an option that I personally would consider, but that is just because I prefer to move around and have new experiences.

With that said, I know how easy it is to choose from the outside. I am agonizing over my own decision, and no matter how many pro/con lists I make, nothing is clear to me.

[dzk]

It really can't hurt to give the names of these schools (at least #1 and #2), given that you haven't provided any identifiable personal information. It'd be easier for people to help you if we have an idea of exactly how far apart these schools are in program quality. The way you presented it, Option #1 sounds the best, but you could definitely be misrepresenting those programs based on your own biases.

[jd1]

Thanks for all the replies. Very helpful. Options 1 and 2 are Waterloo and MUN respectively. For Computer Science, there's really not much of a comparison. For the sub-field of AI that I work in currently, MUN happens to have some great researchers, and Waterloo has none at all.

[dzk]

Thanks for all the replies. Very helpful. Options 1 and 2 are Waterloo and MUN respectively. For Computer Science, there's really not much of a comparison. For the sub-field of AI that I work in currently, MUN happens to have some great researchers, and Waterloo has none at all.

Okay, as an American, I had to look up what the heck MUN was.

I would say you should not worry one bit about changing fields goes as far as knowledge and experience goes. Only consider what you would most like to do. If you are equally interested in a field that Waterloo is strong in, then I really think that is your best bet. Go to MUN if you know you want a career in your current field. Do not go to Waterloo just for the sake of it being Waterloo.

[Postbib Yeshuist]

Option 1 imho. More money and a happy S.O. will help a great deal in actually completing the degree. As for changing research, my thought is that it will only make you more competitive when you apply for positions since you'll have two areas of expertise. In the end, you do what you need to, but I really don't see how Options 2 & 3 can even compete with #1, given what you've said.