_indecisive_ Posted February 21, 2019 Posted February 21, 2019 Hi y'all, I got two offers for developmental psychology graduate programs. I'm undecided about which to choose because they're both great programs. I've been going through pros and cons of each program and thought it would be helpful to get a fresh set of eyes. School 1: I did my undergraduate training with the same mentor that I applied to work with. I would be able to live with family so I would have very low living costs. This mentor is very experienced and established in the field. They have very broad interests and employs a lot of methods in order to study development. They are well connected and has a large lab so graduate students don't have to take on administrative duties. Since I did my undergraduate training there, I am already familiar with the methods. The university is also in a large city and participants are very diverse. This mentor also has a large data set that I would be able to work with as a graduate student. This school also has many other faculty interested in development, and they all collaborate regularly. This mentor is a bit older so they're less open to industry. I am interested in academia but I don't know if my interests will change throughout the process. The program at this university is also not as well structured. School 2: I really liked this mentor but our interests don't align as well as my interests do with the other mentor. This school is offering me better funding, but I would have high costs since I would not be able to live with family. At this university, there are only two developmental faculty and I don;t know that they collaborate regularly. I am unfamiliar with the methods this mentor employs and would have a lot to learn going in. They don't employ a large variety of methods so I would have less to work with for my own research. This mentors work also doesn't focus as much on language development which is my primary topic of interest. This university is in a college town so there isn't a lot of diversity with respect to participants. This PI also has a smaller lab with one staff member. Students would potentially have to pick up administrative and recruitment tasks. This mentor is a bit younger and less established, but they are more open to the fact that students may want to find employment outside of academia. This program also allows students to choose between completing comprehensive exams, writing a grant, and writing a review paper. I believe that about sums everything up. It would be great help in making a decision to hear what other people think about them. Any insight would be appreciated.
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