UCSB vs ColoState (changing after the 15th)

[TheHoff]

Hello everyone, how are you doing? I've got a big situation now and was hoping I could get some insight here

I'm giving a bit of a backstory to give more context to the situation.

During the school year of 2014, I studied at UCSB at loved the place, after I came home one of my dreams was to go back there.

During this year's app cycle, I was invited over to an open house at CSU and I really liked the place too. I do prefer Santa Barbara over Fort Collins but the Faculty at CSU seemed really nice, friendly and my advisor have some really interesting projects going on which I would love to work on.

After getting my acceptance from CSU, I email my PI at UCSB to inquire about my status and he informed me that it would be unlikely that I would be accepted since they received many strong applicants and I wouldn't make the cut. With that information in mind, I accepted CSU's offer (I stated my intent to accept the offer to the CS dept but never signed anything with the Grad School as my official transcripts still haven't made it there).

Fast forward, today my PI from UCSB emailed me offering a position there as I made it out of the waitlist.

Now I have this dilemma, I like both places (but SB doesn't snow), I have friends in both cities, the pay is about the same (considering the cost of life), UCSB ranks way higher but the advisor at CSU have projects that I find slightly more interesting and he seems the kind of advisor that makes his students almost part of his family.

 

First question is, how bad would it be to change schools after the 15th.

The second is, what would you do in a similar situation?

 

Thank you very much for your help,

Best,

Raphael

 

 

[FutureEdPHD]

After the 15th deadline, you’re going to have to get a written release from CSU since they offered you a funding package. I’d assume that they’d be willing to do so since nobody wants to have someone in their program who wants to go elsewhere but sometimes departments/grad schools can be a little petty.

Advisor fit is huge in this process since you’ll be working closely with them for the next few years so I’d definitely take that into consideration. Ranking can also matter too but it’s not everything. You have to look at which program will best set you up for the future that you want. 

Good luck making a decision!