Weird circumstances regarding Masters admissions?

[pomegranateleaves]

Hello everyone!

I think that I am in a very strange situation? I applied to psychology masters programs and got accepted to a couple of them, but rejected from most. I picked a pretty good school that I would be really happy attending on the deadline, not expecting to hear back from any other schools after this deadline. However, I literally just got an email YESTERDAY from another school I thought I was rejected from because I haven't heard anything from them. I got accepted to Columbia University! I don't know what to do, because I would have picked to attend Columbia if I had received that offer EARLIER. Why would they send me this acceptance so late? I don't want to burn any academic bridges, because my goal is to earn a PhD in Clinical Psychology and work towards getting a tenure-tracked position. However, the idea of rejecting this offer from an ivy-league school makes me sick to my stomach. Do you have any advice? Thanks!

[PsyDuck90]

Go with the school you picked. If you want a PhD, the debt from Columbia probably isn't really worth it. The psych MA program has a bit of a reputation as a cash cow.

[MarineBluePsy]

If your goal is a PhD then once that's completed that is all anyone will care about.  No one will care that prior to that you completed a Master's at an Ivy.  You could stick with the program you've committed to and apply for PhD's at Ivy's later if that is important to you.

[pomegranateleaves]

Hi guys!

Thanks for your responses! I'm still torn, however, for a variety of reasons. 

First, I think that my research interests align more with Columbia's program since there is a professor on the campus that studies exactly what I want to study in my future doctoral studies. I know what I want to study already, but didn't feel ready entering a PhD program just yet in my college career. I'm hoping that if I work with him during my masters program, that it would help my chances of getting accepted to work with him in the future as a doc student since he will know me and my work ethic more on a personal basis, if that makes any sense. I'm not saying that my research interests don't match with the mentor's I would be working with at the University that I already accepted: it's just that it matches more at Columbia. Also, Columbia is a lot closer to my family. It would be nice to just take a train ride to see my family every once in a while without having to pay a fortune to travel.

What would be the repercussions of deciding to not go to the school I already accepted an offer from to attend Columbia instead? At the time, I picked a school that was the best option for me research-interests wise, and was genuinely happy with my decision. This offer from Columbia definitely threw a curveball at me, since I genuinely didn't think that I would get accepted to the program. It was a reach school for me and my top choice.

I know it's pretty late in the game right now. If I decided to leave this program, I'd feel immense guilt for taking a spot away from someone who wanted it. If I had both of these offers at the same time, I genuinely would have picked Columbia. However, I'm also concerned about jeopardizing my academic/professional reputation and potentially getting blacklisted. Like, would this impact my chances at getting into future doctoral programs? 

Thanks!

Edited May 26, 2019 by pomegranateleaves
accidentally submitted my post before I was done typing

[MarineBluePsy]

Ultimately its your decision to make.  If you ditch the program you've already committed to and go to Columbia, maybe everything will work out fine and you'll proceed to a PhD and a great job later.  Or maybe your area of research is small enough that everyone talks and when you apply for PhDs/jobs the PIs/departments you apply to work with will have in their mind that you back out of commitments at the last minute and will be reluctant to take a chance on you.  It seems you'll just have to make a choice and hope it works out.  

[higaisha]

8 hours ago, pomegranateleaves said:

Hi guys!

Thanks for your responses! I'm still torn, however, for a variety of reasons. 

First, I think that my research interests align more with Columbia's program since there is a professor on the campus that studies exactly what I want to study in my future doctoral studies. I know what I want to study already, but didn't feel ready entering a PhD program just yet in my college career. I'm hoping that if I work with him during my masters program, that it would help my chances of getting accepted to work with him in the future as a doc student since he will know me and my work ethic more on a personal basis, if that makes any sense. I'm not saying that my research interests don't match with the mentor's I would be working with at the University that I already accepted: it's just that it matches more at Columbia. Also, Columbia is a lot closer to my family. It would be nice to just take a train ride to see my family every once in a while without having to pay a fortune to travel.

What would be the repercussions of deciding to not go to the school I already accepted an offer from to attend Columbia instead? At the time, I picked a school that was the best option for me research-interests wise, and was genuinely happy with my decision. This offer from Columbia definitely threw a curveball at me, since I genuinely didn't think that I would get accepted to the program. It was a reach school for me and my top choice.

I know it's pretty late in the game right now. If I decided to leave this program, I'd feel immense guilt for taking a spot away from someone who wanted it. If I had both of these offers at the same time, I genuinely would have picked Columbia. However, I'm also concerned about jeopardizing my academic/professional reputation and potentially getting blacklisted. Like, would this impact my chances at getting into future doctoral programs? 

Thanks!

that 1 professor may 1) have a full/busy lab 2) be someone you don't get along with 3) have a research program thats changing from your current interest 4) may not be taking a student 5) may not be taking you...there's hundreds of people that apply. Banking an important decision on a bunch of possible events doesn't really make sense, unless you have established contact with them in advance and otherwise know at the least they want to work with you. Even then, its not certain.

Columbia's program seems eeeh..like, the head of the MA program isn't even a full-time faculty...it does seem cashcow-ish. I think viewing Columbia's program through rose-tinted glasses might interfere with making the best possible decision. 

[person10493]

omg! i'm dealing with the exact dilemma lol. i would also have to withdraw from my other program if i were to accept columbia's offer (just got mine too this weekend). we have until june 15th!

[Sherrinford]

Columbia is a great school and in NYC you would have access to good research opportunities. You mentioned wanting to work with a specific professor, but I would not bank on them taking you as a doctoral student bc they worked with you during your MA. It absolutely does happen, but would be a big risk in my opinion. I have numerous colleagues who graduated from Columbia's MA program and most of them are in PhD programs now. But they all have >100k in loans. PhD programs are expensive to apply to and competitive, it may take you more than one try to get in. Unless you're in a funded program, you're going to have incur more loans as well.

I would not recommend that you take on those loans. I went to a relatively unknown modest MA program that was very cheap and still got into a funded PhD program.