Canceling Recruitment Weekend After Program Paid For My Plane Ticket?

[cupparino]

I was admitted to School 2 a few weeks ago. They informed me that they nominated me for a fellowship to the Graduate School, which only a few students throughout the school get (the process will take until the end of this month they said). They then paid for my plane ticket to fly out. This morning I was accepted to  School 1 which is my top choice school.

How do I go about this situation? I am interested in visiting School 2 because of the work being done and the faculty - and also to get practice in recruitment spaces. But also I don't want to occupy a space that could go to another student who is certain about the program. The recruitment weekend is not for another two weeks. How should I go about this since they already dished out money for my ticket ? 

[FruitLover]

You should probably visit. It's always a good idea to consider all of your options, and you don't lose anything by visiting. On the other hand, if you don't go after they paid for the ticket, it doesn't even necessarily mean that they would immediately accept someone off the waitlist and the person would go instead of you. So by not visiting you pretty much just waste an opportunity to weigh in another option and make sure you are making the right decision.

[Yas-man]

I'd visit anyway because it will give your more knowledge to make a more informed decision.

Also, they might already account for a certain percentage of people turning down offers when deciding how many people to accept (e.g. they accept 10 thinking only 5 will actually take the offer) that it's not necessarily likely that they would accept somebody else anyway.

[Psyhopeful]

The purpose of recruitment is to convince you to come. You don't need to be certain of your choice in order to attend. Given that they've already paid, and they have submitted you for a fellowship, I would absolutely go. I visited my top choice school only to discover it was actually my bottom, and another school I wasn't sure about became my favorite. You should look at all of your options and wait to see how the fellowship turns out. This is the next five years of your life and then some!