PhD scholarship indecision

[chrishff]

Hello,

I came here to seek advice of those of you familiar with the PhD experience.

I started filling out lots of applications for a PhD in Economics last October (to British universities). Because I wasnt sure if I would get accepted with a scholarship I applied to various schools, top ones, slightly above average ones and regular ones.

So far I have gotten replies and accepted to three of the best Economics departments in the UK and one of the regular ones. This is where it gets complicated.

The regular school I got accepted at offered me a scholarship immediately whereas the other top schools (and pretty much all the schools I have applied to) will only tell me if I obtain a scholarship in 4 to six months (the funding applications have not yet closed).

The regular school needs me to start in one month and is asking me to accept now. The scholarship covers tuition and has a monthly stipend that barely helps me meet ends. The reason why I applied to this school is because my potential supervisor has been very keen in supervising my work. Although he is amongst the top economists in the UK he does not have a lot of experience in the field I want to concentrate on.

The other three schools that have accepted me could offer me better supervision since each of the potential supervisors are top names in the field I want to work on. Some of them have been very keen in my application as well but I still dont know if I will obtain a scholarship from any of those schools. The scholarships they give to students are substantially better than the one from the regular school.... enough money to afford living costs

So this is my question:

Should I decline the offer from the regular school? What if I do, and then the other schools dont offer me a scholarship and I end up with nothing? What if I do accept the offer from the regular school and then some months later the good schools offer me a scholarship? Should I change schools then? Is this possible?

I have asked some of my teachers from my master course and I have received mixed answers. Some have told me that obtaining my PhD from a better university will help me a lot when looking for a job in academia and have insisted in finding a supervisor that knows well the field I want to do my PhD on. Therefore, they tell me to decline the offer from the regular school. Others have told me that there are cases of PhD students changing schools and that it could be done but that it could bring negative consequences. Finally, others have told me to just take the offer of the regular school.

As you can see, I dont know how to proceed. I would really like to do my PhD at one of the top schools for the reasons mentioned above. If possible I would like to accept the offer I just received and then probably change if something better comes up.

Any advice?

Thanks!

[rerekun]

hmmm..iam not sure,. but if you living in US you can apply a scholarship at www.scholarshipzone.us. they are very trusted. (my sister exp)