dilemma... PhD vs post bac

[sam_1]

This is my first post on this site, it's very encouraging to know there are others in a similar position - being an international grad applicant can be extremely stressful, and lonely!

Anyway, I completely underestimated the competitive nature of the programs I applied to, even though I have a fairly ok academic and research 'history', and the last few weeks have been seriously depressing. Fortunately, managed to get a Skype interview at a small but

nice program which I really like - it went well and I had follow-up chats with current grad students. Should be getting feedback quite soon.

However, also been offered a "post-bac" of sorts at a Really good school - it would involve about a year of lab experience with a very high profile supervisor, and possibly some coursework. This would be a means to improve my chances of admission to the same school's PhD program, or a similar one.

Both options seem appealing: the PhD (which I think I'll be offered) is 'safe' in terms of visas and so on, because there are no guarantees that I'll get in anywhere after the post-bac. But, the post-bac may open great doors - it's just such a gamble. Obviously I can't decide anything until I have a firm offer, but it seems like a tough call.... what should I do??