I feel miserable

[Christa]

I have to reply to an offer in a few hours if I don't want it to get cancelled. I thought I'd be happy if I got into school A and in many ways it's a good place to be except that I feel that in my field (Computer Science) being in Canada will reduce my chances of having good job opportunities. I can't stop crying and I'm so afraid of choosing this Candian school over the US one but the US visa is not guaranteed for people with my nationality and the research area isn't a great fit but the school is top 20

I'm not sure if this normal. I mean it does feel bad to reject schools but feeling absloutely miserable because you're accepting a good offer is so strange and feels terrible

[Tsujiru]

Take a deep breath Christa. You will be OK. It's always scary to take a leap and feel like your closing off other options, but at some point that's exactly what you have to do. Believe it or not, Canada has a lot to offer (I'm not in CS, but in my field at least there are lots of well respected programs in Canada, not to mention it can be a very nice place to live). Good luck and try not to be too hard on yourself.

[Christa]

Thank you Tsujiru for the support. You are right, I do have to choose something over the other but I ended up choosing the US program because I felt so miserable and didn't feel at all excited about the Canadian program. I feel much happier now even with all the risks with the visa.

[CarlieE]

If it makes you feel any better, my experience with US schools is that they provide a lot of assistance with visas especially if you are already accepted. In fact, when it gets closer to the Summer their department will usually begin contacting you about documentation etc. However, perhaps to ease your fears, now that you are IN the program perhaps you can set up a phone conference so you can relay your concerns and ask them how procedure about visas works at their school.