Too late to change my mind?

[fdsa]

I accepted a PhD offer at Berkeley, but now I think I just want to go for a masters at Stanford (funded w/ fellowship), and maybe continue onto a PhD there. Would it be super uncool if I went back on my decision? I'm worried most about telling the advisor at Berkeley.

[Rachel B]

Make sure that you know the conditions of withdrawing your commitment at Berkeley before you accept Stanford's offer. The only reason I say this is because the conditions differ from school to school and some schools may require you to still pay for a full year's worth of tuition and fees.

[TMP]

Bad idea at this point. It's a small world out there. You got in for the PhD. So, why would you put yourself through the whole process again? You can always leave after the MA in hand.

(so says someone who's applied 3 times and finally made it)

[Mohansingh]

Life is very short my friend .

Everyone need to take decision on the right time.

Because time moving fastly.

You take long time you can miss the right oppertunity.

[hungry]

I feel you. The PhD regret got to me terribly... I finally gave in to it. I was blinded by big names and forgot what I really wanted in the first place. So two days ago, I contacted Duke to see if I could have my M.S. offer back, and they were kind of enough to extend it. Today I contacted my PhD advisor at MIT to tell him I would be asking for a release to do a M.S.

As someone who just did this, here is what advice I would give you.

1. Contact Stanford or whatever school you want to do your M.S. at FIRST (to make sure they will still hold the offer for you!)

2. Have a good answer for "Ok let me get this straight, you are turning down our funded PhD, which you could always drop out of with a M.S., to do a Masters somewhere else?" Remember, it needs to sound good as you still need a nicely worded release form to give to Stanford.

3. Rehearse the conversation with your advisor beforehand. Mine didn't go as well as I had hoped, hopefully yours goes better.

And most importantly: relax, take some time to make sure you made the right decision. It sounds like you are just as confused as I have been, something that really helped me was to take an entire day and "pretend" I chose another school and think how it felt. I wish I had known that before April 15th

Edited May 2, 2012 by hungry

[CarlieE]

Are you planning on reapplying at Berkeley for a PhD after the MA at Stanford? It sounds like you're hoping to get into the PhD at Stanford but thought I would ask. This seems like a potentially bad situation for you if you can't extricate yourself from Berkeley... I agree with hungry's advice above, but even so, the Berkeley advisor might be offended which might be a bad thing for you in the future...

Also, could Berkeley have a case against Stanford for student "poaching"? If so, are there any negative ramifications for you?

[CageFree]

Before making such a decision, think long and hard about the reasons why you are thinking of switching. Are you unsure you want to get more than a MS? Is Stanford a better pick for you? Is it just cold feet? If, after considering these things very carefully, you are sure that Stanford is a better place for you, then go ahead and set that into motion. Just make sure it's not just on a whim.

[S.Y.]

I think it's a bad idea at this point. But, if you really want to do so.... contact Stanford FIRST. Do know that you might actually WANT to go to Berkeley later i.e. as a professor. And, I'll tell you one thing I heard from my Berkeley professor. She actually remembered that one of the students that they tried to recruit TEN YEARS ago turned down Berkeley's offer and went to Harvard. She even commented that they were surprised that this student turned down Berkeley's offer and went to Harvard. They were like, "what?!". Now, that student is currently a Berkeley Professor. These things do happen and people remember.

[jeffster]

I would have to echo what a few others have said: it seems like a very bad idea right now, unless the reason is extreme. After all, your MS isn't the end of your career; it's the very beginning. You're potentially starting off on the wrong foot with another top school this way. Plus as others have pointed out, you generally don't move from a PhD to an MS...

So, if it's just a case of cold feet, stick with Berkeley. If there's actually a serious reason behind this, then maybe that's something else.