Help me

[Sconnie]

So I have 2 highly ranked programs in my field that have both accepted me with great offers and I am having trouble deciding where I should go.

 

The first school offered me an assistantship that pays a pretty good stipend that is for 9 months with no guarantee for the summer funding but its a possibility.  There are a couple professors I would like to work with there and could see myself fitting into the department well.

 

The second school offered me an assistantship that pays me slightly more but that is spread over 12 months along with a 1 time supplemental fellowship.  There are a couple professors there that I would also like to work with and from what I have gathered I would fit in very well there too.

 

Its a toss up to me which one I would choose...any incite would be greatly appreciated

[Andean Pat]

Ok, this may not come out nicely since I do not like "oh-I-don't-know-which-school-to-choose" problems. Apologies in advance if I seem rude. 

 

If you cannot choose based on their offers, base your decision on something else (dah!) like place, weather, further funding available, ranking of other departments that may collaborate with you, graduate students parties, you name it. 

 

If you cannot make up your mind then it is always effective to flip a coin.

 

[Lulubelle]

I agree with Andean Pat. There are a lot of factors like location that sometimes people DON'T get to consider because their programs differ so much in terms of faculty or fit or funding, so they end up having to ignore other lifestyle factors. But since these are equal to you, is there somewhere you'd rather life? Are there certain fringe benefits of one program over another? For me, I like that one of the programs I visited has a much closer cohort than another. Not something I'd base my entire decision on, but if I actually couldn't choose, then it would definitely put a point in the column for me.