PhD with Funding or Better School MS no Funding?

[Cupofcurry]

Hi,

I applied to 10 schools this year and I finally came down to two schools:

School A: PhD, Full Funding + Stipend (Engineering rank 70s)

School B: MS, No funding (I have to pay 40k/yr), a bit more prestigious, better name. (Engineering rank 50s)

My problem is that I have always wanted to go to school B since my undergraduate days. It was my dream school, in a way. However, School A gave me an offer earlier (Early April) and School B did not get back to me until today (April 30th) and I accepted School A's offer because the deadline was April 15 and it was the best of the offers I had that time. To add to that, I called School B and they said that they were going to get back to me in May and so I took it as a rejection.

My question is how much does the name and prestige differential between A and B really matter? I mean, I can go through all the hustle of declining School A's offer and attending School B instead but is it really worth it? To make matters worse, School B is quite insecure with their funding and I would have to compete harshly for it if I plan to do my PhD there (after completing my MS). My parents pretty much are willing to pay for School B's MS program because of its better name and being semi-prestigious/well-recognized, so funding is not too big of an issue eventhough I hate the thought of them paying for it where I can go to School A for free! It is really hard to think of the fact that I wanted to go to school B so badly 2 yrs ago and now that I have it infront of me, I might reject it. School A was my safety school but I visited the campus and I loved it!

I appreciate any opinions you can toss at me! Thanks!

[liszt85]

A rank 50 and a rank 70, is that much of a difference? In any case, is it possible to do a terminal MS at school A? You can always transfer after that, though it would be unethical to do that since you already know that you'd want to do that and have taken up funding that is meant for a full PhD student..

If you really do not want to do a PhD at school A, and think you'd come to regret it, go for the school B MS option.

[cogneuroforfun]

The only reason I think to take the MS option is if a) you can easily afford it and you have a burning desire to be a prestigious researcher in academia. In that case, you could do the MS at a school ranked in the 50s, do amazingly well, and apply to (much) better ranked PhD programs when you finish the MS. If you really want to be a professor at a prestigious university, I think you would be handicapping yourself from the start if you attend a PhD program so poorly ranked. Its not that rank means too much, but in general that means less resources, fewer opportunities, and possibly some prejudice against you by future academic employers. If your aspirations are something like that, I think you would be doing yourself a favor by doing everything you can to shine at an MS and then reapplying for better ranked PhD programs later.