Is It Normal To Be Second Guessing Program Selection Before Even Enrolling?

[Chops13]

Hello everyone,

 

I graduated from undergrad a week ago, and I am now back at home preparing to begin my program this fall. I was blessed to have been offered a spot for 4 year M.A/Ph.D program with full funding, but it was not my top choice for pretty petty reasons (I am accustom to living in Florida and the program is in a landlocked part of the Midwest). When I flew out to visit, I enjoyed it, loved the students, and I felt the POI was my best personality fit of any school (perhaps not the best research fit though). However, I also noticed the town was much less affluent and smaller than what I am used to. I thought it over, ended up committing to this program as a  "professional" decision (buckle down and crank out the degree then move ASAP) and notified the other programs of my decision before the deadline.

 

Lately, I have been second guessing the choice. Part of me wishes I would have applied to a few more places or changed some things in my process. I know that what I am feeling is irrational, because it is not based on any of my experiences with this program, more my fear of the unknown but it just keeps coming back to me.

 

Is this feeling normal at this stage in the process? Has anyone else experienced these feelings before even enrolling? 

Edited May 19, 2014 by Chops13

[spellbanisher]

I've had similar feelings, so it is not normal.

[QASP]

Yes, it's normal, I'm going through similar "if only I had taken a different approach to applying" thing, because I am not thrilled about the physical location of the school I am going to (specifically I dislike cold weather and would like to not experience it ever again). But I see you're in psychology, which is a very competitive field for funded PhD's, and schools in desirable locations are often flooded with applicants who are a poor match for the program (because we all want to live in those locales). I think it's important/worthwhile to embrace the possibilities of exploring something new, which offers distinctly different opportunities from what you're used to. Don't let stereotypes of the "landlocked Midwest" get you down.

 

Good luck!

[fuzzylogician]

Yes, this is normal. You had 4 good options to choose from, and that means that you had to turn down 3 of those 4 good choices. That's a hard thing to do, even in a situation with perfect information about all the choices, and naturally that's never really the case when we make these choices.

 

Mind you, this situation does not change depending on what school you choose -- regardless of the choice, there remain 3 schools that you would have had to turn down. Each of them has some good things going for it, or you would not have applied there in the first place. So any way you look at this, you end up turning down a lot of seemingly good options and are left with just one, which you hope is all that you want it to be.

 

You just need to trust yourself and your ability to make good choices for yourself. Nothing has changed as far as your information about these schools is concerned, so there is no reason to doubt your decision now. It's absolutely true that there are opportunities that you will miss out on, but there is NO WAY to know what they would have been, and also NO REASON to think that they are inherently better than the ones you'll have. You've made a good choice (and this is important--all your choices were good!) and that means that you'll have good opportunities because of that. You can never predict how things will turn out, all you can do is give yourself a good chance for success -- and you've done that. I'm sure this feeling of uncertainty will go away once you start school. If for no other reason, then because you'll be too busy taking advantage of your existing opportunities to worry about vague options in other places that may or may not even be there.

[Chops13]

Thank you all for your input. I really do feel better hearing from other people I am not the only one feeling this way and it is normal. You guys bring up very valid points as well. Thank you so much!