decision help!!!

[maggik]

I got into 3 schools that all have pros and cons. I don't know what to do. I don't care much about school rank, mostly just that it is a good professor and in a town I will like.

 

School 1

1. Pro:
   • Advisor is well known and top in field
   •  Lab group publishes lots of papers- I will probably get my name on quite a few papers
   •  I will learn a crap ton cause I will probably be working my ass off because he has high expectations
   • I will learn all the computer programs I was hoping to learn
   • No set project so I get to design my own as long as it falls within the realm of his grants- could be good or bad
   •  Pays well for a Masters and fully funded
2. Con:
   • Expectations may be so high that I will basically be a Phd Student (info from a grad student) and will work a bit more than I would like
   • Lab group is not a “tight” group. Yes, they get along in a work environment but they are all Phd students or post docs and work really hard. I will be the only Masters student of about 20 others, mostly foreigners (possibly one other incoming Masters student).
   • Advisor is a nice guy, I could work with him but we won’t be best buds or close
   • I have to TA
   • Not set project but there is a chance the project won’t end up being what I wanted
   • I am missing some basic courses but that is ok, I will just need to catch up the first semester
   • no field work- very computer oriented (in reality my future is very computer oriented)
   • For some reason I have an uneasy feeling about this lab group and professor

School 2

1. Pro:
   • Project is perfect for me
   • Project has field work component
   • Lab group is a close group who hang out outside of school. They are outdoorsy people who I would be comfortable with
   • Advisor is relaxed, chill guy who I could get along with well
   • No TA
2. Con:
   • Funding- pretty positive I have at least 1 year of funding, not sure on amount. He seems confident he will be able to get me full funding both years. BUT not sure if he can cover my tuition b/c university won’t waive it (If he can’t then I am not going to take it).
   • not the top person in the field but he publishes a fair amount and is still pretty well known

School 3

1. Pro:
   • Advisor is awesome. We clicked and I know we would work well with each other.
   • She is a skier- doesn’t show up on pow days (I am one of those as well)
   • Department and lab group is a close nit group of people who work together and support each other
   • Pay is average
   • No TA
   • Has full funding for 2 years.
   • Project has field work component
2. Con:
   • Project is not my ideal project. I would get many of the skills I would like to finish graduate school with but it might have an element that I am not interested in. Project is river and hydrology focused but I might have to research fish and I don’t have interest in fish. In the long run, post masters I think this would still keep me on the conservation/climate change track but I am nervous I would start down a road I don’t want to go down with this project. I emailed her today about this concern and am waiting for a response

[fuzzylogician]

School 3 sounds best to me. Interests often change during school and a masters project should not lock you into the same subfield for a PhD, as long as you can still talk about your interests in a coherent way in your SOP. Probably you will want to find an angle on your project that will allow you to say "I worked on X, which allowed me to strengthen my background/skills in Y and Z. For my PhD, I want to concentrate more on W, which my background with Y,Z makes me suited for. W and X interface in whatever ways; my strength in X will make my uniquely qualified to contribute to W because blah."  It's fine if there is also an aspect of your project that is less relevant. You are allowed to grow and change your specialty. (Of course, you didn't mention your field so this is a bit speculative, but I have yet to hear of a field where a masters project dictates the whole rest of your career.)

 

School 1 seems not great because of your gut feeling about the people. I would trust it. School 2 might be good but the funding situation makes it difficult. At the end of the day, I think the people are the most important and the topic is less so. This is just a masters project, so it's not like you'd spend that long on it anyway. You don't want a topic that you are completely uninterested in, but I'd rather take a project that does not perfectly match my interests over working with someone who I don't get along with any day.

[maggik]

Thank you. That was extremely helpful!! I was quite worried about feeling locked into a field but I think that it is close enough to my interests and I will gain many of the skills I was hoping to. I appreciate the advice! By the way, my field is environmental conservation/hydrology but everything you said was applicable to this field.