Accepting 2 different offers of admission

[RNAboiii]

Hi,

I was admitted into 2 different MSc. programs, Ottawa and Toronto for Fall 2016. Was wondering what would happen if I accepted both as its a bit early to make a final decision. But I am leaning heavily towards Toronto. 

[TakeruK]

Don't do this. What would happen is that both schools (and the faculty involved) would be expecting you to keep your word when you say you want to work with them. They will allocate money and time to pay you and supervise you. Then, when you eventually tell one school that you lied to them and aren't actually going to be attending their program, they will be upset with you. They might have declined another student in order to make room for you in their group/lab. Now, that other student might have gone elsewhere and they might not have any good candidates at all. You will burn bridges at that department. And, to be honest, Canada is a pretty small academic community, and given that Ottawa and Toronto are close in proximity, there may be plenty of Southern Ontario academic events. So the faculty at the two places will know each other and people will know what you did.

Don't do it.

Instead, take whatever time you need to make a final decision. Talk to both programs. Ask them questions. Tell them that you're deciding between these two. Maybe ask if you can visit and see the labs, meet the people, see the city. If you are waiting to hear back from a 3rd school, find out when that school will give you their decision and ask Toronto & Ottawa to extend the deadline. 

Is there another factor (e.g. a partner's admission status) that is preventing you from making a decision at this point? I don't know what you mean by "too early"---in my opinion, the only time it's "too early" is when you are missing some information. But if you are not waiting for a decision from another school/person, and if the only missing information is some unanswered questions from Toronto and Ottawa, then there's nothing stopping you from asking them!