I will discuss the fantastic, and a little horrible, fact that my graduate school prospects have changed up slightly. Of course after leaning towards one school rather than the other, although only a smidgen, I get a great but vague e-mail from one of the schools about funding. It suggests that they would be able to give me a two-year TA ship or such deal. YAY! They are the better ranked school but I am not sure I want to go there still. *sigh*
Why? I don't know if I feel like being, as I would describe it, "on" all the time. Maybe that's how you should be for graduate school but part of me wants to relax, sort of, and I doubt that feeling would be achieved at this other school. Also, because of my previous shake up about my (possible lack of) writing ability and looking over a syllabus, I feel uneasy about my skills. Cue rant about not being worthy and definitions of worth.
I am evaluating many things about each school, such as job ops after graduating and theoretical variety in the faculty, but these factors do not always overlap. The decision feels too much like comparing apples and oranges rather than one type of fruit. Each would require concessions and could be tailored to my interests, whatever those happen to be, but which is the "best" seems like an unfair question. Also, I feel like either way I will wake up in the night dreaming about my life as a graduate student at the other university. However, in which city shall I be sleepless? I have about a week more to decide and feel free to discuss I want as many perspectives as possible.
