Hello All,

I am in a situation and my reasoning has stopped! So please help!

The situation is,

I've an offer from a University which is in late 70s in the league tables. I was unsuccessfully the first time but then the person who was chosen for the post could not accept the offer! Hence I've been offered a place which has full funding and stipend. The course starts ASAP!

I have also got an offer from a University which is in top 20. But the course starts September 2010. The catch is I have look for funding on my own. The University does offers International student funding but it only covers the fees, and not the living expenses.

I have applied to other Universities as well. Can you please help me decide, shall I go for the place offered or hunt for the funding and chose the better funding.

I have until weekend to decide and reply for the place offered!

Hi Sherlock

The offer of a fully funded place which starts ASAP is very tempting...however, leaving the money aside, where would you rather work? Do you have a project that you could do at either uni? Or are you equally keen on the work at both of these? I think you should go where you found the work most interesting, and if that was with the uni that didn't pay for living expenses, then you could pick up some part time work to cover these. It takes lots of effort to do a PhD, so loving your subject helps.

Is the university in the "late 70s" in tables for your discipline or generally? You really want to try to get a top 10/20 department for your subject, general rankings are less important.

Have you considered other variables? What are the supervisors like in the uni's you're looking? The research project? The department? The location?

Universities go up and down in the tables. other things are also important, like the people who will be your supervisors, are they top of their field? are they good when it comes to supervision? read the messages on here about supervision to see what I mean. You are going to be there for a while, so make sure you are going to be enthusiastic about the subject. funding is good, but will not compensate for a subject for which you have little interest, so I would take these things into consideration over the rank of the university.

When I was applying, I had 2 offers: one from the top university in my field and one from a not so good university. I had interviews with both and I didn't know which one to choose.
Then, something happened. I accidentaly received an e-mail from the supervisor in the first university (the "good" one) saying: "Let's hope that emmaki will not accept, because she and her research will be problems"!!!!
And then I thought, what th f***, if I am considered a problem before even starting, what will ahppen next? So, I accepted the offer at the second uni. There, I have 2 great supervisors, who know the area, are very interested in my sybject, help me with my research...
What I want to say is that you have to consider all the aspects. Maybe uni A is in top 20, but what about the supervisor? 3 or more years is along period to have bad relationships and supervision. Maybe uni B is not as good, but what about the supervisor there? Who can help you? Who can give you better guidance?

Hmmm tricky! There are several things to consider I guess. Firstly, the funding- funding is hard to come by, so think about how likely you are to obtain funding for the other university. It would be a shame to turn down the funded place and then not find funding for the other place...you would probably be kicking yourself for a long time if you turned down an offer and then ended up with no PhD! I assume you are happy with either project? Or is it for the same project? Make sure it is something you are enthusiastic about and you can spend 3-4 years of your life on! With respect to the university, I would be looking in the league tables for the specific department rankings rather than the overall university position. I moved from a top uni in the UK with a fairly well regarded department for my subject to an average uni in the UK with a top department in my subject- and I certainly don't regret it, even though friends etc questioned my move. You need to be with people at the top of their game in your specific area if you can, also bearing in mind that you need to get on with them and that you need to be sure they will provide you with adequate supervision etc- this is really important! Just realised you only had til the weekend to decide...so I might be a little late with that- sorry! Let us know what you decide! KB