Why I Willingly Moved Across The Country Unnecessarily - Part 2

To review my last post: I decided to move across the country for grad school instead of going to the one within commuting distance from my parent's home (and for some good reasons).

So out of the 8 schools, I was down to 6 (remember, the Pittsburgh Penguins didn't want to add to their fan base).  Most were, while still a distance away, were closer to home than the school I finally decided on.  Why did I decide to attend the school that was the farthest away?

The first school I decided to decline their offer was also the first one to accept me (though I didn't decline until after I received other offers).  The story of this one was kind of interesting.  Once again, I documented this story on facebook when it happened.  **Note, all specifics have been removed along with a random rant about something that was work related**  

"Today I was supposed to have a phone interview at noon with a school. They are in ::later time zone:: so the admissions director said it would be at 11 ::their time:: time, or noon ::my time:: and the person who was supposed to interview me was a professor in the ::name of department::. So, I skipped genetics class so I was guaranteed not to have a freak accident on my way home from class and miss the phone call because Murphy's law sucks. Noon comes around, no phone call. I'm thinking "okay maybe the professor was confused about the time zones and thought it was supposed to be at noon their time, or, one my time." No problem. One comes, still no phone call. So, now I'm just slightly irritated that I could have spent the two hours I used preparing and waiting for the damn call to study for my test. So at 1:30 I called the guy who set up the date and time of the interview, got his answering machine of course, and left a message. I was polite in it saying that I did not get my phone call at 11 ::their time:: so could he please call me back. Now, I'm waiting for him to call back which probably won't be until tomorrow."  

That was for day 1.  The next day this happened:

"Actually, to continue with my last note, I did find out from the admissions director at ::name of school:: that there was a miscommunication on their end where the professor/ head of the::name of department:: decided that my application was strong enough that she didn't need to interview me and that notice did not reach him to contact me. Another thanks to::name of professor:: since he was one of my recommenders. The admissions director left me a message saying that I was accepted but he still would like for me to talk to someone about the program."

After that, I started having flashbacks of backyard school and decided that I don't want to risk dealing with something like that again.  So I was down to 5 schools.  One school offered me a scholarship.  However, it wasn't a full ride and the tuition was high.  Add to that the cost of living in the city being a little high, I decided to decline my offer to that one.  So down to four schools.

Nothing really stuck out about the other schools that made me want to or not want to accept their offer.  So here is where I chose the school I went to over the other 3.

1. The area I wanted to focus on was pretty big there (of course, I ended up changing my concentration).

2. The internship opportunities were the best (and I was able to take advantage of them while in school too)

3. I actually knew someone down here before I moved.

4. They were the highest ranked.

5. Tuition was high but cost of living was cheaper compared to other areas.

6. Location (my current city is one of the biggest areas in my field).


After going to a prospective student visiting event, I was sold.