Changing graduate schools

ticklemepink
Thu, 22 Jul 2010 17:03:15 +0000

You need to accept this. Let it go. Penn is still excellent and well respected. You will have an opportunity to do a post-doc at MIT so work your butt off at Penn so you can win one of those.

My warning is this about leaving Penn and switching to MIT for no particular good reason other than specific research interests- you will evidently burn bridges by leaving those professors who have given their time to work with you to become a future colleague. MIT professors may go either way.

You knew how difficult it was to get into MIT and you got very lucky to get into Penn.

Also, you will experience this time and time again throughout graduate school- The green looks greener on the other side of the fence. Those who dare to climb will usually find disappointment (unless you’re just looking to escape to the real world!). If you have a lot of things going for you at Penn, your dreams of MIT will start to fade.