Inside The Decision-Making Process
Now that I've made all my visits and we've gathered all the information we can, Barb and I have made our deliberations and come up with a school ranking to handle all the 'what if' scenarios. A recap of our situation: I've declined all my offers except Arizona's. I'm still on the waitlists at Michigan and UNC. If nothing changes in the next week, we'll be moving to Tucson. But what if offers come through at Michigan and/or UNC? Here's the all-things-considered ranking:
How did we arrive at this ranking? Well, first we figured out the list of considerations we thought needed to be taken into account:
After doing this, I compared the schools with each other in three head to head comparisons. Both Michigan and UNC came out on top of Arizona. However, Michigan and UNC were too close to call with respect to each other.
To break the tie, we each (independently) selected the 3 factors that should be given the most weight. Barb picked Proximity to home, Faculty fit, and Placement Record; I picked Faculty fit, Departmental Culture, and Placement Record. Once this extra weight was factored in, Michigan came out on top.
So, if an offer comes through at Michigan, we'll accept it over both Arizona and UNC. (I've told Eric L. as much.) If there's no offer from Michigan but one from UNC, we'll take UNC over Arizona. (I've also told this to Keith S.) If neither Michigan nor UNC are forthcoming with an offer, we'll commit to Arizona.
One note: we don't view Arizona as a consolation prize. We would be exceedingly happy about going to Arizona. The ranking, then, reflects our extremely high opinion of Michigan and UNC, rather than any weakness on Arizona's part.
Michigan
UNC
Arizona
How did we arrive at this ranking? Well, first we figured out the list of considerations we thought needed to be taken into account:
Faculty fit: how well the faculty members' research meshed with my own interests.
Departmental Culture: How well people get along and work together.
Placement Record: How well graduates have done on the job market in the past.
Funding
Cost of Living
Proximity to home
City Culture: will we enjoy living in the city?
Weather: we've grown to like warm weather in the winter...
After doing this, I compared the schools with each other in three head to head comparisons. Both Michigan and UNC came out on top of Arizona. However, Michigan and UNC were too close to call with respect to each other.
To break the tie, we each (independently) selected the 3 factors that should be given the most weight. Barb picked Proximity to home, Faculty fit, and Placement Record; I picked Faculty fit, Departmental Culture, and Placement Record. Once this extra weight was factored in, Michigan came out on top.
So, if an offer comes through at Michigan, we'll accept it over both Arizona and UNC. (I've told Eric L. as much.) If there's no offer from Michigan but one from UNC, we'll take UNC over Arizona. (I've also told this to Keith S.) If neither Michigan nor UNC are forthcoming with an offer, we'll commit to Arizona.
One note: we don't view Arizona as a consolation prize. We would be exceedingly happy about going to Arizona. The ranking, then, reflects our extremely high opinion of Michigan and UNC, rather than any weakness on Arizona's part.
posted by David Wiens at 10:17 a.m.
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