When I went to my first graduate school visit, I hadn’t been accepted yet. The visit was definitely an interview, even if it wasn’t very formal, and all of my time there was scheduled in advance. I hardly had a moment to myself.

My last grad school visit was quite different. I was already accepted, already had a financial offer, and was visiting entirely to see how I liked it. Very little of my time there was scheduled and all of it was flexible. I did meet lots of fantastic people and had a lot of fun science conversations, just like my first visit.

My last grad school visit was really, really fun and not stressful at all. In part, that was because I was the interviewer instead of the interviewee. But it was also because I had a really great rapport with this prospective advisor and her lab.

I’ve tallied up what I like and dislike about each school and they get similar scores. Now I just have to decide which of those pros and cons have the most weight. I don’t think it will be an easy decision, but I’m trying not to agonize over it. After all, I’m in a pretty good position: I know I could be happy and successful at either school.

Abundant water makes for lots of cute epiphytes