PhD offer and waiting for other options I have an offer from an elite German institute (option A) for a PhD in particle physics and artificial intelligence.
I love the project but it is not in my first choice subject: the intersection of AI and cosmology (astrophysics).
At this stage of my career; my expertise is in AI but my training is in physics/astrophysics.
I think the project and institution of option A seriously warrants considering it regardless of this. The research facility and supercomputing infrastructure are unique (the project is great also).
I will not hear back from the institutions I have applied to for other PhDs and I have already asked for an extension to the deadline of my response to option A.
I'm a good enough student, but I can't really believe I got option A and I don't think it is likely that I will get any of my other options.
This is a very stressful decision for me and I worry about whether it is possible to leave option A should I obtain another offer.
What can I do? Decline and risk missing the other opportunities to be left with nothing, or accept and always wonder what could have happened?
Thank you for any advice you might have.
You are getting an offer from an elite institution in the middle of a pandemic. The job market right now is absolutely awful. I can appreciate that you want only the absolute best for your future, but the way you sketch this situation hardly sounds like a dilemma at all.
Additionally, as soon as you manage to publish a paper or two on the project on which you are hired, it may very well happen that your supervisor rewards your performance by letting you seek out further research directions yourself. Then, you can always steer your trajectory more towards the intersection of AI and cosmology.