Studier's Remorse?

There is a concept in psychology called Buyer's Remorse. I think most people are familiar with the idea. Basically, you want something really badly, you purchase it, and then you regret your decision. You discover that the anticipation of getting what you want is actually more pleasurable than actually getting it. Like Oscar Wilde said, "There are only two tragedies in life: Not getting what you want and getting it."

So...

I'm not sure I picked the right school. Yup, I haven't even started classes yet, and I'm already wondering if I made the "right" choice. I know, I know... there is no way to know if it was "right" until after I actually experience it. AND the whole concept of a "right" decision is fundamentally flawed to begin with. But still, I have-a the buyer's remorse.

The school I've chosen, and that I will be attending in September is large. LARGE. It is also very prestigious and my thesis advisor is a very famous and well-connected and well thought of and has money at her disposal. The other school is small, the psych program is new, there is no specific person there that I really want to work with BUT the courses are amazing, they get you into clinical work in the first semester (the other school offers no clinical experience until the PhD level), the clinic is amazing, a really small and intimate environment where you get TONS of attention.

I haven't taken any classes yet, but I'm already having trouble registering for classes. How can this be? I only really have three, and they are all MA1 courses that I have had approved by the department, registration opened at 9am, I registered at 10:30am... how could the course that I was already approved for be FULL??? Seriously??? Okay, so no big deal... I can move my stats class to another section, oh, but the only other section that doesn't conflict with another course is during my own therapy session. And so it goes. At the other school, you register, all the MA1s are in it together, you bond and go!

I'm not sure that there will be as much bonding as competing at this school. Was the choice to have this particular thesis advisor and all her contacts, etc, worth giving up a school with an ethos that actually fit my personality? What is more powerful? The place or the person?

We shall see.

I know that there were more criteria that influenced my decision: proximity to friends and support systems, keeping my part-time job, money, partner, partner's job. I just have a nervous feeling about this. Hopefully, my two weeks off before school starts will help me to relax and see the opportunity, not the problem.

More later.