To Jeffzhang69,
Your posts are mirrors of your personality. Fully understood your hesitations. To be frank, you’d better give up Waterloo. The reason is that you must often go “back and forth” if you enroll in the Ph.D program on the basis of your personality.
Remember, “Better later than never".
上个月我也曾面临与你相似的选择,但最终的决定还是问自己,因为别人都是在说他们自己的经历和见闻。我当时考虑:
1)一般来说,博士毕业要么去大学任教,要么去研究所做研究。这需要本人能耐心,安心做研究,有创新能力,否则无法keep your position。硕士毕业后就业面可能更广一些,虽然level和薪水不如博士高。工作多是一些开发,应用方面的,而我本人更适合做development甚于research;
2)在我心里,job is more important than the the degree of Ph.D.
3)老婆也在蒙城上学,为了家,做点牺牲也没什么。
最终我放弃了Ottawa的Ph.D,当然比起你家Waterloo名气是差远了,呵呵。