*fumes*

OK, coming down to the wire making a choice between Edinburgh and Glasgow. I need to decide in the next day or two.

As to cities, I have to admit I have a slight preference for Edinburgh over Glasgow. That said, U of Edinburgh is doing its best (unintentionally) to discourage me, while Glasgow is doing the opposite.

Glasgow gave me an answer quickly. Edinburgh made me wait and then insisted that I re-submit several forms before they would give me an unqualified acceptance.

I've gotten several emails from Glasgow, including a welcome to prospective students from the department and a personal email from their recruiter in the US, letting me know when she would be in my area. I've gotten one email from Edinburgh, telling me when there are (not even "inviting" me to) some online information sessions. And they're being hosted through Blackboard, which I hate.

The U of E enterprise IT system is, frankly, crap. It's confusing, modular in ways that have no outwardly apparent reason, provides redundant (possibly even contradictory) information in different locations, and is not user-friendly. Just now, I tried to upload one of my references, which came in two PDF files. The system would only accept one as my "reference" but assured me I could add another as a secondary type of file. I submitted the first page, but I can now find no way to submit the other or to withdraw the first and submit the two together once I find a way to combine them. I've emailed them to the address given for the appropriate admissions office and gotten an "out of office" reply, which is not encouraging.

And I've now just discovered that several of the Edinburgh scholarship funds have closed their application window; until now, they had not indicated they had an application deadline, and the acceptance deadline for the program offer is still several weeks off. At Glasgow, their scholarship funds' application deadlines are clearly stated and have not yet expired.

(Not to mention, of course, that Glasgow's tuition fees are several thousand pounds lower, and the cost of living is likely to be a bit lower there than in Edinburgh.)

I'll add that last time I was doing this dance, the staff at Glasgow were quite ready and willing to answer questions about their program, including questions about post-study placements, even when the answers were not necessarily encouraging to prospective students (IOW, they didn't sugarcoat things or prevaricate when asked tough questions).

Edinburgh, I love you, but your university isn't representing you well.