Accepted..Yay...

[vomitsmoothie]

Well, I was accepted to my top choice PhD program in Cognitive Psychology (I only applied to 2 PhD and 2 masters programs because I had low GRE scores and I haven't heard from the other schools yet).  While exciting, I am definitely going through the impostor syndrome mentioned by another poster earlier.

The school is being a bit vague in terms of

Comments

[freddie]

It's difficult to have this conversation before you really know what your funding situation looks like. It may be that you are receiving a 25% fellowship, but will have the rest of your tuition waived through an assistantship... perhaps your stipend would be increased due to the fellowship? Before you make any kind of commitment, even a mental commitment to yourself, make absolutely sure about your funding. To the penny. Also, context is essential. Try to find out what other PhD candidates are getting.

If it ends up being that your only funding is that 25% tuition waiver and loans, personally, I wouldn't even consider going.

[vomitsmoothie]

How should I inquire about funding? Should I wait to see if/when they mail me anything or if they talk about it at the open house? Or should I e-mail the professor that contacted me or the professor that they matched me with (side note - the professor they matched me with is also the dean of the school so she would know, but it makes me wonder how much time I will have to work with her and how much research she actually does).

I'm thinking I should just go to this event and see what they have to offer and try to come up with as many questions as possible.

[freddie]

Yeah, give them a little time to let you know-- but if they are expecting you to respond in 3 weeks, they have an obligation to let you know about your funding before then.

[sahiya]

One more piece of advice: Do not be shy about this. Academia is sometimes one of those fields where we're expected to pretend we work for personal fulfillment, rather than a paycheck. This is BS. You must know the funding situation before you can make an informed decision, and if they're reluctant to tell you, that's a HUGE red flag.

[roseofjuly]

This, this to the nth degree. Do ask direct questions and press for details and make sure you have all the details hammered out - how many years, how much it is, how many months a year you will get it, do you have summer funding, do you have travel funds for going to conferences, what exactly is it that you'll have to do for this money (teaching? research? combo of both? nothing?) and also find out what the average time to degree is so you know how far that money will go. Also if they offer you less than 5 years of funding ask what students normally do after the funding runs out and what percentage of the students get funded after the 2-3 years or whatever the shorter offer is.

Don't be shy about asking, it's expected, and after all you will need to eat and live for the next 5-7 or so years of your life. You can't survive on journal articles and conference presentations.