Comments | applyingtograd: Accepted..Yay...

vomitsmoothie in applyingtograd

Accepted..Yay...

Mar 02, 2010 21:21

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 ( Read more... )

campus visits, impostor syndrome, negotiating funding, acceptance, funding, financial aid, fellowships/funding, psychology, visiting after acceptance, deciding on a school, private universities

Comments 11

sahiya March 3 2010, 05:51:03 UTC

All three of my programs offered me five years of funding, with three years of TA/RA-ships and two years of straight fellowships. So that's the first question: What kind of funding is it? Generally the three types available are fellowships, TA-ships, and RA-ships ( ... )

vomitsmoothie March 3 2010, 06:25:10 UTC

Many good points. I have a feeling that the program I am applying to is a bit different from traditional large Universities. I was awarded a fellowship of basically 25% off tuition. But I haven't received any information about funding other than that, so I don't know if there will be more to come. From the looks of it, I think everyone who is accepted gets some sort of "discount" off tuition. Should I e-mail the financial aid office about this or my department or should I should I just wait and see what happens?

This whole thing is weird because even though they are my first choice, they want me to make my decision in 3 weeks and I haven't even heard from the other schools yet.

sahiya March 3 2010, 06:53:14 UTC

Are they part of that Council of Graduate Schools? If so, they can't force you to make your decision before April 15th no matter what.

I would email someone and ask, flat out. You can't possibly be expected to make your decision without this information.

freddie March 3 2010, 17:52:28 UTC

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 March 4 2010, 00:51:01 UTC

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 March 4 2010, 02:23:24 UTC

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 March 4 2010, 05:12:39 UTC

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.

Thread 5

i_like_snow March 4 2010, 06:49:23 UTC

hey i just wanna say congrats 2 u!!!!!!!!!!!!!:)

subfusc March 4 2010, 13:59:01 UTC

So, I just attended an open house and it was a very helpful experience for me. You can ask pretty much anybody the questions you want. You could ask graduate students and even professors about the funding. They might know something, but of course they might not.

I would really email your graduate coordinator and ask her exactly what kind of funding you are getting and if there is any shortfall on tuition and how you would make that up (TA/RA, student loan, etc.)

I am with the "no funding, then do not go" crowd on this one though, unless you are a masters student. If you are a masters student, then you may or may not get funding. However, if you are a PhD student, I would really consider another university that will fund you, even if it is just with TA and RA-ships.

roseofjuly March 8 2010, 05:45:39 UTC

I'm in psychology myself and although I was researching and applying before the economic recession, the research-oriented PhD programs in psychology are programs that you should get funding in. In my opinion you should not take out student loans to pay for tuition or living expenses (beyond perhaps a one-time loan to move to your new place or put down a security deposit or something) for a PhD program. Yes, you should have a career at the end of it, but it's not going to be like investment banking or management consulting or even being a physician. In my area of the country (the Northeast) a new assistant professor can expect to make between $60-70K their first year. And that's assuming that you get a tenure-track position right out of grad school. More likely in our field, you'll work as a post-doctoral fellow for 2-5 years and earn about $30,000-40,000, unless you get one of those higher-paying prestigious fellowships. Taking out substantial loans to finance a PhD can cripple you financially as you're trying to establish ( ... )