next »

[hairylarry]

I'm just sort of curious what kinds of financial offers people are receiving from prospective graduate programs. I'm in the humanities and I've received two offers that are about $15,000 for six years; I was blown away today, though, because I heard from another school that I would be given $21,000 for the academic year and $4000 for each summer (this is for five years). Would I be nuts to turn this down, even though it's not my first choice school?

[copper]

No, you wouldn't be nuts.  There are other factors besides $$ -- how happy you'll be in Location A vs. B for several years, quality of the relationship with your advisor, and gut instinct come to mind.  But $25K is 2/3 more than $15K (if I'm reading your offer right).  To evaluate, make sure you compare costs-of-living, tuition waivers and/or health insurance.  These vary widely among schools/depts.  FYI, My science dept is currently offering $22K/12months + tuition waiver + good health ins, and we think it's too low to attract our top applicants.  My p'doc department had grad fellowships of $32K/yr, and that was several years ago.

[roarheels]

I faced this same decision with pretty much those same values. However, they are not equal offers even if the total monetary terms seem similar. 15000 grand is really difficult to live on in many parts of the country. However, for the location where I received that offer, it was more than sufficient. Grad Students can generally get 4-5 grand in the summer if they teach, so 15 becomes 20 quickly. At the same time, six years can be a real blessing. You have to determine if you can do it in five years, or what the extended funding options are. I ended up taking a higher value five year offer and now have discovered that the promised funding that I was told would be available in years six and seven is in fact highly competitive. Most of my collegues have never received it and many teach high loads to finish up the diss. Thus five years has become nine for the average student in my program. I am currently on pace to do mine in five and it has required endless effort to squeeze not only coursework but exams into the second year. I have no time for anything but school so the extra cash is only of secondary importance. Having a guaranteed year sixth year would seem pretty sweet at this point. Funding packages are hard to conceive of before you choose one, but you would be suprised at how slow some libraries at major universities can be. I had research held up for a month over a source problem and it acquisition. In sum, you should check everything before you decide. How quickly do grad students say you potential advisor responds to work. Some read dissertations at a snail pace, particularly if one is finishing hus own work. An extra year with no funding pressure can make a lot of difference even if it means more Rahmen in the near term.

[littlejay]

I am in the humanities as well, and so far the best offer I received is 25$ a year for 4 years (I have already a MA)+ medical insurance: I wonder if we are talking about the same school...

[doppelganger]

You're getting 25,000 in the humanities? 

My grad program, humanities, is currently offering $12,000 plus good health insurance.  Some people at my grad school (other disciplines) make $10,000.

Okay, money aside, these are what you need to consider:

1. How long is the funding guaranteed for?  (vs. possibly available for?)
2. How long is it going to take you to finish?  Be honest, and then add two years.
3. Using the above number, how many years will you have funded? 
4. How easy is it to find other opportunities on campus once your funding runs out?
5. Cost of living variants?  $25,000 in NYC is crap compared to $15,000 in Iowa City.
6. How many people are you trying to support on this income?
7. What kind of extra funding is available?  Summer teaching?  Grants?  Research travel?  Conference travel?  Are these things guaranteed or competitive? 
8. How close are you to where you need to be to do your research?
9. How good of a match is the faculty to your research interests?
10. What is the placement rate for jobs?
11. How is the department culture?  Is $4,000 worth 8 years with backbiting competitors when your other option is peace love and supportive happiness?
12. What is the completion rate in the department?
13. What do you have to do for the money? Teaching?  TAing?  Research?  Which is going to get you the experience you need for the jobs you want? 
14. If the funding does not include standalone teaching, then where can you get some experience with that so that you have a chance in hell on the job market?
15. etc. etc. etc.

[grasshopper]

You're getting 25,000 in the humanities? 

Yeah, that sounds like a lot to me, too. I've never heard of an internal scholarship for that much in the humanities. External, yes. Internal, never.

[littlejay]

Actually I was shocked when I got such an offer - also given that is not in an expensive area, that this is the "basic offer". The other plus is that it's 2 years of fellowship and two years of teaching.

[hairylarry]

Littlejay, I do wonder if we're considering the same school. Trust me, I was shocked to be offered so much money. It's a five year offer, two of the years are non-teaching years, and the package includes health insurance. It's in a relatively inexpensive part of the country -- I could probably rent a very nice, one-bedroom apartment for $800.

[briar_rabbit]

I would add another question to the mix:

15. What are you willing to compromise on?  Would you be willing to forgo some things in order to keep your cost-of-living down?  I.e. living in a studio versus one bedroom, giving up cable, trading high-speed for dial-up... 

I would rather live in a little studio apartment than live with roommates -- I'm a much *nicer* person and better scholar with my own space -- so I will probably have to spend more money on rent and give up the cable, high-speed, etc, for my own space.