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[pamplemoose]

The spread between a full professor's salary at the highest-paying R1 and the 10th highest-paying R1 is $40,000.
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2007/04/12/salaries

[pamplemoose]

...a theme of this year’s annual report is the growing levels of inequality within academe. Full professors at top research universities are now earning three times what their counterparts at some less wealthy institutions earn.

I just get the sense Gekko feels very passionately about these issues based on personal experience, but tends to state opinion as fact.

[gekko]

Do you expect the OP to get a full professor gig straight out of this top-10 program? That's like comapring the difference in wages between the CEO of two differnt auto manufacturers to the difference in pay between assembly line workers at those companies. There's always a greater spread at the top.  At least discuss apples to apples. Use the CHE survey for assistant professor pay in a particular field rather than using anecdotal evidence for "star faculty." Of course someone who is a full prof at a top ranked R1 is going to be an exceptional circumstance.

[untenured]

The spread between a full professor's salary at the highest-paying R1 and the 10th highest-paying R1 is $40,000.
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2007/04/12/salaries

This isn't ideal data for this thread, but still data. 

The value of an additional $40,000 annualized is nothing to shake a stick at.

Untenured

[holden1]

Thanks for all the comments everyone. I've given it a lot of consideration and I've decided to defer for a year and try to pad my resume further. If I don't get a fellowship at that point, I've decided that I'll likely decline.

[gekko]

That's a reasonable decision holden, and one that doesn't prevent you from pursuit of your goals under more favorable circumstances. Be sure  to let the department know the specific reason you've opted to decline as well as your continued interest in submitting an application for a future academic year. Good luck in this pursuit or those in an alternate area.

[msparticularity]

Thanks for all the comments everyone. I've given it a lot of consideration and I've decided to defer for a year and try to pad my resume further. If I don't get a fellowship at that point, I've decided that I'll likely decline.

On the subject of padding your resume: the key issues for determining whether you get funding or not are likely to be: 1) GRE scores, 2) recommendations, and 3) your ability to articulate a clear and compelling research agenda. In a department with a shortage of funding, this last is likely to be the most important in determining whether you get funding. It may be very important for you to become familiar with the various funded research projects of the faculty, so you can see whether you might be a "fit" for one of them. In many cases it can be beneficial to establish communication with faculty ahead of time to determine whether they will be accepting new grad students for the coming year, and whether they are looking for research assistants.

Good luck!

[niemandsrose]

Thanks for all the comments everyone. I've given it a lot of consideration and I've decided to defer for a year and try to pad my resume further. If I don't get a fellowship at that point, I've decided that I'll likely decline.

Thanks so much for asking this question in the first place. I'm in an identical situation (different field, also a UC school), and have benefited very much from the discussion here. I don't think I'm going to go either. However, I've been told that the UC school in question in my case doesn't permit deferrals. At all.