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[gbender]

Hello everyone.  I have a bit of an interesting grad school situation, and was wondering if any of you all might have suggestions about how to go forward:

Last May I deferred admission to a PhD program in the social sciences, mostly so I could finish my current specialized MA in a great program, but also to try and apply to a few more schools.  I realized that deferring was a risk because it meant having to be considered again for funding.

Between when I applied to this program last year and now, I have done some really amazing stuff (*pats self on the back*).  Most notably, I've presented research at a national conference and I will be publishing in the spring.  Two things I'd think a grad admissions committee might be interested in when making decisions about funding.

Several weeks ago I reached out to my main contact last year to ask if I could submit updated information to support my application for funding, and got no response.  Obviously I don't want to overstep here, or in any way annoy them as they enter the craziness that is grad admissions.  Any advice?  I was thinking about emailing once more the first week of January, and just attaching my updated resume.  Good idea -- bad idea?

[ucprof]

You need to contact the director of the program about the funding situation.  If the contact is a regular faculty member not administering the PhD program that person may have very little control over funding.  It's also possible the email was lost or the prof forwarded it to the administrator who has not gotten a chance to respond, or who also forgot about it.  I would think you would want to have that information in the hands of the people making funding decisions so be politely persistent.  After the holidays you might want to contact the graduate office and talk to someone handling applications about what to do.

[seniorscholar]

E-mail the director of graduate studies or graduate admissions in the department concerned, ask if you can submit additional information pertinent to the funding of your program (for which you deferred admission), and mention briefly in the e-mail itself (but with specifics) the accomplishments you've mentioned here. Generally funding decisions are made partly by the department, partly by the university's graduate school, and in some cases by faculty who have their own grants for funding projects in their labs. Most important: here (and at a large number of other places) funding decisions are underway by mid-February so that funding can be offered when admission is offered in mid-March -- the additional time is needed for negotiating between department and graduate school, etc. (When I was DGS in my department I spent the first week of February composing the letters and documentation the graduate school needed.) So get the process underway as soon as possible.

[gbender]

So perhaps I'm just experiencing applicant anxiety all over again, but I reached out again to the director (per advice here) with what I think was a very appropriate email with brief updates and have not received even a response.  It's just odd because last year I felt as though I was being really heavily recruited (emails were always responded to rather quickly), and now I worry the situation has changed.  After a conversation with the office coordinator I was told to not worry about funding, they're just busy, and only follow up about what their decision was if I haven't heard in the coming months.  My gut is telling me to not persist any further and become annoying.  Is my gut right?

[shrek]

If they said don't worry about funding, they probably have a plan for funding you.
In my department I can offer ONE competitive fellowship, and several TA and RA slots (depending on funding) and a couple of grant fellowship slots. If someone is offered the competitive fellowship and they turn it down, we lose it for the year. It's unlikely that they'll be offered that again (burned once and all that). But, that doesn't mean we can't fund you at all.

[seniorscholar]

I would point out that between December 17 and January 7, many universities/departments have (1) final exams and grading (2) holidays with family (3) job interviews at conferences (4) a desperate week or two for research and (5) no meetings, no classes, no presence on campus except to turn in materials to be copied by the first day of classes, which (at many schools) is still 12 days away. Graduate directors are apt to be reluctantly back at their desks next week since they do need to be doing work on admissions and funding -- but still, many schools/departments have the deadline for applications for next fall's graduate cohort on the 8th or the 15th of January, meaning the director may not yet have any idea who the competition for the funding is, and (as others have explained) is not really likely to make promises to any one person until the whole array of candidates and funding options is clear.