Assistanship- Phone Meeting with Potential Adviser

[samstrong123]

Hello,

I got admit from one of the school in south for food. sci. program. Deartment staff has fixed a meeting on phone for me with potential adviser, so that this adviser can decide which assistanship opiton I should get .

I came to know this adviser from my master's mentor. I have contacted this adviser few times on email to express my interest in his lab.

Now department staff told me they have 2 options for assistantship- A. $15k stipend/yr ,  no tution fee, B. $7k stipend/yr, ~$8k/yr tution fee- part of fee which I need to pay from my pocket. So obviously any student is going to ask for option A as it pays more money.

 

1. I want to know when talking with this adviser how should I convice him to give me more funding?

Skiil based-

I can tell work I done for my masters and later- some of it is similar to work being done in his lab. I can say I can do this type of work, I can learn more work, I can put more hours in lab and so on. 

Need based-

I can say 7k/yr is very less stipend to surive for me and my family resonsibilites, and I cannot pay my part of tution fees as I cannot get education loan- being internatinal student/ do not have that much savings.

 

So which option I should focus more, shall I elaborate anything?

 

2. Can I ask him- does he has enough funding for complete length of my program- 3/4 yrs of assiatanship or it will be considered rude to ask so bluntly?

 

3. Program hand book also mentions about fellowship options - 1. Academic- $25k/yr,  2- Distinguished- $30k/yr. Can I ask him these fellowship options for me? Or they are offered to senior grad students/ after 1/2 yr in program or they can be offered from the beginning?

If I asked so, what reasons I should give for this?

 

4. Can any one give me any tips for talking with potential adviser at this stage?

 

Let me know. Thanks.

Sam.

 

[dornos]

I think it's perfectly fine to discuss funding with a potential advisor -- it's an important, albeit semi-awkward discussion to have.  You don't want to come off as too greedy/needy though. That said, those assistantships are pretty low, even for grad students stipends.  15K/yr plus tuition and benefits would be more reasonable.

 

1. The skill based approach would probably be more convincing (i.e., highlight how your skills can help the lab and also offer to work in the lab whenever necessary).  I would say it's probably okay to mentioned the need-based approach as well, perhaps if it comes up in the course of the discussion.

 

2-3. It's fine to discuss future funding opportunities.  I would inquire about TAs, university fellowships, and even external fellowship that you could write and win.

 

4. Being proactive about finding your own funding (i.e. external fellowships) makes you look motivated!

 

Good luck.

[VioletAyame]

I think it's probably late now to discuss your chance to get a fellowship for this year (2014-2015) but hopefully you can get your application ready for next year. Make sure you check with the graduate school for eligibility too. Good luck with securing funding OP!

[samstrong123]

Thanks dornos, violetAyame for your input.

I looked at assistantship, fellowship eligibility. 

1. For 15k assistantship- it  says GRE-AWA should be 4+, mine is 3. If he brings in this point how should I counter that? - can I talk about other criteria which I met? or masters I got or publications, experience I have?

 

2. dornos, I got your point about - not to be too greedy, but in $7k/yr option I'm getting only ~$500/m and I need to pay $8.5k/yr form my pocket. If he suggest this option- shall I try to get "inbetween/ middlegroung" options - A. he can pay me $15k/yr and I can pay $8.5k/yr tution fee from my pocket or B. he can pay me $7k/yr and take care of complete tution fee?

I know it sounds too cheap - but hey I have come up with reiporcal money I know how much dilated I am !

 

3. If he gives less paying option for 1st sem/ year and says he can give more funding next sem/ year, shall I trust him on words & take it so or shall I ask him to give it in writing?

 

4. Can discussion go towards technical side? will he ask me about actual experiment protocols? should I refresh technical info?

 

Let me know soon.

Thanks.

Sam.