rising_star

In terms of physical buildings, this is unlikely for most schools unless they have a large endowment. Buildings are expensive, especially for the sciences. I could see schools expanding their online offerings or trying to put classrooms into nontraditional spaces, like strip malls or office buildings, where they wouldn't have to pay for construction costs. Also, for reasons related to student-to-faculty ratio and how that affects what type of institution you are, many small(er) colleges (I'm thinking enrollment under 3K) would probably not expand unless it was clear they could afford to make the same expansion in the faculty.

I feel like this is a case of "the seaweed is always greener in somebody else's lake". That is, you're seriously willing to trade the known (your safety school that you have nothing negative to say about) for the unknown of another round of admissions where you may not even get into your safety school. Go to the safety school provided you have funding. You can second guess it a year from now if you want.

The South has bugs. You'll live. Also, most places will spray monthly because of this.

You could always overnight the paper document...

I'm not quite sure what you're asking. In general, be yourself, ask questions, try to not to blabber on in your answers, and don't drop any f-bombs.

Two things. 1) I didn't say that people don't take loans. I'm taking with issue with your statement that most people take out loans. Do you have any data to support this? 2) Master's degrees are funded in a number of fields. There are many posts here where people ask about them, list programs that offer funding, etc. So, your blanket statement isn't applicable to all fields though it may be applicable to some of yours. In general, my point is that you shouldn't make such broad, sweeping statements. I applied to a master's program at UNC years ago that fully funded those admitted (tuition waiver plus stipend). Obviously this isn't the same field as yours but, it supports my point that there are master's students at UNC who aren't taking out loans. If you did want to avoid debt, you could try to get a job at a college or university which provides tuition benefits to employees and then use that to pursue your master's part-time.

Even if there is space for an addedum, I wouldn't talk about mental health issues. I would leave the health issues unspecified.

I actually don't think this is true. Among my friends in grad school, those who took out loans were the ones who needed to buy things like a car or who had serious health issues which required expensive treatment. The rest didn't take out any loans to pay for graduate school because we were receiving a tuition waiver and a stipend.

This thread is basically identical to your other one, @Baloch. I'm locking this one. If you want to reply, see here:

I dunno. Maybe rent is less than you think? Have you talked to any current grad students about their ability to survive on the stipend and whether there are opportunities to earn more money? If not, do that ASAP.

To avoid the ink issue, get a laser printer. I've had two different Brother laser printers and love both of them. One toner cartridge (~$45) can print 3K pages easily.

I don't think any education program is worth $80,000 in loans! I would wait to see if you get any of the fellowships or scholarships you've applied for. If not, maybe think about getting a job in one of these countries and gaining work experience. That may help you make your application for funding more competitive in the future.

I think you don't understand how the MA to PhD process typically works, @Baloch. When I applied to PhD programs, one of the applications was to the same department where I was finishing up my MA. I had to apply for a spot and compete against everyone else applying to the PhD program that year. In fact, my application process was more rigorous because rather than getting approval from the admissions committee, I had to get a majority of all faculty in the department to vote to let me continue on to the PhD and to fund me. So, I wouldn't say that getting in somewhere and doing your MA there necessarily gives you a leg up on the PhD process. Also, you'd still be competing against the other PhD applicants for funding at the doctoral level.

Consider it a preview of life on the academic job market.

Provided Program A has a track record as a program of placing people into the disciplinary field you're interested in, that's where I'd go. It's dicey to go to a program where there's only one POI you could work with, regardless of whether or not that person says they plan to be around. It doesn't help that Program B is a weaker program with less funding. That said, I wouldn't assume that just because a POI has 7 students, you wouldn't receive much attention. My advisor had more students than that and I still got all the attention I needed. I guess it depends on how much attention you want/expect...

What do you have against Rutgers? If you don't want to go there, why'd you apply there in the first place? I don't see how doing well in any MA program would make it less likely for you to gain admission to a PhD program later.

It may sound reasonable but actually doing it could prove harder. You may be tired after work and not able to muster the energy to work on the dissertation. You may not have access to the scholarly literature or to the software you need to or other types of things. It can also be harder to write and analyze data when you don't get a chance to talk through what you're working on with others. But, it is possible.

No, it wouldn't be uncouth. But, I wouldn't be surprised if they decide not to give you more money in spite of this.

What you do during the master's is going to be more important than where you go, especially since they're both reputable schools. That said, if you're deadset on applying this fall, then nothing you could do during your master's is going to help you with admission to PhD programs. What are you expecting or hoping to gain out of doing the master's in marketing if it's only a one year program?

I have an external monitor, keyboard, and mouse which I use at home connected to my laptop. It gives me all the functionality of a desktop but I also have the portability of a laptop when I need it.

I don't know your field but there have been some PRISM related concerns for those in some fields about using Google Drive or Dropbox to backup files. I prefer SpiderOak or SugarSync (and pay to use the latter). The features suited my needs better than Dropbox or Google Drive at the time and I'm a creature of habit so I've never switched. Everything saved in "My Documents" on either of my personal laptops or my work computer is backed up there. It also means I can download those files to any of the other computers. I also have an external hard drive which I periodically back things up to.

I would make sure you get the offer in writing before you accept. And then I'd probably send an email and leave a message on his office phone.

I would go for the supportive community. If your advisor is an outlier, it's going to make lots of things more difficult, including things like getting a good/better TA assignment.

It's important to keep in mind that this too is school and district specific. Many of my friends were not given the support you describe when they started teaching for any number of reasons, many of which were financial. As for the salary, it's worth noting that the starting salary for some of my friends was in the low $30s. How good the benefits are also varies by district.

IMO, yes, it is. If they ask what other offers you were considering, then you should tell them. Bringing it up is just silly.