b_bstevie

Sometimes you don't even have to stay with your graduate professors. You might think about contacting professors that teach undergraduate math courses to see if they need TAs, or if you have any expertise in other fields. Don't wait for people to contact you. Getting funding is all about being proactive and creative. You will find the funding by thinking of things your peers do not. A lot of times, you can get tuition waivers for any type of position in any department on campus.

I'm hoping for a little advice from PhD students regarding the workload of various assistanships in the first year. I will be doing a 25% assistantship this fall, my first year as a PhD student, and am trying to decide whether or not to bump it up to a 50%. Doing so would result in a decrease of health insurance payments--something that is important since I'm married with a baby on the way. Also, the extra hours would provide about 700 dollars extra income every month. I'm worried however about handling 20 hours a week in addition to performing well in my classes and establishing good working relationships with professors, publishing, etc. What are your experiences trying to balance assistantship responsibilities with other parts of the PhD experience? Is 50% too much or is it something that most people can handle?

I got a call from Val Rust from SSCE a few weeks ago. He informed me of my acceptance and said that 10 students total had been accepted for the 2010 PhD. I don't know if they contacted everyone by phone--he said that official letters would go out towards the end of February. I had been in contact with him before applying, so I don't know if he called me simply for this reason or if they contacted all accepted students at the same time.

phd2prof, I got accepted to the Social Science and Comparative Education program at UCLA. The professor that called me said that there were 10 PhD students admitted and that each was receiving $10,000 guaranteed and that they were applying for more from the department. I don't know if this is typical of the UC programs right now--I was actually surprised that they offered as much as they did. I am still trying to find out about other aid options, assistantships, etc.

I got admitted to the Education Policy and Administration Department last week. My letter didn't say anything about funding, but I emailed them and they said they would be making funding decisions this week and students would be notified before the beginning of March.

So, I've been accepted to a program I was excited about, but didn't get the advisor I wanted. Is there anything I can do about it? Should I just go to the school and try to change once I'm there or should I try to take care of it before accepting the offer?

So, I'm having trouble deciding what is more important in my decision between schools: the strength of the program or the similarity of the advisor's research to my own interests. Which is going to influence the course of my career more, the curriculum and program structure or the advisor's influence?

Accepted by the University of Minnesota's Comparative/International Education program. Saw change in status online. It didn't say anything about funding. Does that mean I didn't get any or that I will hear from the department later on about possible funding?

Yes! I found out of my acceptance to the University of Minnesota today only through the online application status. I haven't received any mail yet, electronic or snail, regarding the decision. There was no mention of funding, so I don't know if that means I didn't get any or if it will come from the department in a separate notice rather than the application status from the Graduate School.

I think it would be nice for us Education PhD applicants to list here the schools we have begun to here back from. I've grown somewhat tired of scouring the results page as well as the other topics trying to find signs that my programs have started to contact applicants. So, let's help each other out. Which Ed programs have you heard from so far? My field is International/Comparative Education. Of my schools--Stanford, Vanderbilt, Columbia, Minnesota, Maryland, Penn State, Wisconsin, and UCLA--I have only heard from UCLA (accepted). I have seen signs that Vanderbilt is starting to contact applicants, but other than that the activity has been pretty dead. What has everyone else started to hear, if anything, from their Education PhD programs?

To help me endure the agony of waiting for decisions I figured I'd join in the discussion as well. I'm applying to PhD programs in Comparative/International Education at the following schools: Stanford Vanderbilt Columbia Minnesota UCLA Maryland Penn State Wisconsin I'm somewhat young with not much work experience, but I've had some great research opportunities over the last few years including two publications (neither as primary author), research projects, and presentations. I had a 3.3 undergrad GPA in linguistics, and if I can take my mind away from my PhD daydreams long enough, I might just finish my thesis for an M.Ed. in Comparative International Development Education this April. My graduate GPA is 3.8 and GRE is 640, 640, 4.5. Although my numbers aren't incredibly strong, I feel like I make up for them with a good amount of experience in a somewhat obscure niche of the Education field. My dream school would be Vanderbilt, mostly for the full scholarship and stipend they provide for every LPO PhD student, but would be happy with any offer which includes a decent funding package. I actually heard from a professor at UCLA last week, saying that I will be accepted to the Social Sciences and Comparative Education program with $10,000 guaranteed funding. It's a great offer--if only the tuition wasn't $26,000 and living expenses off the charts in Beverly Hills. We'll see what happens thought. He said the official letter won't come til the end of February. I don't know if they informed all the other students too, or if he just contacted me because I have been speaking to him since I met him at a conference last year. Anyway, I've enjoyed reading all of your posts, so I figured I might join in on the fun. Best of luck to all of you. I just hope they let us know soon before too many of us keel over from all the anxiety.

A lot of these programs lead to careers as consultants, policy analysts, researchers, and other positions in multilateral agencies such as World Bank, IMF, UNESCO, Ford Foundation, etc. Many also try to establish themselves as professors and then do outside consulting.