I'm very happy to have been offered decent funding packages at two PhD programs. However, I am not sure if these offers are essentially the same or not.
My first offer is worded like this, "Your graduate assistant appointment will provide a stipend of ***** and a tuition waver for four years."
The second offer is phrased differently. It says that I have received an assistantship from Fall 2014 to Spring 2015. Then in the Period Of Appointment section it says, "preference in renewals normally is given to those students who have shown superior aptitude in the performance of assistantship duties and in academic progress."
I am definitely not planning on doing poorly in any program, but the difference in wording does cause me to wonder about the second offer. It seems like they had to qualify extension of assistantship more so than the first offer. Is the assistantship attrition that high? Is there a significant competition among assistants to retain his or her funding through superior aptitude?
thanks for the advice.