ResPublica

As far as UCLA is concerned (noticing your sig), fellowship funds are mailed out/direct deposited "several weeks" before Fall quarter begins, while the rest of the quarters have disbursements right around the same time the quarter starts. So basically, getting your fellowship a few weeks in advance is probably their idea of "relocation funds." I found that out while poking around on the grad school website. You could also query your department as to exactly when disbursements occur.

In this case, I am in fact referring to a very large PhD granting program. UCLA history claims to be the largest department in the country, and this is likely where I will be attending, so it is important to me that I have a realistic assessment of what will happen during my degree progress. As I said I will likely be attending UCLA, let me explain explicitly why I have yet to accept that offer or decline my other. UCLA is probably academically the best fit that I could hope for in any school, however I am only being offered tuition remission through a readership for the first year and a TAship for the second and third year. Everything else is up in the air. My other admit is utterly and completely unfunded. While the choice does seem stupidly obvious, it really isn't. I have been told by my unfunded admit that I may very well end up with a financial offer in the coming weeks. Because I have a family, I have to be exceedingly circumspect about what sort of commitment I am making here. As for the idea that entering with a better funding package leads to even better funding possibilities down the line, this is something that was strongly impressed upon me in the History 2010 thread when I posted my acceptance to UCLA. I don't really care to dig it up at the moment, but the date of the post should be around Feb. 18th if you care to search out the replies to which I am referring to. I then took the ideas expressed in that thread to my advisors, who agreed that there certainly can be such issues in departments where funding is drastically different from one student to the next. My point in sharing this, and posting my previous replies, is an attempt to show how the process just isn't as simple as the OP made it out to be. Just because one school looks like the clear choice right now, does not mean that will be the same case next week or even later today for all I know. While I really wish I could move on from my other admit and make way for someone wait listed there, it just isn't that easy. I suppose I am different because I have a family, and therefore must place a greater importance on funding packages than I would like, but it should go to show that not every case of "accept this offer, deny that one" is so cut and dry, and this, I assume, is why people such as myself will likely be waiting until April before making our final decisions. I know it must really suck to be on the other side of fence here, but there are reasons as to why people have yet to show their hands, and they aren't always vapid or greedy.

Again, I was not talking about dollar signs. I was referring to opportunities, not money. Different funding packages entail different teaching and research possibilities. While you all seem to be thinking in terms of stipends, I am thinking in terms of guaranteed TA and RA positions, or the simple fact that those who enter a program with better funding are more likely to be more competitive for department grants (such as dissertation fellowships) down the line.

You severly misunderstand. The idea of holding out for more funding is to get in a position to receive grants, research assistantships, dissertation fellowships, travel grants, ect as the degree progresses. My concern in this respect is not that I have a better apartment but that I have a fuller C.V. full of the research opportunities afforded to me by having been in a better funding tier during my graduate studies. Personally, none of my offers are oozing with money, so it behooves me and my family to wait and see if something better turns up, which is a significant possibility according to one of the adcom members. Your reply reeks of arrogance and irritation. While I disagree with the notion of posting a thread like this, I at least made an attempt at civility when I replied.

While I completely empathize with you, I think it is a bit too much to ask other people to hasten their decisions for any reason. Even though people may have received their acceptances already, that does not necessarily imply that they have also received their funding packages, or that they are even ready to make a decision having received full funding at all of their admits. My current advisor told me to not make any decisions until pretty much the last minute, particularly as I am hoping for a boost in funding for one of my admits. The last thing I want to do at this point is make a rash decision that will affect my entire career trajectory, only to find that my other choice was about to considerably up my funding (which would likely have a huge impact on my future C.V.). Moreover, consider that the choice is more than simply academic for most people, and it is not always an easy decision to make. The situation is conceivably more complex for any given person than you can know from the perspective of an internet forum, and too multi-faceted to assume that people faced with multiple choices are any less anxious or nervous than you are.

I applied, but haven't heard anything yet. Based on results from previous years, I think it's safe to assume that I have a rejection coming at the end of March. If I work up the courage, I may call or email the department next week.

My potential advisor mentioned meeting together "if you decide to make a visit to UCLA," but other than that, I have heard nothing of the sort.

I'm in at UCLA, though I already posted as much in the History 2010 thread. I'm doing ancient history, particularly Roman. I got my email about eight days ago, and got financial info two days ago from my prospective advisor. What originally looked like an unfunded offer is shaping up to be much better now. Although I won't be getting a traditional fellowship or stipend from the department (apparently no one in the ancient field is), I will be getting tuition remission and some pay through a readership during the first year, and possibly some work digitizing and cataloging slides. Second and third years will be covered by a TAship, provided that I'm making satisfactory progress during the first year. I am still waiting to hear from USC Classics, though at this point I have assumed rejection, so it looks like I will be going to UCLA this fall. Although I would certainly prefer a stipend of some sort, I really feel grateful to have received any acceptances during this economic climate. Also UCLA was my 'reach' school, and I told my friends it was my 'joke application' because I didn't think I would even be considered. I'm starting to wish I applied to Berkeley...not that I would have gotten in, but I'm kicking myself for not trying now.

Thanks for the candid advice, but I have given this a great deal of thought and research, otherwise I would not be considering it. I already figured the cost of fees in with tuition, and I have excellent health insurance through my wife's benefits package with her employer, and will therefore be getting a waiver for the student health insurance. Her job also pays enough to cover the cost of living near UCLA, for what that is worth. As for the the funding, I am well aware of what I am getting myself into. The situation was laid out from a member of the UCLA adcomm to my advisor at Davis, who told me that I would be competing for TAships in the Ancient History courses with a handful of other students. Precedence in Greek history, for instance, is given to those who actually read Greek, a rare commodity in History departments believe it or not. Although my BA is in History, I am currently in a Post Bac program in Classics, and so my Greek is quite good, as is my Latin. Frankly I am thrilled to have gotten into UCLA, having done my undergrad at an unranked, no name school, and having received across the board rejections last year. A lot of you people posting here seem to forget that not everyone is necessarily top tier material. If I want a job someday, having UCLA on my PhD as opposed to say UC Irvine (my other acceptance) at the cost of a couple 10k debt is an easy decision to make.

Let me weave you a tale of rejection, my friend. I received my BA in 2004, double major and double minor, Dean's List every quarter during my last two years, National Dean's List during those years, studied abroad at Cambridge and Cork, ect ect. That year I was rejected from the only two MA programs I applied to, so I applied and got into a Post Bac program after taking some time off. After two years of straight As in the Post Bac program, I applied again, this time to five PhD programs and one MA. I got rejected across the board from the PhD programs, and got into the MA program but never received information on funding. So I stuck it out another year in the Post Bac program, and applied again this year. I only applied to three programs, but so far I have gotten into two of them, one of which is a top ten program. The jury is still out on the third. I understand your despair, and I was right there last year. This past year I have felt like I had no direction, and for the first time in a decade I started slacking on school work because I honestly did not think I would be going any further with it. Even if you don't get in this year, or you can't take an offer due to funding circumstances or what have you, it is by no means the end of the road. Get focused again, study for the GRE again, read some more Greek and Latin, pick up French and German if you haven't yet, consider revising your SOP and writing sample, get together with your current advisors and get a new game plan or alter your current one. You can also consider asking the programs which rejected you what you might do to improve your application next year. There are so many things you can do to strengthen your application, and they won't necessarily cost you more money. The only thing that changed on my application was one more Greek course and a revised and more focused SOP. I couldn't really stomach the GRE again despite my mediocre scores, and I couldn't afford to take more courses. The biggest change I made was being realistic with where I was sending my applications to. Being consistently rejected from top programs sent me a clear message that I needed to really diversify my applications if was going to get in somewhere. I know it may seem bleak, but one year of rejections shouldn't be enough to keep you down and out if you are determined.

I just received good news from UCLA via email, although they aren't offering me any funding for the first year. The attached letter states that I can apply for funds and TAships after the first year on a competitive basis. My wife has a good job she will be able to keep when we move, so I will only have to come up with a loan for tuition, making it likely that I will take the offer. I'm in the ancient history field, for those interested in that sort of thing. Good luck to everyone else waiting for UCLA!

My advisor at UCD was contacted by an adcom member on Feb. 1st, and was told decisions would be in a few weeks. That is somewhat ambigious, but that should hopefully place notices sometime next week, maybe even today. As far as funding goes, they are fairly short on it. I was told that in my field (Ancient), no new students would be getting anything from the department initially, but that after the first year the funding situation would improve quite a bit. As far as UCLA using hard-copy letters, this is the first year you are able to upload your SOP and writing sample rather than mail a hard-copy, so they are clearly in the transitional phase in that respect. One other school I am applying to this year also does hard-copy supporting documents, and another I applied to last year did as well. I don't think having hard copy documents in any way has an negative effect on their budget. In fact it might help out by saving the need to print hard copies for the sake of adcom meetings and such. I believe there is also a disclaimer on the application website which states that your particular department may not choose to use that method to update your application status. My application status also says that none of my documents have been received, yet I know all of them have been received and reviewed.

I was admitted to the MA at Georgia last year, and they also told me that funding hadn't been decided yet. I waited several more weeks, emailed them again, and got a short reply saying that funding would be decided very soon (that week if I recall correctly). So I waited a few more weeks (it was April by now), emailed them again, and they just ignored me. I sent them another email on April 15th saying that I would not be attending because they would not disclose funding information for good or ill (also not responded to), and to this day I still receive emails from UGA as if I were a current grad student. I was left with a real distaste for Classics at UGA. I hope they are more forthright with you regarding funding information than they were with me.

My Plan B is getting a single subject teaching credential in either Latin or History, and hopefully be able to find a job in a decent amount of time. Supposedly I am only one education course away (assuming credits transfer) from a credential in Latin, so hopefully the financial obligation won't be too overwhelming if I do have to go that road. Another possibility is to just suck it up for another year, improve my GRE scores, rewrite my SOP (again), and further improve my writing sample, maybe even take a night course in German if I can find such an offering (I'm out of school and a full-time Dad right now). When the next application season rolls around, I will have to greatly diversify my applications. This will mean applying to several history programs in addition to classics, as well as exploring different possibilities, such as an MA in Library Sciences or Religious Studies. Whatever happens, the one thing I won't be doing is getting some crappy job that will make me hate my life for the duration of my employment. I did this immediately after my BA, and although it was nice to be able to leave my troubles at the door, it was extremely unfulfilling. Thankfully my wife makes a good wage, so if nothing works out, I can still just be a Dad, which, while it is not my dream of a life in academia, is very rewarding nonetheless.

I have to agree with the last poster - so many of you have such stellar qualifications, and I am consequently rather anxious about what I might be up against in my field (Classics, Ancient History). In any case, I figured I would post here as an exercise in confidence boosting. - Double Major, Double Minor BA, 3.9 and 3.8 GPA in majors - First Class Honours from Cambridge University's International History Summer School - First Class Honours from University College Cork's Intensive Greek Summer School - Three weeks field excavation at a Roman villa in England - Post Baccalaureate Certificate in Classics - Six years of Latin, three years of Greek, one year of French - Hired as a Latin tutor to the son of the Economics chair at my current school - TA for Roman Civilization, Classical myth, Word Etymology courses, and lectured in all of them - A writing sample of significant scholarly merit (or so I've been told) - Solid LORs from professors who are well connected in the programs to where I am applying This is all balanced out by completely mediocre GRE scores and a handful of Ws and even few 1.0ish grades on my transcript during my first two years of undergrad.

As far as I can tell (which isn't very far), this just concerns the department itself; however the information I received was not formal, so it is best to treat it as little better than speculation at this point, I should think.

I just got some news regarding UCLA history, so I signed up to share with interested parties. I received an email yesterday from my current advisor (also in the UC system, if that means anything to you), that he was contacted by a prof at UCLA regarding my application. They are looking at it "very seriously," and I have been added to their short-list. There won't be any final decisions made for about two more weeks or so, at any rate. The kicker though: it seems as if no incoming students will be funded during their first year by the department. I am applying in the Ancient History field, so while its nice to have presumably gotten past the initial cuts (considering they take very few applicants in Ancient History), its rather disappointing to know that if I do get in I probably won't be able to go without any kind of funding package.