Warelin

FWIW: The unsubsidized Graduate direct student loan rate was 6.6 percent in 2018-2019. There are no subsidized loans for Graduate Students.

Let's assume you decide to go to this unfunded program and take out a total of 60,000 for tuition and living expenses. Let's also assume that you can't afford to pay any of this loan back while in school because you're focused on writing great papers and developing deeper connections with your professors. You finish your 1-year program and take a gap year while working  at a new job and paying for applications.

After the deferment period of 12 months, the new loan balance is $64,059.09 , including $4,059.09 in accrued interest.

Let's suppose you manage to make interest-only payments during your gap year. You work hard;  save up money for grad applications and get accepted into a Ph.D. program. Your stipend isn't high enough to cover payments though so you defer.
 
After the deferment period of 72 months, the new loan balance is $88,864.53 , including $28,864.53 in accrued interest.
Without the interest capitalization there would have been 120 payments of $684.34 , for a total payment of $82,120.80 (including a total of $22,120.80 in interest) plus an additional $23,760.00 in interest paid during the deferment period.
With the interest capitalization there are 120 payments of $1,013.57 , for a total payment of $121,628.40 (including a total of $32,763.87 in interest plus $28,864.53 in interest accrued during the deferment period).

But: I will pay that off in 25 years, you say.

Without the interest capitalization there would have been 300 payments of $408.88 , for a total payment of $122,664.00 (including a total of $62,664.00 in interest) plus an additional $23,760.00 in interest paid during the deferment period.
With the interest capitalization there are 300 payments of $605.58 , for a total payment of $181,674.00 (including a total of $92,809.47 in interest plus $28,864.53 in interest accrued during the deferment period).

(Information grabbed from FinAid's calculator)

Costs not covered: Conferences, Moving Expenses, Emergencies,  Private loans if unable to find work, etc.

 

I believe this is correct. The April 15th resolution only applies to funded offers from universities. 
 

From what you've described above as a Policy analyst who focuses on security and conflict, it sounds like Missouri State's Defense & Strategic Studies in the Department of Defense & Strategic Studies in Washington D.C. sounds the most beneficial.

There are too many variable factors if you've been waitlisted. Sometimes, schools have their entire cohort filled before March. Sometimes, the same school is trying to fill the cohort after April 15th as more people make their final decisions. Every day after April 15th makes it that much harder to fill the cohort.

Today, I found myself extremely bored. As a result, I complied a list of when schools typically notify for first-round acceptances using data from the results page. After, I rearranged things in order by  when programs typically notify.

Michigan State-Dec 10? (Writing, Rhetoric, and American Cultures)
OSU-Jan 25
Wisconsin- Jan 28
Duke- Jan 29
WashU- Jan 31-Feb 2
Northwestern-Jan 31-Feb 2
Berkeley- Jan 31-Feb 2
Chicago- Feb 1/2
Minnesota-Feb 2
Vanderbilt - Feb 2/3
Texas- Feb 3/4
Indiana-Feb 3/4
Purdue-Feb 3-5
UCLA- Feb 4/5
Johns Hopkins- Feb 5
Davis-Feb 5/6
Penn State- Feb 5/6
Pittsburgh-Feb 5/6
Nebraska-Feb 5-7
NYU-Feb 6/7
Maryland-Feb 7-9
Rochester-Feb 8/9
Emory- Feb 8-9
Irvine-Feb 8-9
Illinois- Feb 9-12
Brown-Feb 10-12
LSU-Feb 11
Rice- Feb 12
Buffalo-Feb 12
Missouri- Feb 12-14
Delaware-Feb 12-14
Kansas-Feb 14
Carnegie Mellon- Feb 14/15
Alabama-Feb 14-16
Cornell- Feb 15/16
Miami University-Feb 15/16
Michigan-Feb 16
Connecticut-Feb 16
CUNY-Feb 16/17
Santa Barbara-Feb 17-19
Stanford- Feb 17-Feb 20
Princeton-Feb 17-20
UVA- Feb 19/20
Rutgers-Feb 19/20
Harvard- Feb 20-Feb 22
Columbia- Feb 20-22
Penn- Feb 20-22
Utah-Feb 22
Notre Dame-Feb 23
Yale- Feb 24/25
Washington-Feb 25
Syracuse-Feb 26
Chapel Hill-Feb 26/27
Oregon-Feb 27-28
Iowa-March 2-5
Florida State-March 4-7
Mississippi- March 5-7

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1XNJR4IhOJ56zd7zLuVSUK7h054dBRNvyiC7iStCOsxo/
 
Last year, I started the process of making an updated version of funding packages with the help of students accepted into programs. The list isn't complete but I hope it provides a more complete version of what universities expect in exchange for their funding. It is open-access so edits are welcome.

Today, I found myself extremely bored. As a result, I complied a list of when schools typically notify for first-round acceptances using data from the results page. After, I rearranged things in order by  when programs typically notify.

Michigan State-Dec 10? (Writing, Rhetoric, and American Cultures)
OSU-Jan 25
Wisconsin- Jan 28
Duke- Jan 29
WashU- Jan 31-Feb 2
Northwestern-Jan 31-Feb 2
Berkeley- Jan 31-Feb 2
Chicago- Feb 1/2
Minnesota-Feb 2
Vanderbilt - Feb 2/3
Texas- Feb 3/4
Indiana-Feb 3/4
Purdue-Feb 3-5
UCLA- Feb 4/5
Johns Hopkins- Feb 5
Davis-Feb 5/6
Penn State- Feb 5/6
Pittsburgh-Feb 5/6
Nebraska-Feb 5-7
NYU-Feb 6/7
Maryland-Feb 7-9
Rochester-Feb 8/9
Emory- Feb 8-9
Irvine-Feb 8-9
Illinois- Feb 9-12
Brown-Feb 10-12
LSU-Feb 11
Rice- Feb 12
Buffalo-Feb 12
Missouri- Feb 12-14
Delaware-Feb 12-14
Kansas-Feb 14
Carnegie Mellon- Feb 14/15
Alabama-Feb 14-16
Cornell- Feb 15/16
Miami University-Feb 15/16
Michigan-Feb 16
Connecticut-Feb 16
CUNY-Feb 16/17
Santa Barbara-Feb 17-19
Stanford- Feb 17-Feb 20
Princeton-Feb 17-20
UVA- Feb 19/20
Rutgers-Feb 19/20
Harvard- Feb 20-Feb 22
Columbia- Feb 20-22
Penn- Feb 20-22
Utah-Feb 22
Notre Dame-Feb 23
Yale- Feb 24/25
Washington-Feb 25
Syracuse-Feb 26
Chapel Hill-Feb 26/27
Oregon-Feb 27-28
Iowa-March 2-5
Florida State-March 4-7
Mississippi- March 5-7

Welcome to GF, Chloe.

What about those 4 programs attract you? For MA programs, being funded is the most important thing.  Rankings don't really matter for MA programs. If I remember correctly, all 4 of those schools on the Ph.D. level are focused very much on teaching.

You might get a better understanding of evaluations if you posted in the Applied Sciences and Math section. We're probably not the best people to evaluate non-literature/English departments as each department have different expectations of their applicants. I know that programs usually post a miniumum for TOEFL for non-native speakers which you'll want to make sure you meet the minimum on prior to applying.

.

Some programs might refer to this as "popular and public culture".
 
Some programs which are noted for this kind of work include:
Virginia Tech (I know a recent student there did a thesis on Superhero Comics)
MTSU
Carnegie Mellon
NYU (http://steinhardt.nyu.edu/mcc/doctoral/)* (This is not an English PHD)
UCSD
CUNY


 

The cost of sending an official transcript can be anywhere from what I've seen can be between $5-$15 from each school you've attended. If you're applying to 10 schools, this would be between $50-150. If you attended 2 schools and are applying to 10, this could be between $100-$300.

GRE scores cost $27 to send per school. Assuming all 10 schools want them and you didn't select them when you tested, that's another $270. Supposing that half of these schools want the GRE subject test, that's another $135.
I've seen applications as low as $40 and as high as $120. Most applications seem to hover around 70-90. Taking the average, this means another $800.
Considering only one college attended, applying to 10: $800+$270+$135+100= $1305
Considering the cost of the GRE ($205) and the Lit Exam ($150), this totals $1660.

Some schools do offer fee waivers, but often it requires a very strict set of requirements to be met.

(According to my notes: UPenn cost me 107 to apply to last year, Yale cost me 159, Cornell 149, Rutgers 124) Those costs will be going up for me slightly due to an added transcript after next year. Applying can be very expensive.

As far as I'm aware, there's no early action/early decision for any Engineering schools. Just a word of caution: What reasons do you have to applying for "top" engineering schools? Have you evaluated your interests and what they specialize in? Sometimes, some smaller programs can be a better bet if its better adapted to your interests and research. If you're applying and hoping to land in industry, location is also an important factor. Programs do have to get accredited in order to be legitimate.

As a side, most applicants don't contact a POI for English. Contacting a POI is much more common in the sciences than it is for the humanities.

On a separate note, you might consider going into a Master's program first to see if you like grad school since it tends to be very different from doing an undergrad degree. Also, the grad degree would most likely override any grades from your Bachelor's.

Schools are curious to see what their peers are and see if they can get a better understanding of why applicants are rejecting their offers to improve their acceptance rate. Are they losing applicants to schools that offer better funding based on the cost of living? Is the applicant only applying to top 10 programs? Is the applicant only applying to schools that have the most name recognition? Is the applicant applying to schools only within a certain demographic region? Are they losing people due to certain placement rates/lack of placement results?

It's likely that a lot of reasons might not be something schools can do something about but consistently losing people due to funding might help them build a case to build their base offer in the future.

However, most schools are just curious and it's unlikely to have any impact on your application.

Hi everyone! Long time lurker here on the Gradcafe threads! I wanted to say congrats to everyone for getting through this admission cycle!
I ended up not applying to PhD PS programs as I did not feel ready, but I will be pursuing a MA PS degree at WashU! Thank you to everyone who contributes to the thread(s)! Wishing you all the best, and I am glad that I am able to connect with the fellow TAPS community!

Schools are curious to see what their peers are and see if they can get a better understanding of why applicants are rejecting their offers to improve their acceptance rate. Are they losing applicants to schools that offer better funding based on the cost of living? Is the applicant only applying to top 10 programs? Is the applicant only applying to schools that have the most name recognition? Is the applicant applying to schools only within a certain demographic region? Are they losing people due to certain placement rates/lack of placement results?

It's likely that a lot of reasons might not be something schools can do something about but consistently losing people due to funding might help them build a case to build their base offer in the future.

However, most schools are just curious and it's unlikely to have any impact on your application.

Schools are curious to see what their peers are and see if they can get a better understanding of why applicants are rejecting their offers to improve their acceptance rate. Are they losing applicants to schools that offer better funding based on the cost of living? Is the applicant only applying to top 10 programs? Is the applicant only applying to schools that have the most name recognition? Is the applicant applying to schools only within a certain demographic region? Are they losing people due to certain placement rates/lack of placement results?

It's likely that a lot of reasons might not be something schools can do something about but consistently losing people due to funding might help them build a case to build their base offer in the future.

However, most schools are just curious and it's unlikely to have any impact on your application.

Hi @Alyson,
While higher grades exist more commonly (partly because the demographics are different) in grad school, it is untrue that everyone in grad school has a 4.0 GPA. Different professors have different styles. Some professors might limit the amount of A's in each class. Others might not have any limits. Grades aren't by any means the most important part in the humanities. The reason you get rejected from a program is highly unlikely to do with someone outscoring you by a 10th of a percentage point. If your GPA was below a B+ average (or littered with C's), there might be more reason to worry but a B in a class (especially in a field/topic outside of your own) isn't going to hurt you.
I think there would be more effective ways to spend your time though than trying to get your grade changed. Getting a better understanding of your fit within a program, presenting at conferences (to make connections), submitting to journals, spending additional time on your SOP/Writing Sample, and engaging with your professors in conversations to strengthen your recommendation letter based on your CV are all ways in which might help to strengthen your application. None of these are guaranteed though and one can excel in all of these and still not be admitted. What committees are looking for one year might differ from year to year depending on who's serving on the committee, how they're trying to balance a cohort, and so many other factors. I think it's important to remember that rejection is not personal. You are more than your application to grad school.

Hi @Alyson,
While higher grades exist more commonly (partly because the demographics are different) in grad school, it is untrue that everyone in grad school has a 4.0 GPA. Different professors have different styles. Some professors might limit the amount of A's in each class. Others might not have any limits. Grades aren't by any means the most important part in the humanities. The reason you get rejected from a program is highly unlikely to do with someone outscoring you by a 10th of a percentage point. If your GPA was below a B+ average (or littered with C's), there might be more reason to worry but a B in a class (especially in a field/topic outside of your own) isn't going to hurt you.
I think there would be more effective ways to spend your time though than trying to get your grade changed. Getting a better understanding of your fit within a program, presenting at conferences (to make connections), submitting to journals, spending additional time on your SOP/Writing Sample, and engaging with your professors in conversations to strengthen your recommendation letter based on your CV are all ways in which might help to strengthen your application. None of these are guaranteed though and one can excel in all of these and still not be admitted. What committees are looking for one year might differ from year to year depending on who's serving on the committee, how they're trying to balance a cohort, and so many other factors. I think it's important to remember that rejection is not personal. You are more than your application to grad school.

Is it crucial that you enroll in a Master's program for the upcoming year? There might be alternatives that enhance your application which would make it get into funded Master's programs after this cycle. I'd like to stress that prestige at the Master's level really does not exist. It might sound impressive to the general public but ultimately the general public isn't the one making decisions on admissions.

If you must enroll in one of them, look at their classes and what their requirements are. See if there's one which you find more appealing in that manner. Consider location as well. Consider how much you'll pay for rent, transportation and how easily accessible things like restaurants, parks, and grocery stores might be. Also consider that it's highly likely that you'll be unable to make much of a dent in payments if you decide to apply to PHD programs.
Otherwise, consider where you'd like to live for 2 years. Find universities in those locations; there's a good chance that places without a PHD program fund their students. Not having to stress about loans or working a second job will probably help you develop a stronger writing sample.

PHD "rankings" do not extend to MA programs. MA programs are essentially all unranked.
It sounds like you'll be happier at school B. Having good experiences and accessible instructors will only result in a stronger grad app for future programs. 

Congratulations!

Thank you! I'll wait a week then, haha. I just told myself I would get started broad researching of both my interests and where exactly I would like to apply to after some deadlines, which is today! I'm mainly interested in modernism and postmodernism, as well as its philosophical background, especially in terms of post-structuralism and marxism. I also just like those and a thousand other theoretical movements in general, and so many other things, but if I were to write a proposal now, it would be about these.