ts1493

I didn't get one either after I accepted the award and declared my fellowship status. I sent an email just to cover my bases, and my fellowship status still says "pending NSF approval." I will be taking the next year on reserve before taking tenure for the following three years.

Hello! Another NSF GRFP awardee here. (E/E, E/E, E/E) I plan on taking my first year of the fellowship as reserve, since I still need to complete coursework and defend my dissertation proposal, and then will take the following three years of funding afterwards. For those thinking about taxes, I've been strongly encouraged to do an estimated tax payment at the start of each funded year to avoid having to do these big tax payments come April. Hope that helps!

Hi all -- I'm starting my first TA position and my main role will be grading papers and blog posts by students. My discipline is the social sciences. I have never had to teach before and don't really know how to start on grading. Do you have any suggested resources/readings that helps explain how to approach this issue? I know students can be sensitive about their grades and just want to be fair and effective. thanks!

Hi all -- So my husband and I (no kids) are starting our PhDs this fall and we are trying to make this work. My stipend is $27,500 before taxes and his is $18K. I think in some more affordable cities this might be possible, but we're starting our programs in Boston and when we looked for housing it was hard to find anything below $1800 a month that wasn't a studio. We opted for an apartment a bit farther out of the city but it still is $1850, which is a lot more than we would have liked to pay for our housing expenses. We're thinking we might keep our eyes out in case something cheaper comes up during the school year. We've managed to already put some cost-savings plans in place -- his university actually has a food pantry for students with low income, so we'll definitely be joining that, and we joined a CSA that gave us a deep discount for our lower income, and we'll also be enrolling in our university discount metro passes. I'm looking for advice, though, from any other couples living on PhD programs as to how you made it work. I think we really need to get our housing expenses down, and we'll work on that, but any other advice would be welcome, too. Thanks!

I couldn't agree more. I lived in JP a few years ago when I was working and was hoping to live there now, because it'll be so close to my program but have been totally dismayed by the costs. I put in a $2000 limit and all that comes up are studios and 1 bedrooms, hard to even get a two bedroom for my husband and I. Also, there's no longer an affordable grocery store - just Whole Foods and a pricey co-op. We'll be looking elsewhere I think ...

Yes, i was offered a generous funding package.

I have been waiting for a while to hear back from my top choice (a social policy program). I've been admitted to three other PhD programs and one of them had a deadline of March 24th. I know that is unusual but it's a great program and that's how they choose to do things. I wrote to the top choice letting them know that I was going to be in town in mid March and I would love to stop by, and also that I had another offer that was requesting that I respond by late March and asking whether they might have any update by mid March or so on my application. I didn't receive any response from the admissions department to my email and there have been no updates on the admission page since I applied in December. Without any other information to go on, I accepted the offer at my second choice, also to make sure that other schools would have time to make offers to their other candidates. And then several days later I received an email from the top choice school saying I was among the very strongest applicants and that they wanted to offer me a spot on the wait list. The email says I would likely hear back from them at the end of April on whether or not there is a spot in the program next year. What are my obligations to the top choice school (offering me a wait list spot) and the second choice school (where I have already accepted)? How do things work with admissions after April 15th? I understand that admissions programs have until April 15th but hearing on March 26th and not getting any information at all when I emailed in March put me in a tough spot. I also feel like the experience has been so different with that admission program, where things have felt pretty impersonal along the way. I felt I made the best choice I could with the information that I had, but if a spot opened up at my top choice I would want to take that spot. thoughts?

Hey there -- I also applied to the Heller social policy program (along with two sociology programs and a gerontology program!) and *just* heard back that I'm a top candidate on their wait list and asking if I wanted to be considered for admission in April.

Good luck, @Shay825. It is a big process but it sounds like you've got a lot of good pieces in place. Hope UMASS or Peace Corps work out for you this year!

I couldn't agree more. I applied to a social policy PhD program in addition to the sociology programs, and no word at all. I emailed at the end of the month and was told I would hear no later than early March, but still no updates. I don't get it. Why wouldn't you at least tell people they are definitely out, or on a waitlist? At this point, most people who have gotten in somewhere are starting to lock up decisions, even if it's not with the first choice, if they don't hear anything.

My current boss got her PhD from Vanderbilt Sociology and she loved it as well! I didn't apply (really don't want to be far from family and friends) but I hope everyone who wants a spot gets a spot.

I think it would be okay to reach out to your top choice school. How you communicate your message matters a lot, being pushy will work against you but being polite, apologetic, and reasonable is probably just fine. You could politely explain to them that you've been admitted to another program that has asked for a response this week and while you understand completely that they may not have any new information to provide you with, they are your top choice and you thought you would check in just in case there was already a response on your application. They are likely very reasonable people and if they've already decided to reject you but just haven't let you know yet chances are they'd be willing to give you some information.

Yes, I've seen this situation mentioned on a few boards - though not that the school was asking quite so openly about what other programs you are considering. It is, as mentioned above, often followed by an offer of admission/funding, if you're still a possible candidate. If you like the school I'd respond that you're definitely interested in their program and would like to continue to be in touch with them about their process. One program I was admitted to asked me in my acceptance letter what my top financial offer so far was and that they'd like to try and meet that offer, so I think it's fine to mention it if you've already gotten some good funding awards elsewhere. If you're not interested then you can just say so, and save them some time.

Nice! I'm glad to have finally found someone else in the application cycle. It's such a strong program... good luck!

Hey all -- Has anyone on here applied to the Brandeis Social Policy PhD program, in the Heller School? I've asked in a couple different parts of the forum but so far no buddies...