jonjalin

I think you did the right thing by accepting the other position (the old adage "a bird in the hand is worth more than two in the bush" would seem to apply here). As much as I like being here at NSSR, the funding situation needs to be worked on. I'm not quite sure why they offer less funding than most schools. The tuition is certainly high enough and from what I hear they pay the instructors (re: adjuncts) peanuts. I had a full time professor last year who said that regardless of how much we are paying to go to school here, it's not trickling down to the hired help. The bottom line is that they really need to work on the funding. Unfortunately, I think a lot of students may have to get used to not getting fully funded offers in the future. The old advice about not accepting anything less than a fully funded offer is quickly becoming moot in this economy. BTW, from my experience, you will definitely hear from NSSR, whether for good or ill.

Oh yeah, and that $15,000 is just tuition and fees, not on campus housing.

Faythren, no I would say it is not worth it and I'll tell you why. I love the New School but being saddled with that much debt just is going to be a heavy burden on you. When I came to the New School I kinda thought like you---that I love it here so much I'll think about the debt and paying it back later. I got accepted to the masters program at Rutgers but I turned them down for the New School because the New School was the kind of place where I wanted to be. I now realize this was a big mistake. I could have gone to other schools that would have afforded me just as good of an education and chance of getting a job when I get out as The New School. The difference is that I would be owing half of what I owe now. Right now the New School costs, on average, over $15,000 a semester. That is twice as much as state schools. And, you know what? They just sent out notices to all students that next year, they are going up around 5%! I'm graduating this May and I'm dreading having to start paying back that loan. The last time I ran the numbers, the monthly payments were going to be somewhere around over seven hundred dollars a month for at least a decade and a half and probably longer. Are you willing to be that saddled in debt? Also, if you have undergraduate loans it will be even more and for longer. Look, I'll admit NYC is exciting when you're twenty and the New School is a fun and hip (if sometimes chaotic) place to be but, unfortunately for me, I now realize that I could have gone to a state school like CUNY or Rutgers, paid half of what I am paying here, and had just as good a chance to find a job as here or better. Put it another way, the New School is just about as expensive as NYU, Columbia, Harvard, etc. but without the resources while you're there and the heads ups and perks you get in the job market when you put those schools on your resume. You ask me if it is worth it, I'll say this: when you are twenty and excited about all of the possibilities of life at a fun, hip, new place like the New School and NYC, it may seem worth it. I know it is easy to brush it off now, sign the papers, and head to the New School BUT when you're almost fifty and still paying off your student loans (which, incidentally, if you attended a cheaper state school, you would be finished paying off way before then), trust me, you're going to be cursing the choice of borrowing money to go to the New School. You really do need to run those numbers on the federal loan payback estimators so that you'll know what you are getting into at the New School and again look at how much sociologists make out in the job market. If you don't, you are making an uniformed choice. I'm not trying to dampen your enthusiasm, just being as realistic as I can. Good luck. BTW, I was born in Mississippi and grew up there until I was in my early 20s. I didn't go to Ole Miss---went to Mississippi State--- for my undergraduate degree but I will say that regardless of what people will tell you who are from this region, in that region---the South---Ole Miss has a good reputation and, if you are looking for a job down there at least, you have just as good a chance as anyone else with a degree from any other school. Not to make anyone mad or anything but a lot of people from the Northeast look down on the South as an intellectual wasteland because they have regional prejudice and don't know anything about the region or its institutions beyond what they have heard. Talk to your advisor from Ole Miss, your parents or relatives, and do your own personal research to get a clearer picture and make an informed choice. All the best to you whichever you choose.

BD, That is really great news. You're free of the anxiety now. I'm happy for you. So happy! Good luck.

I can't tell you which one to go to and I don't know what your personal financial situation is but I can tell you that NSSR is very expensive. I go there now and totally love the school BUT I don't even live in campus housing---live at home---and it is still ridiculously expensive. If you are going to take out loans to pay the balance, you are going to be saddled with a lot of debt after 2 years---like close to $70,000 or more. This is a heavy burden when you get out if you plan to work in non-quantitative social work jobs. If you decide to go on to doctoral study, you are going to have to acrue even more debt. This is especially true if you plan to stay on for doctoral study at NSSR. They are pretty much known for giving pitiful funding to their PhD students and, sans working your tail off to come up with tuition and living expenses (if you get the opportunity to do so), you are going to have to take out even more loans for at least another 2 or 3 years. That will probably work out to you owing around $120,000 in loans that you will have to pay off by the time you get out---which you will have to pay back on a sociologist's salary(assuming your goal is to be a sociologist). Take a look at government estimates of what sociologists make and run over to the loan payback estimators for federal student loans and run the numbers. Take it from me, you will see a pretty depressing sight coming into view. Again, I don't know what your personal finances are but if the plan is take out loans, consider the decision to go to NSSR carefully. The bottom line: Ole Miss seems to make more sense if you are only considering the finances.

Well Friends, I'm in at NSSR political science, finally. Got the package today (Saturday). I got only 25% merit based funding which, unfortunately, is not enough for me to offset the cost of staying here. I wish I could stay because I like going to NSSR but I'm gonna have to, in the end and after all of this waiting and complaining about waiting, go with Rutgers, New Brunswick. Its a better deal all around. So, for me, it really is, So Long NSSR. I hope everybone else gets in too and wish you all the best monkeefugg, DB, anxiousapplicant, and everyone else still waiting. I will be checking back so please post how things turned out, whether good or ill.

So today I was waiting as usual for the mail and I get an NSSR financial aid award letter for next year. At first I thought it was from NSGS where I currently am but, no, it was from NSSR. I am not going to read anything into it because we've been there (and I did put their name on my FAFSA) but I know that I am going to be really mad if they end up rejecting me after all of this. Who sends out a financial aid award letter before they send out admission or rejection letters? It is plain and simple torture.

What they said. It is pretty solid advice.

Yes, I know exactly how you feel. That rejection doesn't bode well for all of us still waiting---especially those of us still waiting for the political science phd program. Thank God, I have 2 acceptances already or otherwise I would be hysterical now. I just don't want to wait another year and go through this again. The stress is terrible. I think I am going to go ahead and send off my ok to Rutgers-New Brunswick and get this thing over with. I just can't take this anymore. So long, NSSR. BTW, anxiousapplicant, its great that they sent you a copy of your letter by pdf. If I were you I would just send them back a written acceptance of their offer rather than wait for them to send you a hard copy of your letter. This is a busy time of the year and who knows how long it will take them. I mean, if they will allow you to, that is. Either way, I would be in contact with them on a regular basis. If they screwed your letter up the first time, they could screw things up when you get ready to accept their offer. Who knows what could happen? In other words, I would make sure everything was okay for you to attend now rather than later. Call me paranoid I guess.

Okay, this is getting ridiculous. I am getting really mad at NSSR for taking so long to get all of these letters out. I think I'm going to not think about it this weekend (already, no letter today) and then I am going to give it next week and then, barring a letter from NSSR, its Rutgers-New Brunswick for me. I just want the wait to be over. Come to think of it, I bet they lose a lot of students by taking so long. People are already anxious and by sending out letters so close to the unofficial April 15 deadline, I bet a lot of people just don't want to wait any longer and accept elsewhere. That is one of my few complaints (well, okay, I have a few more than a few) about NSSAR: between the endless construction, the high tuition with pitiful funding, and the even more endless bickering between Kerry, the faculty, and the students, they don't make it easy for applicants and students who go there. For awhile last year I thought about only applying to NSSR because it seemed like the best place for me but I thought better about it because nothing is ever a sure thing. I like NSSR but I don't like it enough to wait around another year to get into the PhD program. Even though it was expensive, I'm glad I did decide to send off four additional applications so that I have other choices.

Well, there is always tomorrow...sigh

I wouldn't despair so soon regarding getting in or not. Just because you haven't heard anything doesn't mean you didn't get in. Most of the ones who have been writing on this particular thread have not heard anything so you're not alone. You could still be admitted. The thing is: it is pretty widely known that NSSR doesn't fund its PhD students very well. That is just a fact. The most one can hope is to get about half of your tuition covered and you have to work to get money for the other half. NYC is very expensive to live in and that makes it difficult. I'm trying to say that, if you think the school is too expensive to afford without having to take out loans or what not, that is just the way it is at NSSR. Most of the people who go here and want to go just accept it and decide they are willing to roll with that. Unlike some other programs, they do let you know by mail whether you are in or out and so you will hear one way or the other. Like I said before, it took four months for me to hear from them when I was trying to get into the Masters program and I got admitted. Don't despair. Just be realistic about the funding situation at the school and the cost of living in NYC.

I almost had a heart attack today!! I went rushing to the mail lady as usual (as well as listening for the rumble of the FEDEX truck---its pathetic, I know) and saw a letter from NSSR!! What is it? A freakin' increase-of-tuition-for-next-year letter. I swear to God I had to sit down. This is starting to make me crazy. It DOES NOT have to take this long---admits or rejects. Then I started to think that, since it is spring break, I wonder if they are even working this week. I'm gonna take a ride over there to see if the office is open. There are no classes but I thought the offices were open. I never thought about it before. At any rate, if they don't hurry up I am just going to give in and accept Rutgers-New Brunswick's offer and go there. Everyone says that the unofficial deadline for accepting offers is April 15 and who knows if NSSR will have all their letters out by then. I've already written previously of my 4-month long Masters ordeal with them. Since NSSR rarely gives more than 50% fellowship, it is way cheaper to go to Rutgers anyway (per the blasted letter, NSSR stated it is raising tuition 4.5% for next year---the tuition is already $1100 a credit hour!!) AND closer to me commute wise and they have more resources---like buildings that are not under construction for eternity, libraries that are functional so you don't have to go to NYU or the public library, real cafeterias that you can go to, stuff like that. I'll miss NSSR differentness (is that a word?), though. Don't mind me, though. I am just ranting. Anyway, I'm off to go see if the offices are open. BTW, I called FEDEX and got the lazy answer: you have to have a tracking number...just as well though. It wouldn't have told me too much more than I already know.

Thanks, though it might come USPS 2nd day air. When I applied for the Masters program, they sent it by the postal service. Looks like the Philosophy PhD results have started to show up though---for those who are waiting on that program.