DialecticalBiologist

for better or worse, that's what you're getting yourself into.

Many large public schools (particularly Big 10 schools) allow students to adjunct to make more money. While this is a good option for people who need the money, the time required to make syllabi/grade/teach coupled with the lost time for personal research (particularly on the 5-year timeline) generally results in high levels of attrition among students without fellowships.

http://www.poliscirumors.com/topic/love-the-fake-congratulations-on-gradcafe Case in point. Be smart, applicants.

No

1) Overall Program Ranking 2) Subfield Ranking 3) Funding opportunities pre and post graduation 4) Flora/Fauna of local ecosystem 5) Relative, not absolute, age of faculty 6) ((Sum of Ranking of PhD Programs Attended by Faculty)/Total Number of Faculty)*2) + OR - number of delis (depending on the distribution) 7) Is there a Trader Joes? If yes, how big is the hot bar? 8) Will they pay me via Western Union? If not, will they deposit to my offshore bank account? (this money will be automatically re-routed to an on-shore bank account, so I'm not concerned about how this looks) 9) Summer funding? Competitive funding is preferred 10) Teaching opportunities at local community college? Local preschools? 11) Is there a climate of success? Do they call themselves a family? Can I call my advisor dad?